Award list for 3rd - 5th graders
Summaries were gathered from Follett Titlewave, unless otherwise noted.
| | | | | |
2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 |
| | | | Last Year’s Winner… | |
2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
Read or listen to at least 4 books to vote!
Amari Peters has never stopped believing her missing brother, Quinton, is alive. Not even when the police told her otherwise, or when she got in trouble for standing up to bullies who said he was gone for good. So when she finds a ticking briefcase in his closet, containing a nomination for a summer tryout at the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs, she's certain the secretive organization holds the key to locating Quinton - if only she can wrap her head around the idea of magicians, fairies, aliens, and other supernatural creatures all being real.
Genre/Category: Fantasy Fiction, Chapter Book
Etan has stopped speaking since his mother left. His father and grandfather don't know how to help him. His friends have given up on him. When Etan is asked to deliver a grocery order to the outskirts of town, he realizes he's at the home of Malia Agbayani, also known as the creature. Malia stopped going to school when her acute eczema spread to her face, and the bullying became too much. Soon, other kids tease Etan for being friends with the creature. But he believes he might have a cure for Malia's condition, if only he can convince his family and hers to believe it, too. Even if it works, will these two outcasts find where they fit in?
Genre/Category: Fantasy Fiction, Novel in Verse
During a time when taking a trip across the nation could be dangerous for Black Americans, one man crafted a guide that changed the lives of millions. In the late 1930s when segregation was legal and Black Americans couldn't visit every establishment or travel everywhere they wanted to safely, a New Yorker named Victor Hugo Green decided to do something about it. Green wrote and published a guide that listed places where his fellow Black Americans could be safe in New York City. The guide sold like hot cakes! Soon customers started asking Green to make a guide to help them travel and vacation safely across the nation too. With the help of his mail carrier co-workers and the African American business community, Green's guide allowed millions of African Americans to travel safely and enjoy traveling across the nation.
Genre/Category: Biography, Nonfiction, Picture Book
In desperate need of a friend - and a science project -Maya finds a robot named Ralph in Mr. Mac's convenience store, and once she gets him up and running, a new world of connection opens up.
Genre/Category: Realistic Fiction, Chapter Book
After moving to Seattle, Vega's dads send her to the very strange Camp Best Friend, where she discovers that one can make new friends without forgetting old ones.
Genre/Category: Science Fiction, Graphic Novel
Ahmed Aziz is having an epic year, epically bad. After his dad gets sick, the family moves from Hawaii to Minnesota for his dad’s treatment. Even though his dad grew up there, Ahmed can’t imagine a worse place to live. He’s one of the only brown kids in his school. And as a proud slacker, Ahmed doesn’t want to deal with expectations from his new teachers. Ahmed surprises himself by actually reading the assigned books for his English class: Holes, Bridge to Terabithia, and From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Shockingly, he doesn’t hate them. Ahmed also starts learning about his uncle, who died before Ahmed was born. Getting bits and pieces of his family’s history might be the one upside of the move, even as his dads health hangs in the balance and the school bully refuses to leave him alone. Will Ahmed ever warm to Minnesota?
Genre/Category: Realistic Fiction, Chapter Book
Most people know about President FDR, but do you know the woman who created his groundbreaking New Deal? As a young girl, Frances Perkins was very shy and quiet. But her grandmother encouraged Frances to always challenge herself. When somebody opens a door to you, go forward. And so she did. Frances realized she had to make her voice heard, even when speaking made her uncomfortable, and use it to fight injustice and build programs to protect people across the nation. So when newly-elected President Franklin Delano Roosevelt finally asked Frances to be the first female Secretary of Labor and help pull the nation out of the Great Depression, she knew she had to walk through that open door and forward into history. Discover how the first woman to serve in a presidential cabinet led the charge to create the safety net that protects American workers and their families to this day.
Genre/Category: Biography, Nonfiction, Picture Book
Hoping to adopt a pet to find a sense of belonging in her busy family, Maggie is disappointed to discover she is severely allergic to anything with fur and tries to find a pet to love anyway.
Genre/Category: Fiction, Graphic Novel
Did you know that sharks can be as small as a banana, or bigger than a bus? Or that whale sharks have more than 3,000 teeth? Did you know that giant squids have eyes the size of dinner plates? Or that clownfish are protected by snot armor? Find out all this and more, in this comprehensive, hilarious underwater deep dive! Discover the must-have book for shark fanatics, a madcap field guide full of facts and humor, and learn everything you ever wanted to know about underwater creatures.
Genre/Category: Nonfiction, Humor, Picture Book
Book Trailer (Dinosaurs)
Fifth grade can be tough for anyone. There are cliques and mean kids and homework and surprise math tests. But after tragedy strikes her family, almost-eleven-year-old Maya has a painful secret that makes many days feel nearly impossible. And today might be Maya's toughest yet. Her family is on edge, she needs to travel alone across the city, a bully is out to get her, and Maya has to face this winter's biggest rainstorm without a coat or an umbrella. But even on the rainiest days, there's hope that the sun will come out soon. Emotional and compassionate, Shelter looks at homelessness through one girl's eyes and explores the power of empathy, friendship, and love.
Genre/Category: Realistic Fiction, Chapter Book
In this full-color middle grade graphic memoir, Yehudi Mercado draws inspiration from his childhood struggle with his weight while finding friendship with his imaginary mascot, Chunky, as he navigates growing up in a working class Mexican-Jewish family.
Genre/Category: Memoir, Graphic Novel
This picture book tells the story of Joseph Bazalgette, a 19th century engineer who designed London's first comprehensive sewage system. In doing so, he saved thousands of lives from cholera outbreaks that regularly plagued the city. This STEM-focused story provides a window into the past and shows how one invention went on to affect generations to come - and teaches readers how they can prevent pollution in their own neighborhoods today
Genre/Category: Narrative Nonfiction, Picture Book
Logan, an undersized twelve-year-old orphan with a photographic memory and no filter, discovers that his foster parents are superheroes in grave danger and only Logan's highly logical mind can save them.
Genre/Category: Adventure Fiction, Chapter Book
On a tiny Thai island without room for a soccer field, a group of resourceful teen boys gathers scraps and works together to build a floating field so they can play the game they love.
Genre/Category: Nonfiction, Picture Book
After her parents' divorce, Bea's life became different in many ways. But she can always look back at the list she keeps in her green notebook to remember the things that will stay the same. The first and most important: Mom and Dad will always love Bea, and each other. When Dad tells Bea that he and his boyfriend, Jesse, are getting married, Bea is thrilled. Bea loves Jesse, and when he and Dad get married, she'll finally (finally) have what she's always wanted - a sister. Even though she's never met Jesse's daughter, Sonia, Bea is sure that they'll be "just like sisters anywhere." As the wedding day approaches, Bea will learn that making a new family brings questions, surprises, and joy.
Genre/Category: Realistic Fiction, Chapter Book
Eight-year-old Ben takes a fortune cookie literally, and believing he has only one day left to live, tries to do everything he has always wanted to before nightfall.
Genre/Category: Realistic Fiction, Humor, Chapter Book
Lawrence Anthony and Francoise Malby love animals - so when they hear that a herd of wild African elephants needs a new home, they welcome the herd to their wildlife sanctuary - Thula Thula - with open arms. What follows in this illustrated true story is a cross-species friendship that will move readers and warm the hearts of animal lovers at every age.
Genre/Category: Narrative Nonfiction, Picture Book
Twelve-year-old Katie is dreading the boring summer ahead until she realizes the mysterious neighbor who hired her to catsit is one of the city's greatest supervillains.
Genre/Category: Adventure, Graphic Novel
Ryan Hart has a lot on her mind - school, self-image, and especially family. Her dad finally has a new job, but money is tight. That means some changes, like selling their second car and moving into a new (old) house. But Ryan is a girl who knows how to make sunshine out of setbacks. As her brother says when he raps about her, she's got the talent that matters most: it's a talent that can't be seen, she's nice, not mean! Ryan is all about trying to see the best in people, to be a good daughter, a good sister, a good friend. But even if her life isn't everything she would wish for, when her big brother is infuriating, her parents don't quite understand, and the unexpected happens, she always finds a way forward, with grace and wit. And plenty of sunshine.
Genre/Category: Realistic Fiction, Chapter Book
When the coronavirus hits Hong Kong, ten-year-old Knox Wei-Evans's mom makes the last-minute decision to move him and his siblings back to California, where they think they will be safe. Suddenly, Knox has two days to prepare for an international move - and for leaving his dad, who has to stay for work. At his new school in California, Knox struggles with being the new kid. His classmates think that because he's from Asia, he must have brought over the virus. At home, Mom just got fired and is panicking over the loss of health insurance, and Dad doesn't even know when he'll see them again, since the flights have been cancelled. And everyone struggles with Knox's blurting-things-out problem. As racism skyrockets during COVID-19, Knox tries to stand up to hate, while finding his place in his new country. Can you belong if you're feared; can you protect if you're new? And how do you keep a family together when you're oceans apart? Sometimes when the world is spinning out of control, the best way to get through it is to embrace our own lovable uniqueness.
Genre/Category: Realistic Fiction, Chapter Book
Which book will you read first?!
Read or listen to at least 4 titles so you can vote for a favorite!
Consider joining Battle of the Bluestem Books, too!