We surprised ourselves when we did the research.
The Great Books Foundation has always prided itself on selecting only the highest-quality literature for our anthologies. There is a good reason that we do so: the best literature inspires the highest levels of engagement. When stories are well-written, they are multilayered and provoke the kind of curiosity, discussion, and ongoing wonder that keep students coming back to read, discuss, research, and write more.
Here are some of the award-winning authors whose works appear in our Great Books anthologies, arranged by series (which is equivalent to grade level), with a sampling of the many awards that they have won appearing in the right-hand column.
For a full list of our award-winning authors:
Newbery Medal
| Sheila Hamanaka | American Book Award |
| Leo Lionni | Caldecott Honor |
| Eve Merriam | NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children, Obie Award |
| Margot Zemach | Caldecott Medal |
| Maribeth Boelts | ASPCA Henry Bergh Children’s Book Award, Humane Society KIND Children’s Picture Book Award |
| Joseph Bruchac | American Book Award, Spur Award for Best Western Juvenile Fiction |
| Betsy James | Tiptree Award Honor List |
| Daniel Pinkwater | American Library Association Notable Children’s Book, Parents’ Choice Award |
| James Berry | Cholmondeley Award |
| Andrea Davis Pinkney | Medgar Evers College Lifetime Achievement Award |
| Harriet Rohmer | American Book Award, American Library Association Notable Children’s Book |
| Cynthia Rylant | Newbery Medal |
| Alma Flor Ada | Belpré Medal for Narrative |
| Jennifer Armstrong | Golden Kite Honor for Fiction, NCTE Orbis Pictus Award |
| Sid Fleischman | Newbery Medal, Parents’ Choice Award |
| Diane Wolkstein | National Storytelling Network Lifetime Achievement Award |
| Langston Hughes | Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Fiction, Spingarn Medal |
| Lois Lowry | Dorothy Canfield Fisher Book Award, Newbery Medal |
| Philippa Pearce | Carnegie Medal |
| Isaac Bashevis Singer | National Book Award for Fiction, Newbery Medal, Nobel Prize in Literature |
| Shirley Jackson | Edgar Award for Best Short Story, O. Henry Award |
| Kim L. Siegelson | Coretta Scott King Book Award |
| Tove Jansson | Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing, Selma Lagerlöf Prize |
| Ray Bradbury | Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award, National Medal of Arts, World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement |
| William Saroyan | Academy Award for Best Original Story, Pulitzer Prize for Drama |
| Doris Lessing | Nobel Prize in Literature, Somerset Maugham Award |
| Toni Cade Bambara | American Book Award |
| William Trevor | Costa Book Award, Costa Book of the Year, Hawthornden Prize, Lannan Literary Award for Fiction |
| Gish Jen | Lannan Literary Award for Fiction |
| Kurt Vonnegut Jr. | Drama Desk Award for Most Promising Playwright, Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation |
| Edward P. Jones | International Dublin Literary Award, PEN/Hemingway Award, Pulitzer Prize for Fiction |
| Cristina Henríquez | Alfredo Cisneros Del Moral Foundation Award |
| Carson McCullers | New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best American Play |
| Mary La Chapelle | PEN/Nelson Algren Fiction Award |
| Zora Neale Hurston | Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Nonfiction |
| Martin Luther King Jr. | Congressional Gold Medal, Nobel Peace Prize |
| Truman Capote | Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime |
| Penelope Lively | Booker Prize, Carnegie Medal |
| Alan Paton | Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Fiction |
| Margaret Laurence | Governor General’s Literary Award for English-Language Fiction |
| Sigmund Freud | Goethe Prize |
| Flannery O’Connor | National Book Award for Fiction |
| William Faulkner | National Book Award for Fiction, Nobel Prize in Literature, Pulitzer Prize for Fiction |
| Isak Dinesen | Holberg Medal, Ingenio et Arti Medal |
| Rachel Carson | National Book Award for Nonfiction, Presidential Medal of Freedom |
| James D. Watson | Copley Medal, John J. Carty Award for the Advancement of Science, Lomonosov Gold Medal, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine |
| Jennifer Doudna | Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, Canada Gairdner International Award |
| Robert M. Sapolsky | Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Rockefeller University Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing About Science, Washington Post Best Books of 2017 |