Preface
The Dictionary
Index

ALETHEA K. HELBIG, Professor, and AGNES REGAN PERKINS, Professor Emeritus, both of English Language and Literature at Eastern Michigan University. They are the authors of a series of encyclopedic works on fiction for children published by Greenwood Press: Dictionary of American Children's Fiction, Dictionary of British Children's Fiction, and Dictionary of Children's Fiction from Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, and Selected African Countries. Helbig is also past president of the Children's Literature Association. They have also both published This Land is Our Land and Many Peoples, One Land on multicultural literature for children and young adults, Myths and Hero Tales, a critical reference on myths and hero tales from around the world (all Greenwood), and numerous articles on children's literature.

Children's literature continues to receive growing scholarly attention, and this is due, in part, to the increased awareness of the complexity of these works and their importance in the curriculum. While some books may become classics and continue to be read long after their publication, others are the product of contemporary society and reflect the changing values of modern American culture. So, too, those titles that have been singled out for recognition reveal the standards of awards committees. This reference is a guide to works of American children's fiction that have won awards between 1995 and 1999.
Some of the books were published before that period, and thus their recent recognition affirms their enduring value. Included are more than 750 alphabetically arranged entries for authors, titles, characters, and settings related to nearly 250 books. Entries for novels provide plot summaries and critical commentary, while those for authors give biographical information. The volume demonstrates the growing number of multicultural novels and books about nontraditional families, while it also shows the continuing importance of historical fiction and the waning appeal of traditional adventure novels. While the volume will be valuable to librarians and teachers and to scholars of children's literature, it will also be useful to anyone interested in these works as a commentary on American culture at the close of the twentieth century.