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Current Nominees 

2023-2024 Nominees

Please be sure that these books fit the needs of your school and community.

Picture Book | Grades 3-5 | Graphic Novels: Grades 3-5 Grades 6-8 | Graphic Novels: Grades 6-8 | High School

Picture Book

Top of Page | Grades 3-5 Graphic Novels: Grades 3-5 | Grades 6-8 | Graphic Novels: Grades 6-8 | High School

  • All the Way to the Top: How One Girl’s Fight for Americans with Disabilities Changed Everything by Annette Bay Pimentel, illustrated by Nabi H. Ali 
  • Beautifully Me by Nabela Noor, illustrated by Nabi H. Ali 
  • Everywhere with You by Carlie Sorosiak, illustrated by Devon Holzwarth 
  • Finding Fire by Logan S. Kline 
  • Home by Tonya Lippert, illustrated by Andrea Stegmaier 
  • Listen to the Language of the Trees: A Story of How Forests Communicate Underground by Tera Kelley, illustrated by Marie Hermansson 
  • Listen: How Evelyn Glennie, A Deaf Girl, Changed Percussion by Shannon Stocker, illustrated by Devon Holzwarth 
  • Looking for a Jumbie by Tracey Baptiste, illustrated by Amber Ren 
  • Lunch from Home by Joshua David Stein, illustrated by Jing Li 
  • My First Day by Phung Nguyen Quang and Huynh Kim Lien 
  • Nacho’s Nachos: The Story Behind the World’s Favorite Snack by Sandra Nickel, illustrated by Oliver Dominquez 
  • The Floating Field: How a Group of Thai Boys Built Their Own Soccer Field by Scott Riley, illustrated by Nguyen Quang and Kim Lien 
  • The Pig War: How a Porcine Tragedy Taught England and American to Share by Emma Bland Smith, illustrated by Alison Jay 
  • There’s a Ghost in This House by Oliver Jeffers 
  • XO, Exoplanet by Deborah Underwood, illustrated by Jorge Lacera 

Grades 3-5

Top of Page | Picture Book | Graphic Novels: Grades 3-5 | Grades 6-8 Graphic Novels: Grades 6-8 | High School

  • Anybody Here Seen Frenchie? by Leslie Connor 
  • Chester Keene Cracks the Code by Kekla Magoon 
  • Cookies & Milk by Shawn Amos, illustrated by Robert Paul 
  • Honestly Elliott by Gillian McDunn 
  • How to Win a Slime War by Mae Respicio 
  • Just Right Jillian by Nicole D. Collier 
  • Maizy Chen’s Last Chance by Lisa Yee 
  • The Natural Genius of Ants by Betty Culley 
  • Odder by Katherine Applegate, illustrated by Charles Santoso 
  • Once Upon a Tim by Stuart Gibbs, illustrated by Stacy Curtis 

Graphic Novels: Grades 3-5

Top of Page | Picture Book | Grades 3-5 | Grades 6-8 | Graphic Novels: Grades 6-8 | High School

  • The Aquanaut by Dan Santat 

  • Garlic & the Vampire by Bree Paulsen 
  • Katie the Catsitter by Colleen AF Venable, illustrated by Stephanie Yue 
  • Miss Quinces by Kat Fajardo 
  • Saving Sorya: Chang and the Sun Bear by Trang Nguyen, illustrated by Jeet Zdung 
  • The Secret Garden on 81st Street by Ivy Noelle Weir, illustrated by Amber Padilla 
  • Sort of Super by Eric Gapstur 
  • Swim Team by Johnnie Christmas 
  • Wait Till Helen Comes: A ghost story graphic novel by Mary Downing Hahn, illustrated by Meredith Laxton 
  • Yummy: A History of Desserts by Victoria Grace Elliott 

Grades 6-8

Top of Page | Picture Book | Grades 3-5 Graphic Novels: Grades 3-5 Graphic Novels: Grades 6-8 | High School

  • Attack of the Black Rectangles by A.S. King 

  • The Door of No Return by Kwame Alexander 
  • Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun by Tola Okogwu 
  • Pony by R.J. Palacio 
  • Rivals by Tommy Greenwald 
  • The Secret Battle of Evan Pao by Wendy Wan-Long Shang 
  • Troublemaker by John Cho 
  • Violets Are Blue by Barbara Dee 
  • When the World Was Ours by Liz Kessler 
  • Yonder by Ali Standish 

Graphic Novels: Grades 6-8

Top of Page | Picture Book | Grades 3-5 | Graphic Novels: Grades 3-5 | Grades 6-8 High School

  • Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Book 1 by Kanehito Yamada, illustrated by Tsukasa Abe 

  • Frizzy by Claribel A. Ortega, illustrated by Rose Bousamra 
  • The Golden Hour by Niki Smith 
  • Invisible by Christina Diaz Gonzalez and Gabriela Epstein 
  • Isla to Island by Alexis Castellanos 
  • Little Monarchs by Jonathan Case 
  • M is for Monster by Talia Dutton 
  • Treasure in the Lake by Jason Pamment 
  • Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist for Justice by Tommie Smith and Derrick Barnes, illustrated by Dawud Anyabwile 
  • The Well by Jake Wyatt, illustrated by Choo 

High School

Top of Page | Picture Book | Grades 3-5 | Graphic Novels: Grades 3-5 | Grades 6-8 Graphic Novels: Grades 6-8

  • The Agathas by Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson 

  • All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir 
  • Call Me Athena: Girl from Detroit by Colby Cedar Smith 
  • Eat Your Heart Out by Kelly deVos 
  • Golden Boys by Phil Stamper 
  • House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland 
  • I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys 
  • Mamo by Sas Milledge 
  • Me (Moth) by Amber McBride 
  • Messy Roots: a graphic memoir of a Wuhanese American by Laura Gao 

Guidelines for Participation | Voting Process | Current Nominees | Most Recent Winners | Past Winners | Order Stickers | Join the Committee