In Anchorage, Alaska, two lonely youngsters make a connection – a brown bear injured just after his mother sends him out on his own, and a human whose father is the new keeper at the Alaska Zoo and whose mother and sister are still in Minnesota.
2007-2008 Crown Award
Reading Level: 5.0
Published by Clarion
Copyright June 27, 2005
ISBN# 0-618-51738-3 (HB)
Narrates the tale of twelve-year-old Charles Dickens who, despite poverty and long hours of factory work, still has time to discover and share the stories of other residents of 1824 London.
2014-2015 Crown Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by Schwartz and Wade
Copyright January 9, 2012
ISBN# 9780375867323 (HB)
This is the third of four in this team’s fabulously beautiful nonfiction series about the world of butterflies.
2013-2014 Crown Award
Reading Level: 5.0
Published by Chronicle
Copyright May 18, 2011
ISBN# 978-0811864794 (PB)
Step into the studios of several acclaimed illustrators and see how their Caldecott Medal-winning books were created. This unique account spans 60 years of picture-book illustration history.
2000-2001 Crown Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by Walker
Copyright January 1, 1999
ISBN# 0-8027-8656-1 (HB)
When an outbreak of the flu comes to Vermont in 1918, eleven-year-old Margaret aspires to be a doctor just like her papa.
2004-2005 Crown Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by HarperCollins
Copyright April 30, 2002
ISBN# 0-06-029319-5 (PB, HB)
Squirrel, a young puppy, tells her story, from her nurturing mother and brother to making her own way in the world, facing busy highways, changing seasons, and humans both gentle and brutal.
2007-2008 Crown Award
Reading Level: 5.1
Published by Scholastic
Copyright October 1, 2005
ISBN# 0-439-71559-8 (HB)
Mr. Keene loves his school and its students so much that he decides to extend the school week, and eventually, the school year.
2003-2004 Gallery Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by HarperCollins
Copyright July 24, 2001
ISBN# 0-06-027736-X (PB, HB)
Einstein, the smallest miniature stallion ever born, searches the farm for a friend.
2013-2014 Gallery Award
Reading Level: 3.7
Published by Disney-Hyperion
Copyright April 19, 2011
ISBN# 9781423145639 (HB)
In this second Prairie River series, Nessa is having difficulty making friends and her position as the local teacher is on shaky ground. Through it all she relies heavily on prayer to sustain her.
2005-2006 Lamplighter Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by Scholastic
Copyright November 30, 2003
ISBN# 0-439-43993-0 (PB)
Based on a true story, the author tells the story of Nya who spends seven months of the year walking each day for eight hours in order for her family to have water. The reader also learns the story of Salva who is walking away from his ruined village to find safety.
2012-2013 Lamplighter Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Copyright October 4, 2011
ISBN# 9780547577319 (PB)
Celeste is a mouse looking for a home. She is harassed by rats and ends up in the apprentice’s room where a friendship develops with the assistant to John James Audubon.
2012-2013 Crown Award
Reading Level: 5.0
Published by HarperCollins Publishers
Copyright February 20, 2012
ISBN# 9780061704123 (PB)
William Carlos Williams’ words gave him freedom and peace, but he also needed to earn a living. When he grew up he became a doctor, but he never stopped writing poetry.
2010-2011 Crown Award
Reading Level: 4.0
Published by Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company
Copyright August 28, 2008
ISBN# 9780802853028 (HB)
This lyric provides creative explanations of common measurements of time in descriptive terms all children can understand.
2009-2010 Gallery Award
Reading Level: 2.0
Published by Arthur A. Levine Books
Copyright February 28, 2007
ISBN# 439831067 (PB, HB)
Inventive personification and descriptive illustrations lead readers through the amazing, scientific transformations of seeds to flowering plants.
2009-2010 Gallery Award
Reading Level: 3.0
Published by Chronicle Books
Copyright February 28, 2007
ISBN# 1452131473 (PB, HB)
Tree-ear, an orphan in medieval Korea, lives under a bridge in a potters’ village, and longs to learn how to throw the delicate celadon ceramics himself.
2003-2004 Lamplighter Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by Clarion
Copyright April 23, 2001
ISBN# 0-395-97827-0 (PB, HB)
A poetic celebration of nontraditional pockets and what they hold, pointing out that a sock is a pocket for your toes and a vase is a pocket for a rose.
2006-2007 Gallery Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by HarperCollins
Copyright March 1, 2004
ISBN# 0-06-029526-0 (HB)
Narrative of 14 animals defying the odds coupled with illustrations to visualize the fascinating acts of each species in their living domain.
2014-2015 Lamplighter Award
Reading Level: 6.3
Published by Chronicle Books
Copyright August 22, 2012
ISBN# 9781452141251 (PB)
As the civil rights movement in the South gains momentum in 1963, the black residents, including Addie Ann Pickett, in the small town of Kuckachoo, Mississippi, begin their own courageous struggle for racial justice.
2010-2011 Lamplighter Award
Reading Level: 5.0
Published by Random House Children's Books
Copyright December 21, 2009
ISBN# 9780440422099 (PB)
A biography of an African girl brought to New England in 1761 who became famous on both sides of the Atlantic as the first Black poet in America.
2005-2006 Gallery Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by Candlewick
Copyright December 31, 2002
ISBN# 0-7636-0252-3 (PB, HB)
Jeff Corwin shares his story of how his love for all animals such as snakes and turtles developed his interest in the conservation of endangered species and ecosystems around the world.
2011-2012 Crown Award
Reading Level: 4.0
Published by Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
Copyright September 4, 2009
ISBN# 9780142414033 (PB)
Skinny and tall for his age, a young boy learns he shares those same traits with Abraham Lincoln, and that they have the same birthday. As he studies Mr. Lincoln, the boy opens his mind to great possibilities for his own future.
2001-2002 Gallery Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by Scholastic
Copyright October 1, 1999
ISBN# 0-590-45714-4, (PB, HB)
Gee recalls for her grandchildren what happened in 1960 in Nashville, Tennessee, when she, aged ten, passed out flyers while her cousins and other adults held sit-ins at restaurants and lunch counters to protest segregation.
2007-2008 Crown Award
Reading Level: 3.6
Published by Viking
Copyright July 21, 2005
ISBN# 0-670-06011-9 (PB, HB)
This book gives a glimpse into the boyhood of the sixteenth president of the United States. It shows him reading at every chance in between the chores and work of a pioneer family.
2005-2006 Gallery Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by Simon & Schuster
Copyright December 31, 2002
ISBN# 0-689-82554-4 (PB, HB)
Tells all about the habits of hummingbirds, accompanied by beautiful watercolor illustrations.
2013-2014 Gallery Award
Reading Level: 2.5
Published by Peachtree
Copyright July 1, 2011
ISBN# 9781561458370 (PB)
A young boy learns life lessons when he rides horses and camps out with his “abuelo gaucho” that he applies when faced with difficulties in his new big-city school.
2015-2016 Gallery Award
Reading Level: 2.5
Published by HarperCollins
Copyright April 22, 2014
ISBN# 978-0061686276 (HB)
In her diary, thirteen year-old Hattie chronicles her family’s arduous 1847 journey from Missouri to Oregon on the Oregon Trail. This is number four of the Dear America series.
2000-2001 Lamplighter Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by Scholastic
Copyright February 28, 1997
ISBN# 0-590-22651-7 (PB)
Humphrey, the classroom hamster, has many adventures in the library, learning about the ocean, and even sailing across a pond on a sailboat.
2011-2012 Crown Award
Reading Level: 4.0
Published by Penguin Young Readers Group
Copyright January 6, 2010
ISBN# 978-0142415146 (PB)
Hardly a day passes without Trille and Lena inventing some kind of adventure that often ends in trouble. Whether it’s coaxing a cow onto a boat or sledding down the steepest and iciest hill with a chicken, there is always a thrill and sometimes an injury to be had. Trille loves to share everything with Lena, even Auntie Granny’s waffles. But when Lena has to move away and Auntie Granny leaves the world, it sometimes seems like nothing will ever be right again. The warmth of friendship and the support of family suffuse this lightly illustrated novel, proving that when times are tough, a little taste of sweetness can make all the difference.
2017-2018 Crown Award
Reading Level: 4.8
Published by Candlewick Press
Copyright May 12, 2015
ISBN# 978-0763672812 (HB)
This story is based on a real person,nine-year-old Magulu, who is captured in Africa and sold into slavery in New England. Her life is followed until she, as an adult, becomes a teacher in her beloved homeland.
2016-2017 Crown Award
Reading Level: 5.3
Published by Candlewick
Copyright February 24, 2015
ISBN# 978-0763650384 (PB, HB)
Ten years after the end of World War II in the town of Rolfen, West Germany, a young boy named Peter discovers a secret about his past. This leads him to question everything in his peaceful town.
2011-2012 Lamplighter Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by HarperCollins Publishers
Copyright February 2, 2009
ISBN# 9780060295967 (HB)
Agnes lives in a tight-knit apartment building where she knows what it is like to be the only child in a place full of adults who never have time. When a little girl moves in to the building, everything changes.
Learn about albino animals, the genetics that causes albinism, and the survival challenges albinos face.
2006-2007 Lamplighter Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by Darby Creek
Copyright February 29, 2004
ISBN# 1-58196-012-3 (PB, HB)
Alfred Nobel invented dynamite, but was saddened by its destructive use. He became very wealthy from his invention, but used his fortune to create yearly prizes for those who created the greatest services to mankind.
2011-2012 Gallery Award
Reading Level: 4.0
Published by Sleeping Bear Press
Copyright April 15, 2009
ISBN# 9781585362813 (HB)
During the Civil War, Sallie Burd writes letters to Confederate and Union generals asking about their horses in order to write a book.
2005-2006 Gallery Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by Greenwillow
Copyright September 2, 2003
ISBN# 0-06-623810-2 (HB)
Fifth grader Harper Lee Morgan writes poetry and aspires to enter a contest, but her family’s financial troubles are getting in the way.
2011-2012 Crown Award
Reading Level: 5.0
Published by Square Fish
Copyright August 2, 2011
ISBN# 9780312659349 (PB)
A family of forest animals learns to cope with the death of a beloved friend.
2005-2006 Crown Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by Harcourt
Copyright April 15, 2003
ISBN# 0-15-216636-X (HB)
The story of a young fox, from her first month to an independent life with a family of her own.
2006-2007 Crown Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by Fitzhenry & Whiteside
Copyright February 25, 2004
ISBN# 1-55041-811-4 (PB, HB)
A story of contemporary America through poetry against a backdrop of delightful illustrations.
2004-2005 Gallery Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by Margaret K. McElderry
Copyright May 1, 2002
ISBN# 0-689-83900-6 (PB, HB)
Because their Uncle John is a POW in Vietnam, three children set a special table in his memory & of others fallen or MIA.
2006-2007 Crown Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by Sleeping Bear Press
Copyright May 1, 2005
ISBN# 1-58536-216-6 (HB)
Thirteen-year-old Nina is threatened by the Population Police, who give her the option of helping them identify “third-born” children, or facing death.
2004-2005 Lamplighter Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by Simon & Schuster
Copyright June 1, 2002
ISBN# 0-689-83905-7 (PB, HB)
Amy loves to make bao with her family. But it takes skill to make the bao taste and look delicious. And her bao keep coming out all wrong. Then she has an idea that may give her a second chance…Will Amy ever make the perfect bao?
From tiny hummingbird eggs to fossilized dinosaur eggs, this book captures the incredible variety of eggs and celebrates their beauty and wonder.
2008-2009 Gallery Award
Reading Level: 4.0
Published by Chronicle Books
Copyright March 6, 2006
ISBN# 0-8118-5554-6 (HB)
Frankie and his eight brothers and sisters learn lessons about giving, family, and tradition during a snowy Michigan Christmas long ago.
2006-2007 Crown Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by Philomel
Copyright September 16, 2004
ISBN# 0-399-24302-X (PB, HB)
Andy Shane along with his friend, Delores Starbuckle, raise money so Andy can buy an unbirthday gift for his Granny Webb. Along the way, Andy discovers his Granny’s binoculars are missing and he uses his detective skills to solve the case.
2012-2013 Gallery Award
Reading Level: 3.0
Published by Candlewick Press
Copyright August 24, 2010
ISBN# 9780763648275 (PB)
In 1914, Katya, the daughter of a lady-in-waiting, sees her safe world fall apart when the Tsar is deposed in war-torn Russia.
2003-2004 Lamplighter Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by HarperCollins
Copyright September 1, 2001
ISBN# 0-06-029031-5 (PB)
Every Christmas in the small town of Pine River, a tree appears in the town square—the Angel Tree. Some people tie wishes to the tree, while others make those wishes come true. Nobody’s ever known where the tree comes from, but the mystery has always been part of the tradition’s charm. This year, however, four kids who have been helped—Lucy, Joe, Max, and Cami—are determined to solve the mystery and find out the true identity of the town’s guardian angel, so that Pine River can finally thank the person who brought the Angel Tree to their town.
2017-2018 Crown Award
Reading Level: 5.7
Published by Scholastic Press
Copyright September 30, 2014
ISBN# 978-0545613781 (HB)
These are heartwarming, true stories of how dogs, cats, cows, monkeys, and even dolphins use their normal senses or special training to help people in trouble or in need all over the world.
2010-2011 Crown Award
Reading Level: 5.0
Published by Lerner Publishing Group
Copyright September 28, 2008
ISBN# 9780822578840 (HB)
With striking photographs, the author reveals the truth about nature’s grossest, fiercest, most fascinating and yet most misunderstood animals.
2003-2004 Crown Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by SeaStar
Copyright February 28, 2001
ISBN# 1-58717-079-5 (PB, HB)
Non-fiction memoir of a popular author who shares true stories of animals and family while living on a wildlife sanctuary as an animal rescuer.
2014-2015 Lamplighter Award
Reading Level: 6.0
Published by Penguin
Copyright August 16, 2012
ISBN# 9780525423997 (HB)
Anna Maria lives in an orphanage in Venice. It is also a famous music school that allows her to continue to play the violin until a rival throws it in the canals.
2011-2012 Gallery Award
Reading Level: 3.0
Published by Random House Children's Books
Copyright April 27, 2010
ISBN# 9780375898280 (HB)
Anna loves to watch her father at his bookbinding business. When he is unable to finish an important client’s books, Anna is determined to take matters into her own hands.
2005-2006 Crown Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by Walker
Copyright February 28, 2003
ISBN# 0-8027-8831-9 (HB)
Three generations of the Nickel family reunite, when Anna, her mom, dad, and younger sister Isabella, relocate to Oakwood, Kansas.
2016-2017 Crown Award
Reading Level: 4.0
Published by HarperCollins
Copyright August 27, 2013
ISBN# 978-0060564933 (HB)
A biography of Anne Frank, written and illustrated for younger children.
2007-2008 Crown Award
Reading Level: 5.1
Published by Knopf Books for Young Readers
Copyright August 23, 2005
ISBN# 978-0375832420 (PB, HB)
In 1775 Patrick Henry’s ten-year-old daughter, Annie, tries to concentrate on her day-to-day activities but is increasingly caught up in her father’s role in the colonists’ growing unrest. This title was on the Crown list in 1994 and has been republished as a set of four books. By request from the publisher an endorsement was given by Sandra Morrow, the originator of the Children’s Crown Awards.
2013-2014 Crown Award
Reading Level: 5.0
Published by P & R Publishing
Copyright June 18, 2011
ISBN# 9781596383753 (PB)
Jack Plank Tells Tales, by Natalie Babbitt, RL 5. An out-of-work pirate, Jack Plank, comes ashore to look for a different line of work, but every night he explains how each non-sailing career he has investigated just won’t work for him.
2009-2010 Crown Award
Reading Level: 4.0
Published by Eerdmans Books
Copyright January 4, 2009
ISBN# 802853544 (PB)
Eleven-year-old Suzy just can’t win. Her brother is a local hero for calling 911 after seeing their elderly neighbor collapse, and only her best friend was able to win a role in the play they both auditioned for. Feeling cast aside from all angles, Suzy sees a kindred spirit in Emily Dickinson, the subject of her summer project. Suzy decides to escape from her disappointments by emulating the poet’s life of solitude: no visitors or phone calls (only letters delivered through her window), no friends (except her goldfish, Ottilie), and no outings (except church, but only if she can wear her long white Emily dress). But being a recluse is harder than Suzy predicted. Will she find a way to fold Emily into her life while also remaining true to herself?
2017-2018 Crown Award
Reading Level: 3.2
Published by Knopf Books for Young Readers
Copyright May 13, 2014
ISBN# 978-0449809884 (PB)
Sophie and Mr. and Mrs. Noah, owners of a pet store, become special friends as they share their love for animals.
2002-2003 Crown Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by Holt
Copyright June 1, 2000
ISBN# 0-8050-6221-1 (PB, HB)
It is 1891 and Harry Fogg and his crew have 100 days to circle the entire globe. Only cars on land and boats in the water are allowed.
2012-2013 Lamplighter Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
Copyright November 9, 2011
ISBN# 9780142419632 (PB)
Toby loves basking in the morning sun, snuggling in a lap in the afternoon, and toasting his tummy by the fireside at night, but somehow his warm spots never last. What Toby wants more than anything is to find something as warm as the sun that never fades or fizzles.
2020-2021 Gallery Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by Neal Porter Books
Copyright August 13, 2019
ISBN# 978-0823443277 (HB)
As the Revolutionary War rages on, Isabel and Curzon have narrowly escaped Valley Forge, but their relief is short-lived. Before long they are reported as runaways, and the awful Bellingham is determined to track them down. With purpose and faith, Isabel and Curzon march on, fiercely determined to find Isabel’s little sister Ruth, who is enslaved in a Southern state where bounty hunters are thick as flies.
2018-2019 Lamplighter Award
Reading Level: 5.6
Published by Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books
Copyright October 3, 2016
ISBN# 978-1416961468 (HB)
In 1952, a young girl writes a letter to Albert Einstein, the most famous mathematician and scientist of the day, to request help for her fifteen- year-old sister, Annabel, in solving a very important math problem. A fictionalized story based on an actual event that appeared in The New York Times in May 1952.
2007-2008 Crown Award
Reading Level: 3.6
Published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Copyright September 15, 2005
ISBN# 0-374-30435-1 (HB)
In 17th century London, Meg dreams of becoming a bookseller like her father.
2002-2003 Lamplighter Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by FSG
Copyright September 17, 2002
ISBN# 374404585 (PB, HB)
A guided A – Z tour through the institution called the “library”, including its earliest forms, systems and practices, famous booklovers and librarians, and even definitions of basic book components.
2007-2008 Crown Award
Reading Level: 6.1
Published by Sleeping Bear Press
Copyright October 31, 2011
ISBN# 1-58536-145-3 (PB, HB)
After Baby Whale is born he swims with his mother and, surrounded with a protective pod, he begins to grow and learn. As he watches all around him, soon Baby Whale comes to know all the ways of the whales and of the sea.
2001-2002 Gallery Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by Chronicle
Copyright September 1, 1999
ISBN# 0-8118-2496-9 (PB, HB)
Third grader Betsy and her friend Billy seem to be always getting into scrapes both inside and outside of school.
2006-2007 Crown Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by Harcourt
Copyright May 1, 2004
ISBN# 0-15-205105-8 (HB)
This is a picture book biography of Tony Sarg, the man who developed Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, beloved by Americans for generations.
2015-2016 Crown Award
Reading Level: 5.4
Published by Houghton
Copyright November 1, 2011
ISBN# 0547199457 (PB)
This book tells the story of two boys on opposite sides of the conflict between the Burmese government and the Karenni. One serves in the Burmese army while the other fights for independence.
2012-2013 Lamplighter Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by Charlesbridge Publishing, Inc.
Copyright July 1, 2012
ISBN# 9781580893299 (PB)
Growing up in Iraq after the Gulf War, Mooz didn’t always like his name, which means “banana”. But when he learns the story behind it, he’s proud, even when being teased by his classmates. Now all he yearns for is to taste a banana—a lofty dream in a time when few countries are trading with Iraq, where bananas don’t grow.
Gino Bartali pedaled across Italy for years, winning one cycling race after another, including the 1938 Tour de France. Gino became an international sports hero! But the next year, World War II began, and it changed everything. Soldiers marched into Italy. Tanks rolled down the cobbled streets of Florence. And powerful leaders declared that Jewish people should be arrested.
To the entire world, Gino Bartali was merely a champion cyclist. But Gino’s greatest achievement was something he never told a soul—that he secretly worked with the Italian resistance to save hundreds of Jewish men, women, and children, and others, from certain death, using the one thing no authority would question: his bicycle.
A young backwoods boy wants to make baskets just like his family until he is taunted during a trip to a big city.
2002-2003 Gallery Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by Little, Brown
Copyright September 1, 1999
ISBN# 0-316-73521-3 (PB, HB)
Dennis is an ordinary boy who expresses himself in extraordinary ways. Some children do show-and-tell. Dennis mimes his. Some children climb trees. Dennis is happy to BE a tree . . . But being a mime can be lonely. It isn’t until Dennis meets a girl named Joy that he discovers the power of friendship—and how special he truly is! At its core, this book is a heartwarming story of self-acceptance, courage, and unbreakable friendship for anyone who has ever felt ‘different.’
2018-2019 Gallery Award
Reading Level: 1.9
Published by Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Copyright January 4, 2016
ISBN# 978-1619639515 (HB)
When Tanisha spills grape juice all over her new dress, her classmate wants to make her feel better, wondering: What does it mean to be kind?
From asking the new girl to play to standing up for someone being bullied, this moving story explores what kindness is, and how any act, big or small, can make a difference―or at least help a friend.
2019-2020 Gallery Award
Reading Level: 2.2
Published by Roaring Brook Press
Copyright February 6, 2017
ISBN# 978-1626723214 (HB)
Readers will experience the chain-breaking liberty of knowing the Lord’s presence and the freedom to be unique. This full-color, hardback book includes pictures from Emma Mae’s life, along with key Bible verses that God used to strengthen and guide her through the ups and downs of her high school years as a young Christian. Readers will learn to face the challenges of their student years with religion, courage, hope, and lifegiving love for others.
These 50-pound bundles of energy and courage routinely take on 400-pound grizzlies to steer problem bears away from trouble.
2003-2004 Crown Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by Walker
Copyright February 28, 2001
ISBN# 0-8027-8759-2 (HB)
On the last night of summer, Emma tags along with her game warden father on a routine call. They’re supposed to rescue a wild rabbit from a picket fence, but instead they find a little bunny. Emma convinces her father to bring him home for the night. The next day, Emma starts public school for the very first time after years of being homeschooled. More than anything, Emma wants to make a best friend in school. But things don’t go as planned. On the first day of school, she’s paired with a boy named Jack for a project. He can’t stay on topic, he speaks out of turn, and he’s obsessed with animals. Jack doesn’t fit in, and Emma’s worried he’ll make her stand out. Emma and Jack bond over her rescue rabbit. But will their new friendship keep Emma from finding the new best friend she’s meant to have?
2020-2021 Crown Award
Reading Level: 4.3
Published by Scholastic Press
Copyright April 26, 2019
ISBN# 978-0545914246 (HB)
The highlight of Joseph Paul’s growing up years was listening to baseball games on the radio & learning the rules of the game at his grandfather’s knee.
2004-2005 Crown Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by Candlewick
Copyright January 31, 2002
ISBN# 0-7636-1537-4 (PB, HB)
We know her today as Harriet Tubman, but in her lifetime she was called by many names. As General Tubman she was a Union spy. As Moses she led hundreds to freedom on the Underground Railroad. As Minty she was a slave whose spirit could not be broken. An evocative poem and opulent watercolors come together to honor a woman of humble origins whose courage and compassion make her larger than life.
2018-2019 Gallery Award
Reading Level: 4.5
Published by Holiday House
Copyright November 6, 2017
ISBN# 978-0823420476 (HB)
LeGrand tells a real life story of his journey as he fights to walk again after being tackled on the football field in a college game leaving him paralyzed. He inspires his fans with his personal motto to “believe.”
2014-2015 Lamplighter Award
Reading Level: 6.4
Published by HarperCollins
Copyright September 25, 2012
ISBN# 9780062225825 (HB)
Ten-year-old Ben thinks he and his father make a “cool” family, but Ben has to rethink what is “all right” and “not all right” when his father remarries and adopts a baby from China.
2009-2010 Crown Award
Reading Level: 5.0
Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Copyright March 20, 2007
ISBN# 9780374706876 (HB)
Brooke is the perfect older sister. For that reason, Kari and Ashley work hard to make their parents just as proud of them as they are of Brooke. Each girl has her own talents. Brooke is an excellent student. Kari is a great soccer player. Ashley, a talented artist. And they are always there for each other. But when the news comes that Dr. Baxter is moving the family from Ann Arbor to Bloomington, Indiana, and the Baxters need to leave the only home and friends they’ve ever known, no one is happy. Saying goodbye is hard but the family still has what’s most important—their faith and their love for each other.
2020-2021 Crown Award
Reading Level: 3.2
Published by Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books
Copyright February 5, 2019
ISBN# 978-1534412156 (HB)
In the aftermath of the natural disasters that have struck her country, eleven-year-old Maya is luckier than many. Her family didn’t lose their home, their lives, or each other. But Maya still can’t help feeling paralyzed with terror, and each aftershock that ripples out in the days that follow makes her fear all over again that her luck could change in an instant.
Twelve-year-old Crow has lived her entire life on a tiny, isolated piece of the starkly beautiful Elizabeth Islands in Massachusetts. Abandoned and set adrift in a small boat when she was just hours old, Crow’s only companions are Osh, the man who rescued and raised her, and Miss Maggie, their fierce and affectionate neighbor across the sandbar. Crow has always been curious about the world around her, but it isn’t until the night a mysterious fire appears across the water that the unspoken question of her own history forms in her heart. Soon, an unstoppable chain of events is triggered, leading Crow down a path of discovery and danger.
2018-2019 Lamplighter Award
Reading Level: 4.8
Published by Dutton Books for Young Readers
Copyright May 1, 2017
ISBN# 978-1101994856 (HB)
Ten-year-old Nashville doesn’t feel like he belongs with his family, in his town, or even in this world. He was hatched from an egg his father found on the sidewalk and has grown into something not quite boy and not quite bird. Despite the support of his loving parents and his adoring sister, Junebug, Nashville wishes more than anything that he could join his fellow birds up in the sky. After all, what’s the point of being part bird if you can’t even touch the clouds?
2016-2017 Lamplighter Award
Reading Level: 5.4
Published by Penguin Young Readers Group
Copyright October 2, 2014
ISBN# 9780142423059 (PB)
When thirteen-year-old Alexa embarks on a mysterious quest, she finds her old friends Yipes, the little man, Murphy, the squirrel, Odessa, the wolf, and Squire, the hawk have been designated to help her.
2007-2008 Lamplighter Award
Reading Level: 6.2
Published by Orchard
Copyright September 1, 2005
ISBN# 0-439-70094-9 (PB, HB)
In the late nineteenth century, Lillie gains friendship and help with a spelling bee from a neighbor who braves criticism to speak out about women’s rights.
2005-2006 Gallery Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by Henry Holt
Copyright September 1, 2003
ISBN# 0-8050-6981-X (HB)
On his eighth birthday, Billy Miller wishes for something exciting to happen. None of his wishes are answered the way he expects, but he does have lots of surprises, and the final one is possibly the best one ever.
Chang cannot talk, at least not to people. The only sounds he can make are the squawks and caws of the cormorants that his father trains for fishing. Chang loves birds, and he is thrilled when he is finally old enough to join his father on important fishing trips.
2001-2002 Crown Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by FSG
Copyright April 30, 1999
ISBN# 0-374-30723-7 (PB, HB)
An African American girl ponders the many black things around her, from the inside of her pocket to the cozy night where there is no light.
2005-2006 Crown Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by Lee & Low
Copyright January 31, 2003
ISBN# 1-58430-048-5 (PB)
Black Beauty is depicted in the first few months of the horse’s life as a foal frolicking in the meadow.
2008-2009 Gallery Award
Reading Level: 3.0
Published by Sleeping Bear Press
Copyright September 28, 2006
ISBN# 1-58536-296-4 (HB)
This is the story of the first year of Nell and her four coyote siblings. Her black coat makes her a hunter’s prize. So not only must she learn how to feed herself, but also about the dangers that humans thrust upon all wildlife.
2001-2002 Crown Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by Groundwood
Copyright March 30, 1998
ISBN# 0-88899-318-8 (PB, HB)
Admiral Richard Byrd stayed alone on the continent of Antarctica for almost six months in 1934. He battled the elements, the loneliness, and an illness that nearly killed him, all the while continuing to record his scientific observations.
2000-2001 Crown Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by Atheneum
Copyright March 1, 1998
ISBN# 0-689-81299-X (PB, HB)
When her aunt and uncle take her from New Mexico to Lugano, Switzerland, to attend an international school, thirteen-year-old Dinnie discovers an expanding world and her place in it.
2000-2001 Lamplighter Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by Harper Collins
Copyright September 11, 1998
ISBN# 0-06-026993-6 (PB, HB)
Glory Bea Bennett knows that miracles happen in Gladiola, Texas, population 3,421. After all, her grandmother—the best matchmaker in the whole county—is responsible for thirty-nine of them. Now, Glory Bea needs a miracle of her own. The war ended three years ago, but Glory Bea’s father never returned home from the front in France. Glory Bea understands what Mama and Grams and Grandpa say—that Daddy died a hero on Omaha Beach—yet deep down in her heart, she believes Daddy is still out there. When the Gladiola Gazette reports that one of the boxcars from the Merci Train (the “thank you” train)—a train filled with gifts of gratitude from the people of France—will be stopping in Gladiola, she just knows daddy will be its surprise cargo. But miracles, like people, are always changing, until at last they find their way home.
A nonfiction picture book, The Blue Whale draws children into the life and world of this enormous whale by situating facts within a familiar context that is fun and engaging.
2016-2017 Gallery Award
Reading Level: 5.3
Published by Enchanted Lion Books
Copyright May 26, 2015
ISBN# 978-1592701650 (HB)
During a typically boring summer in a small town, a vaudeville troupe with various exotic animals, come to stay at a nearby lake. Henry meets Buster Keaton, a real performer a long time ago, and exciting things begin to happen.
2016-2017 Crown Award
Reading Level: 2.5
Published by Candlewick
Copyright July 23, 2013
ISBN# 978-0763650797 (HB)
Picture-book biography about a poor child in rural Kenya who becomes a doctor and returns to his village to open a medical clinic.
2013-2014 Gallery Award
Reading Level: 4.0
Published by Vanita Books
Copyright April 1, 2010
ISBN# 9780981971445 (PB)
For twelve-year-old Emily, the best thing about moving to San Francisco is that it’s the home city of her literary idol: Garrison Griswold, book publisher and creator of the online sensation Book Scavenger (a game where books are hidden in cities all over the country and clues to find them are revealed through puzzles). Upon her arrival, however, Emily learns that Griswold has been attacked and is now in a coma, and no one knows anything about the epic new game he had been poised to launch. Then Emily and her new friend James discover an odd book, which they come to believe is from Griswold himself, and might contain the only copy of his mysterious new game.
2016-2017 Lamplighter Award
Reading Level: 5.5
Published by Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Copyright June 2, 2015
ISBN# 9781627791151 (HB)
In 1895, a former sea captain attempts to be the first to sail around the world in his rebuilt sloop.
2003-2004 Crown Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by Orchard
Copyright October 31, 2001
ISBN# 0-439-29305-7 (HB)
After a young Dutch girl writes to her new American friend in thanks for the care package sent after World War II, she begins to receive increasingly larger packages.
2005-2006 Gallery Award
Reading Level: 0.0
Published by Farrar, Strauss, Giroux
Copyright September 12, 2003
ISBN# 0-374-30922-1 (HB)
For Bixby Alexander Tam (nicknamed Bat), life tends to be full of surprises—some of them good, some not so good. Today, though, is a good-surprise day. Bat’s mom, a veterinarian, has brought home a baby skunk, which she needs to take care of until she can hand him over to a wild-animal shelter. But the minute Bat meets the kit, he knows they belong together. And he’s got one month to show his mom that a baby skunk might just make a pretty terrific pet.
2019-2020 Crown Award
Reading Level: 4.6
Published by Walden Pond Press
Copyright March 14, 2017
ISBN# 978-0062445827 (HB)