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Rhode Island Children's Book Award

 

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2024 Winner and 2025 Nominees

The 2024 Rhode Island Children's Book Award winner is Killer Underwear Invasion!: How to Spot Fake News, Disinformation & Conspiracy Theories by Elise Gravel! This year 7,160 students from 99 schools and public libraries voted for their favorite 2024 nominee. Check out the Award Winners and Nominees page for more details, including the breakdown of votes and the list of 2025 nominees.

RI Childrens Book Award

Free 2025 RICBA Book Sets for School Libraries

Book Set Application (2025 book set application now closed)

The Office of Library and Information Services (OLIS) in partnership with the RI Center for the Book (RICfB) is offering book sets of the 2025 RI Children Book Award nominees to school libraries planning to participate in voting for the 2025 award in March - April 2025. Due to the limited number of book sets available, OLIS and RICfB may not be able to fulfill all requests and priority will be given to school libraries that demonstrate need.

Book sets are only available to school libraries, and the application may only be submitted by a school librarian. If your school does not have a librarian and you wish to apply on behalf of your school, please contact Danielle Margarida.

If your library received a set of 2024 RICBA nominees and your school did not participate in 2024 voting you are not eligible to apply for a 2025 book set.

School libraries that accept and receive a book set are required to conduct RICBA voting at their school March - April 2025 and must submit the voting results to OLIS by the April voting deadline. Failure to participate in voting will exclude a school library from receiving a book set in future years.

Please submit your application online by Monday, September 9. Applicants will be notified of their acceptance status by September 16. Book sets will be shipped to schools early October.

Please contact Danielle Margarida with any questions.

The RI Children's Book Award is a project of the RI Office of Library and Information Services (OLIS) and is co-sponsored by the School Librarians of Rhode Island, the Rhode Island Library Association, and the Rhode Island Center for the Book. The 2025 RI Children's Book Award book set distribution is supported by OLIS and the RI Center for the Book, with funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
 

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 champion 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-bias 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.

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.

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