Reading Nominated Juvenile Books: NC Children’s Book Awards

By Amber Covington Rowan Public Library

Looking for a way to get your child into reading? Introduce him or her to the nominee list of picture and junior books for the 2017-2018 North Carolina Children’s Book Award. In its 25th year, this book award selects a committee of Librarians across the state from public and school libraries that come together to create a list of picture books and chapter books.

Each book chosen as a nominee has been published within the past two years and have been selected to instill a love of reading with books within children’s literature. The picture books list includes the following titles:
“Ada Twist, Scientist” by Andrea Beaty
“The Bear and the Piano” by David Litchfield
“Giant Squid” by Candace Fleming
“Lion Lesson” by Jon Agee
“Little Red and the Very Hungry Lion” by Alex Smith
“Maybe Something Beautiful: How Art Transformed a Neighborhood” by F. Isabel Campoy
“Quit Calling Me a Monster!” by Jory John
“Thunder Boy Jr.” by Sherman Alexie
“The Toad” by Elise Gravel
“Water is Water” by Miranda Paul


The junior book list includes the following books:
“Ada Lovelace, Poet of Science: the First Computer Programmer” by Diane Stanley
“All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook” by Leslie Connor
“Garvey’s Choice” by Nikki Grimes
“Ghost” by Jason Reynolds
“Moo” by Sharon Creech
“A Poem for Peter: The Story of Ezra Jack Keats and the Creation of The Snowy Day” by Andrea Pinkney
“Save Me a Seat” by Sara Weeks and Gita Varadarajan
“Some Writer: the Story of E.B. White” by Melissa Sweet
“The Terrible Two” by Mac Barnett and Jory John
“Whoosh! Lonnie Johnson’s Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions” by Chris Barton
“Wish” by Barbara O’Connor

There are several activities families can enjoy described the activity booklet listed on the NC Children’s Book Award website. Each book has a short description of topics, videos, websites, discussion questions, and art activities in the activity guide. Stop by the library to checkout the titles we have available.

I have read several books from both categories and I have enjoyed reading “Thunder Boy Jr.” by Sherman Alexie in the picture book category. I am torn between two books in the junior book category and they are “Moo” by Sharon Creech and “Whoosh! Lonnie Johnson’s Super-Soaker Stream of Inventions” by Chris Barton. These books depict characters that leave their reading inspired to make a contribution to the world through dedication and perseverance.

Here are a few rules to follow before beginning your reading. Children voting in the picture book category should read at least 5 nominees. Children voting in the junior book category should read books. Beginning in November children may begin nominating their favorite picture and junior books until March 2018. All votes will be tallied before a winner is announced from each category of picture book or junior book next spring. Want to read more about the North Carolina Children’s Book Award visit www.nccba.blogspot.com.