BATON ROUGE, La. – Entering its 22nd year, the Louisiana Readers' Choice (LYRC/LTRC) Awards Program is excited to announce the 2022-2023 nominated title lists for grades 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12. Since the program's first list in 1999, over 400,000 students have read the recommended titles and voted for their favorites, reading more than 1.3 million books in the process.
Every year thousands of students from elementary to high school age vote for their favorite book from a list of titles curated by librarians serving on the LYRC/LTRC committees from across the state. Many students cast their ballots on real voting machines supplied by the Secretary of State's Voter Outreach Division.
"The Louisiana Readers' Choice Awards is just one of the many phenomenal programs offered through the State Library which inspires a love of reading in the young people of our state," said Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser. "Studies show children and young adults who develop a love of reading do better in school. They have better writing and spelling skills. They even develop more motivation and confidence in life."
The 2022-2023 Louisiana Readers' Choice Awards nominated titles list includes seven Junior Library Guild Selections, seven YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers, two CILIP Carniegie Medal Nominees, two Schneider Family Honor Books, a Stonewall Honor Book, a Newbury Honor Book, and a National Book Award Finalist. They have earned sixty starred reviews overall and were written by outstanding authors such as Matthew Cordell, Lev Grossman, Nic Stone, Christina Soontornvat, Kacen Callender, Lamar Giles, and Ibi Zoboi. From fiction to nonfiction, picture books to novels, science fiction to romance, historical to contemporary, these carefully chosen booklists cover a variety of interests and genres, so there is something for every reader.
"The titles on these lists are selected by professional school and public librarians from across the state with decades of experience working with children and children's literature," said State Librarian Rebecca Hamilton. "The nominated titles represent a variety of interests and viewpoints. Finding similarities with people who look and think differently helps connect us and fuels compassion. These are books that kids will love and the will inspires them to keep reading beyond the classroom walls, helping to create a culture of literacy in Louisiana, all of which is a key part of our mission here at the State Library."
The Louisiana Readers' Choice is a reading enrichment program of the Louisiana Center for the Book in the State Library of Louisiana, which is the state affiliate for the National Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. Its mission is to foster a love of reading in the children of Louisiana by motivating them to participate in the recognition of outstanding books. According to a 2019 Kids Count report, 74% of Louisiana's fourth graders and 73% of Louisiana's eighth graders are not reading at a proficient level. The Louisiana Center for the Book and the State Library of Louisiana believe fostering a lifelong love of reading among Louisianans will contribute to the state's overall economic growth and quality of life.
For information about the program including previous winners, how to participate, and additional resources such as free bookmarks, posters, and study guides, please visit the Louisiana Readers' Choice Awards Program webpage.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Rebecca Hamilton
State Library of Louisiana
225-342-4923
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Veronica Mosgrove
Office of the Lieutenant Governor
225-342-7009
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Louisiana Readers’ Choice (LYRC/LTRC) Awards Program
2022-2023 Nominated Titles
Grades 3-5:
- All the Way to the Top: How One Girl’s Fight for Americans with Disabilities Changed Everything written by Annette Bay Pimentel, illustrated by Nabi H. Ali (Sourcebooks Explore, Sourcebooks)
- The Arabic Quilt: An Immigrant Story written by Aya Khalil, illustrated by Anait Semirdzhyan (Tilbury House Publishers, W.W. Norton)
- The Best of Iggy written by Annie Barrows, illustrated by Sam Ricks (G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, Penguin Random House)
- The Boy Who Grew Dragons written by Andy Shepherd (little bee books, Simon & Schuster)
- Claude: The True Story of a White Alligator written by Emma Bland Smith, illustrated by Jennifer M. Potter (Little Bigfoot, Penguin Random House)
- Dinosaur Lady: The Daring Discoveries of Mary Anning, the First Paleontologist written by Linda Skeers, illustrated by Marta Álvarez Miguéns (Sourcebooks Explore, Sourcebooks)
- The Great Pet Heist by Emily Ecton, illustrated by David Mottram (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, Simon & Schuster)
- Hello Neighbor!: The Kind and Caring World of Mister Rogers written and illustrated by Matthew Cordell (Neal Porter Books, Penguin Random House)
- The Messy Life of Blue written by Shawna Railey (little bee books, Simon & Schuster)
- Midnight at the Barclay Hotel written by Fleur Bradley, illustrated by Xavier Bonet (Viking Books for Young Readers, Penguin Random House)
- The Polio Pioneer: Dr. Jonas Salk and the Polio Vaccine written by Linda Elovitz Marshall, illustrated by Lisa Anchin (Knopf Books for Young Readers, Penguin Random House)
- Shirley Chisholm Is a Verb written by Veronica Chambers, illustrated by Rachelle Baker (Dial Books, Penguin Random House)
- The Silver Arrow written by Lev Grossman (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, Hachette)
- Swish!: The Slam-Dunking, Alley-Ooping, High-Flying Harlem Globetrotters written by Suzanne Slade, illustrated by Don Tate (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, Hachette)
- This Way, Charlie written by Caron Lewis, illustrated by Charles Santoso (Abrams Books for Young Readers, Abrams)
Grades 6-8:
- 96 Miles written by J.L. Esplin (Starscape, Macmillan)
- Bloom written by Kenneth Oppel (Knopf Books for Young Readers, Penguin Random House)
- City Spies written by James Ponti (Aladdin, Simon & Schuster)
- Clean Getaway written by Nic Stone, illustrated by Dawud Anyabwile (Crown Books for Young Readers, Penguin Random House)
- Danny Constantino’s First (and Maybe Last?) Date written by Paul Acampora (HarperCollins)
- Dress Coded written by Carrie Firestone (G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, Penguin Random House)
- From the Desk of Zoe Washington written by Janae Marks (Katherine Tegen Books, HarperCollins)
- Twins written by Varian Johnson, illustrated by Shannon Wright (Graphix, Scholastic)
- When Life Gives You Mangos written by Kereen Getten (Delacorte Press, Penguin Random House)
- When Stars Are Scattered written by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed, illustrated by Victoria Jamieson and Iman Geddy (Dial Books, Penguin Random House)
- Wink written and illustrated by Rob Harrell (Dial Books, Penguin Random House)
- A Wish in the Dark written by Christina Soontornvat (Candlewick, Candlewick Press)
Grades 9-12 (Teen):
- Almost American Girl written and illustrated by Robin Ha (Balzer + Bray, HarperCollins)
- Deeplight written by Frances Hardinge (Harry N. Abrams, Abrams)
- Felix Ever After written by Kacen Callender (Balzer + Bray, HarperCollins)
- Here the Whole Time written by Vitor Martins (Scholastic Press, Scholastic)
- I’ll Be the One written by Lyla Lee (Katherine Tegen Books, HarperCollins)
- The Light in Hidden Places written by Sharon Cameron (Scholastic Press, Scholastic)
- Not So Pure and Simple written by Lamar Giles (Quill Tree Books, HarperCollins)
- Punching the Air written by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam (Balzer + Bray, HarperCollins)
- This Is My America written by Kim Johnson (Random House Books for Young Readers, Penguin Random House)
- This Train Is Being Held written by Ismée Williams (Harry N. Abrams, Abrams)
