In January 2014 the American Library Association awarded "The Kingdom of Little Wounds" a Michael L. Printz Award Honor as one of the year's best works of literature for young readers. The Printz awards committee said of the book: "Impeccably researched and darkly disturbing, this complex literary tale reveals the sordid side of palace life in a 16th century Scandinavian kingdom where the royal family, the Lunedies, is cursed by a mysterious illness, and political machinations cast doubt on who will rule."