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FAMILIES: If you would like to provide your reader(s) with opportunities to engage in books this summer,
scroll below to find some optional book title recommendations! Award winners and new titles are included.
Please make sure to check the books your child reads to make sure it is an appropriate and "Just Right Book". The topics of the books vary in maturity and age range.
Feel free to read reviews from the Common Sense Media website.
Notable should be thought to include books of especially commendable quality, books that exhibit venturesome creativity, and books of fiction, information, poetry and pictures for all age levels (birth through age 14) that reflect and encourage children's interests in exemplary ways.
The Adventures of Cipollino
by Gianni Rodari
Amina Banana and the Formula for Friendship
by Shifa Saltagi Safadi
Bad Badger: A Love Story
by Maryrose Wood
Benny on the Case.
by Wesley King
Botticelli's Apprentice.
by Ursula Murray Husted
Busted
by Dan Gemeinhart
The Cartoonists Club
by Raina Telgemeier and Scott McCloud
Casey’s Cases: The Mysterious New Girl
by Kay Healy
Honoring literature about Asian/Pacific Americans and their heritage based on literary and artistic merit.
2026 Winner
Hungry Bones
by Louise Hung
2026 Honor
Fresh Start
written and illustrated by Gale Galligan
2026 Honor
The Queen Bees of Tybee County written
by Kyle Casey Chu
Recognizing fiction that has the potential to transform children’s lives.
2026 Winner
A Sea of Lemon Trees
María Dolores Águila
2026 Honor
The Trouble with Heroes
Kate Messner
2026 Honor
Don't Cause Trouble
Arree Chung
2026 Honor
All the Blues in the Sky
Renée Watson
Given to outstanding African American authors and illustrators of books that demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values.
2026 Winner
Will's Race for Home
Dr. Jewell Parker Rhodes
2026 Honor
The Incredibly Human Henson Blayze
by Derrick Barnes
2026 Honor
Split the Sky
by Marie Arnold
Awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.
2026 Winner
All the Blues in the Sky
by Renée Watson
2026 Honor
The Nine Moons of Han Yu and Luli
by Karina Yan Glaser
2026 Honor
A Sea of Lemon Trees: The Corrido of Roberto Alvarez
by María Dolores Águila
2026 Honor
The Teacher of Nomad Land: A World War II Story
by Daniel Nayeri
2026 Honor
The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest
by Aubrey Hartman
The NCTE Award for Excellence in Children's Poetry Committee creates an annual list of Notable Poetry Books and Verse Novels published in the current year by any poet, living or deceased, and of any nationality.
A Sea of Lemon Trees: The Corrido of Roberto Alvarez
by María Dolores Águila
Green Promises: Girls Who Loved the Earth
by Jeannine Atkins
The Trouble with Heroes
by Kate Messner
The Burning Season
by Caroline Starr Rose
The Poetry of Car Mechanics
by Heidi E.Y. Stemple
Radiant
by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson
Presented annually to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth.
2026 Winner
The Pecan Sheller
by Lupe Ruiz-Flores
2026 Honor
A Sea of Lemon Trees
María Dolores Águila
2026 Honor
A Hero’s Guide to Summer Vacation, written
by Pablo Cartaya
2026 Honor
The Island of Forgotten Gods
by Victor Piñeiro
Honors an author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences.
2026 Honor
2026 Honor
Bat and the Business of Ferrets
by Elana K. Arnold
Recognizing outstanding works that portray cultures, histories, or contemporary issues in South Asia or dealing with South Asians living abroad.
2025 Winner
2025 Winner
The Partition Project
by Saadia Faruqi
Honored for exceptional merit relating to the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender experience.
2026 Literature Winner
2026 Literature Winner
Halfway to Somewhere
by Jose Pimienta
2026 Honor
The Ink Witch
by Steph Cherrywell
2026 Honor
Ollie in Between
by Jess Callans
Recognizing diverse authors whose works feature diverse main characters and address diversity in a meaningful way.
2026 Winner
The Incredibly Human Henson Blayze
by Derrick Barnes
2026 Honor
All the Blues in the Sky
by Renée Watson
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