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Rhode Island Children's Book Award

 

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2023 Winner and 2024 Nominees

The 2023 Rhode Island Children's Book Award winner is Allergic by Megan Wagner Lloyd and Michelle Mee Nutter! This year 7,069 students from 107 schools and public libraries voted for their favorite 2023 nominee. Check out the Award Winners and Nominees page for more details, including the breakdown of votes and the list of 2024 nominees.

RI Childrens Book Award

About the Annual List of Nominees

The Rhode Island Children’s Book Award Committee, composed of Rhode Island teachers, school librarians, and public librarians, works annually to create a diverse list of nominated books using specific criteria. The committee is intentional in seeking books that affirm marginalized groups and champions stories and characters that reflect the lived experiences of Rhode Island youth as well as the larger world. The committee aims to provide an annual list of nominees that maintains diversity in race, gender, sexuality, family makeup, socioeconomic status, and ability. Nominee lists are thoughtfully curated with an anti-racist lens, to allow all youth to be seen and their voices actively heard. The Rhode Island Children’s Book Award Committee believes representation matters and strives to create mirrors, windows and prisms for all children.
A growing list of resources for addressing book challenges can be found on the RICBA LibGuide at https://olis-ri.libguides.com/ricba/challenges.

About

Beginning in 2018, children in grades 3 to 5 have the opportunity to vote on their favorite book from a ballot of 20 selections nominated for the Rhode Island Children’s Book Award by a panel of librarians, reading specialists and teachers. Children vote as part of their class or with their local public library. The award began in 1990 as a joint project of the Rhode Island State Council of the International Reading Association, the Rhode Island Library Association, and the Rhode Island Educational Media Association, under the coordination of the Rhode Island Office of Library and Information Services. Today, the Rhode Island Children's Book Award is co-sponsored by the School Librarians of Rhode Island (SLRI), the Rhode Island Library Association (RILA), and the Rhode Island Center for the Book at the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities (RICFB), and is advised by the Rhode Island Office of Library and Information Services (OLIS).Three public youth services librarians, three members of SLRI, and three members of RICFB are each chosen to each serve three year terms on the committee.

Members

2023 - 2024 RICBA Committee Members, advised by Danielle Margarida, OLIS Youth Services Coordinator.

  • School Librarians: Michaela Reed, Marissa Salvas, Katie O'Kane, Jaime Beauvais
  • Public Youth Services Librarians: Pam Miech, Nomi Hague, Lynda LaCava, Rebecca Lelli
  • Teachers:

Additional Reading Programs