The Children's Literature Association, an organization of teachers, scholars, librarians, editors, writers, illustrators, and parents interested in encouraging the serious study of children's literature, created the Phoenix Award as an outgrowth of the Association's Touchstones Committee. The award, given to a book originally published in the English language, is intended to recognize books of high literary merit. The Phoenix Award is named after the fabled bird who rose from its ashes with renewed life and beauty. Phoenix books also rise from the ashes of neglect and obscurity and once again touch the imaginations and enrich the lives of those who read them.

The recipient of the Phoenix Award has been chosen each year since 1985 by an elected committee of ChLA members that considers nominations made by members and others interested in promoting high critical standards in literature for children. Honor books were instituted in 1989 but have not been named every year

The Phoenix Award was designed by Caldecott-winning illustrator Trina Schart Hyman. The magical Phoenix on the award statue was specifically drawn for ChLA. The design was sculpted by Diane Davis, who was trained at the Johnson Atelier and Technical Institute of Sculpture, Princeton. Each brass statue is individually cast and inscribed with the year's winner.

In 2003, the ChLA launched an annual electronic journal, The Phoenix Papers. Each issue includes conference papers on the year's Phoenix Award book and Honor book, the acceptance speech by the award winner, and brief biographical sketches and publication lists of the award and honor book winners. The Phoenix Papers are available exclusively online through our Phoenix Papers page.

Memory
Margaret Mahy
(Dent, 1987; McElderry, 1988)
Five years after his sister Janine’s death, nineteen-year-old Jonny Dart is deeply troubled by his inability to remember the details of the accident that took her life. In an attempt to learn the truth, as well as assuage his nagging feelings of guilt, he sets out to find Bonny, his sister’s friend who was the only other witness to the incident. In his search, he encounters Sophie West, an elderly woman with senile dementia, from whom, after he moves into her home to care for her, he learns the true meaning of both memory and loss.