3-5 LYRC
What does LYRC mean?
LYRC stands for Louisiana Young Readers' Choice!
How does it work?
A committee of librarians read and review hundreds of books a year to narrow them down to the top 15 books. Students in Kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade read or listen to at least 3 of these books over the school year, and then they get to vote for their favorite! The winner and honor books get recognition stickers and the authors and illustrators are invited to attend the Louisiana Book Festival to receive their award.
Last Year's Winners
Winner!
Claude the white alligator is a famous resident of the California Academy of Sciences, the historic science museum in San Francisco. But Claude wasn’t always beloved. In this nonfiction picture book, find out how during the first part of his life, the reptilian celebrity was shunned for being different, and then traveled thousands of miles to a new home across the country. Today, every year Claude attracts millions of visitors, who, like Claude, know that different is wonderful.
honor book
The true story of the high-flying Harlem Globetrotters -- the team that changed basketball forever.
In this book you will find one-finger ball-spinning, rapid-fire mini-dribbling, and a ricochet head shot!
You will find skilled athletes, expert players, and electrifying performers -- all rolled into one!
You will find nonstop, give-it-all-you've-got, out-to-win-it, sky's-the-limit BASKETBALL!
This Year's Nominees
Book type: graphic novel
Genre: realistic fiction
A coming-of-age middle-grade graphic novel featuring a girl with severe allergies who just wants to find the perfect pet!
At home, Maggie is the odd one out. Her parents are preoccupied with getting ready for a new baby, and her younger brothers are twins and always in their own world. Maggie loves animals and thinks a new puppy to call her own is the answer, but when she goes to select one on her birthday, she breaks out in hives and rashes. She's severely allergic to anything with fur!
Can Maggie outsmart her allergies and find the perfect pet?
AR Quiz No. 510864
IL: MG - BL: 2.5 - AR Pts: 1.0
Book type: illustrated chapter book
Genre: realistic fiction, humor
"Live each day as if it were your last."
When Ben reads his fortune-cookie fortune, he's alarmed and inspired. Immediately, he begins drafting a bucket list of unfinished tasks and lifelong dreams (finish his 1000-piece model of the Taj Mahal, eat an entire cake, etc....).
As Ben marches himself in and out of trouble, takes useful risks, and helps both his parents to see the bigger picture, readers discover how something that seems scary can instead be empowering--leading to friendships that might never have been made, neighbors that might never have been known, and apple pies that might otherwise never have been baked.
AR Quiz No. 510557
IL: MG - BL: 4.3 - AR Pts: 4.0
Book type: picture book
Genre: modern nonfiction
After watching the World Cup on television, a group of Thai boys is inspired to form their own team. But on the island of Koh Panyee, in a village built on stilts, there is no open space. The boys can play only twice a month on a sandbar when the tide is low enough.
Everything changes when the teens join together to build their very own floating soccer field.
AR Quiz No. 513393
IL: LG - BL: 4.0 - AR Pts: 0.5
Book type: chapter book
Genre: horror
"You hid. But you were not found. You thought you were playing a harmless game. You were wrong."
After Holly and Hector Thorn are left behind during a simple game of hide-and-seek, they find themselves transported to a gloomy, magical world seemingly trapped in time--the Hiddenseek. There, "It", a being with the ability to transform into a raven and a wolf, stalks children day and night, turning any she can lay hands on into statues, frozen forever in their final moments of terror.
Together with the other lost children they encounter, Holly and Hector will have to unravel the mysterious origins of the Hiddenseek and find a way to put a stop to the curse once and for all, before they get stuck there forever . . . Because in this twisted game of hide-and-seek, they are playing for their lives.
No AR yet
Book type: chapter book
Genre: adventure, scifi, humor
Eleven-year-old Jillian hates surprises. Even fun ones make her feel all panicky inside. But, she’s always dreamed of joining her space-explorer parents on a mission. It’s Take Your Kid to Work Day, and Jillian finally has her chance to visit an alien world!
The journey to Planet 80 UMa c is supposed to be just a fun camping trip. But then the local wildlife starts acting really dangerous. Only the onboard computer SABRINA sorta knows what's happening—at least when it's not goofing off or telling bad jokes.
Looks like it's Jillian vs Parasite Planet—and Jillian is determined to win!
No AR yet
Book type: chapter book
Genre: realistic fiction
Ever since Ms. Murphy told us about the witch trials that happened centuries ago right here in Juniper, I can't stop thinking about them. Those people weren't magic. They were like me. Different like me.
I'm autistic. I see things that others do not. I hear sounds that they can ignore. And sometimes I feel things all at once. I think about the witches, with no one to speak for them. Not everyone in our small town understands. But if I keep trying, maybe someone will. I won't let the witches be forgotten. Because there is more to their story. Just like there is more to mine.
AR Quiz No. 513928
IL: MG - BL: 4.3 - AR Pts: 5.0
Book type: chapter book
Genre: scifi
The cat that Olive rescues from a flood has a secret: he’s not really a cat at all, but an alien who crashed to Earth on a beam of light. The cat, whom Olive names Leonard, was prepared to visit the planet as a human—but something went wrong. Now Leonard may never know what it’s like to hold an umbrella, go bowling, or host a dinner party. (And his human jokes still need some work: Knock, knock. Who’s there? Just Leonard. It is me.)
While Olive worries about whether she will have to move after her mom and her new boyfriend get back from their summer vacation, Leonard tries to figure out how to get from South Carolina to Yellowstone National Park, because if he’s not there at the end of the month, he’ll miss his ride home.
But as Olive teaches Leonard about the beautiful and confusing world of humans, he starts to realize how much he cares about this particular one. A sweet and dryly funny story about what it means to be human—and what it means to be home.
AR Quiz No. 511531
IL: MG - BL: 5.2 - AR Pts: 7.0
Book type: picture book
Genre: historical nonfiction
How did 121,000 Americans save their most beloved icon? Here is an inspiring story about the power we have when we all work together!
On America's 100th birthday, the people of France built a giant gift! It was one of the largest statues the world had ever seen -- and she weighed as much as 40 elephants! And when she arrived on our shores in 250 pieces, she needed a pedestal to hold her up. Few of America's millionaires were willing to foot the bill.
Then, Joseph Pulitzer (a poor Hungarian immigrant-cum-newspaper mogul) appealed to his fellow citizens. He invited them to contribute whatever they could, no matter how small an amount, to raise funds to mount this statue. The next day, pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters poured in. Soon, Pulitzer's campaign raised enough money to construct the pedestal. And with the help of everyday Americans (including many thousands of schoolchildren!) the Statue of Liberty rose skyward, torch ablaze, to welcome new immigrants for a life of freedom and opportunity!
AR Quiz No. 512082
IL: LG - BL: 4.7 - AR Pts: 0.5
Book type: chapter book
Genre: fantasy, adventure, humor
Twelve- year-old Eugene Fitzherbert needs a plan. It’s not that he doesn’t love his time in the orphanage that raised him—Miss Clare and the boys are his family. As is his best friend, Arnie, with whom he’s often in cahoots, acting out passages from his favorite Flynnigan Rider books, or pretending they’re Lance Archer, the iconic thief who takes from the rich to give to the poor. But Eugene knows that most orphans his age set off to make their own way, and the orphanage already doesn’t have the means to support them all. Besides, he wants to see the world with Arnie, and maybe, just maybe find his parents someday.
So when a traveling circus comes to the kingdom promising a life of adventure, brotherhood, and riches, Eugene jumps at the chance to join them. He even convinces Arnie to come too. But soon it becomes clear that there’s more to this ragtag crew than meets the eye, and they may have a dubious plot in the works. It’ll take new heroes—namely, Flynn Rider and Lance Strongbow, to save the day.
AR Quiz No. 519124
IL: MG - BL: 4.5 - AR Pts: 8.0
Book type: picture book
Genre: realistic fiction
Every day Jimmy takes ‘Skinny Kid’s’ lunch at school. No way will he be caught dead standing in that FREE LUNCH line. Even when he’s called into the principal’s office, Jimmy just shrugs. “Yeah. Whatever.”
Until a surprising act of kindness stops him in his tracks. For a split second a door cracks open into Jimmy’s heart. Who knows? Maybe he’ll just kick that door right open.
No AR yet
Book type: picture book
Genre: historical nonfiction, biography
In 1938, twenty-nine-year-old Nicholas Winton saved the lives of almost 700 children trapped in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia—a story he never told and that remained unknown until an unforgettable TV appearance in the 1980s reunited him with some of the children he saved.
This book intertwines Nicky’s efforts with the story of one of the children he saved—a young girl named Vera, whose family enlisted Nicky’s aid when the Germans occupied their country. As the war passes and Vera grows up, she must find balance in her dual identities—one her birthright, the other her choice.
AR Quiz No. 512288
IL: LG - BL: 3.7 - AR Pts: 0.5
Book type: picture book
Genre: modern nonfiction, biography
As a child and adult, Niki faced many naysayers in her pursuit of haute cuisine. Using the structure of a traditional kaiseki meal, the authors Debbi Michiko Florence and Jamie Michalak detail Niki's hunger for success in thirteen bites -- from wonton wrappers she used to make pizza as a kid to yuzu-tomatillo sauce in her own upscale Los Angeles Michelin-starred restaurant, n/naka.
To anyone who tells her a woman can't be a master chef, Niki lets her food do the talking. And oh, does it talk.
AR Quiz No. 513565
IL: LG - BL: 3.4 - AR Pts: 0.5
Book type: picture book
Genre: historical nonfiction, biography
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.
AR Quiz No. 516806
IL: LG - BL: 5.3 - AR Pts: 0.5
Book type: chapter book
Genre: realistic fiction
Ever since she was a puppy, Stella was trained to use her powerful beagle nose to sniff out dangerous chemicals and help her handler keep people safe. But during a routine security inspection, Stella misses the scent of an explosive. The sound of the blast is loud and scary. Unable to go back to work because of her anxiety, Stella is retired as a working dog.
When a young girl named Cloe wants to adopt Stella, the beagle knows this is her last chance to prove her worth. But how? When Stella smells a strange chemical inside Cloe’s body, a scent that surges just before the girl has a seizure, Stella’s nose makes the connection. But how can Stella warn her new family without them thinking she’s having an anxiety attack? How can she convince others that she can be a new kind of service dog and hopefully save Cloe’s life?
Told from Stella’s perspective, this story is about a special dog who must find the courage to overcome her fears in order to help save a young girl with epilepsy.
AR Quiz No. 512410
IL: MG - BL: 5.0 - AR Pts: 5.0
Book type: picture book
Genre: modern nonfiction, biography
Every superhero has their origin a radioactive spider bite turns ordinary teen Peter Parker into Spider-Man, wealthy Tony Stark escapes captivity by building his Iron Man suit, scientist Bruce Banner survives gamma rays only to transform into the Hulk.
For Stan Lee, it was books of adventure, monsters, and magic that helped him transform from an ordinary boy to a superstar superhero creator. At first, reading these stories was a pathway to a world bigger than his family’s tiny apartment in New York City, but it wasn’t long until Stan was crafting his own stories, creating comics professionally when he was still just a teenager! Still, writing wasn’t exciting when the heroes were always the strong, perfect, and boring . Stan had a revolutionary idea. What if anyone―even an ordinary kid―could be a superhero?
Discover more about the life of the Cameo King, known to many for his appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and how he revolutionized comics with this vibrant introduction bustling with action, humor, and references for fans new and old. ‘Nuff said!
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