Name the Best
It’s the season for the People’s Choice Awards, the ALA Youth Media Awards, and the announcement of the nominees for the Golden Globes and Academy Awards. Public and school libraries looking for ideas for programming might consider pulling ideas from these much-anticipated events. Children and young adults may already participate in the book-award programs in their state or in mock Newbery, Caldecott, and Printz award-selection groups.
Let’s take the award season a bit further and encourage readers to make their choices for best book and best character in categories named by readers. They may select genres like historical fiction, fantasy, realistic fiction, science fiction, or nonfiction. It may be fun to narrow the categories to specific themes and topics.
Have readers write a nomination for each suggested category. Post the nominations on the school and public library websites to engage other readers in the school and community. Here are suggestions from Random House:
Humor
Betty Goes Bananas (picture book) by Steve Antony
While You Were Napping (picture book) by Jenny Offill and illustrated by Barry Blitt
Freckle Juice (elementary) by Judy Blume
Family Ties (middle grade) by Gary Paulsen
Death by Toilet Paper (middle grade) by Donna Gephart
Flush (middle grade) by Carl Hiaasen
7 Kinds of Ordinary Catastrophes (young adult) by Amber Kizer
Andromeda Klein (young adult) by Frank Portman
Adventure
Doug Unplugs on the Farm (picture book) by Dan Yaccarino
In New York (picture book) by Marc Brown
The $25,000 Flight (Totally True Adventures) (elementary) by Lori Haskins Houran and illustrated by Wesley Lowe
Chomp (middle grade) by Carl Hiaasen
Navigating Early (middle grade) by Clare Vanderpool
Boys of Blur (middle grade) by N. D. Wilson
The Living (young adult) by Matt de la Peña
Fantasy
Puss in Boots (picture book) by Kathryn Jackson and illustrated by J. P. Miller
Emma and the Blue Genie (elementary) by Cornelia Funke and illustrated by Kerstin Meyer
A Matter-of-Fact Magic Book: The Witch at the Window (elementary) by Ruth Chew
Gabriel Finley and the Raven’s Riddle (middle grade) by George Hagen
Unmade (young adult) by Sarah Rees Brennan
Classic
Anatole (picture book) by Eve Titus
The Little Island (picture book) by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Leonard Weisgard
Harriet the Spy (middle grade) by Louise Fitzhugh
Where the Red Fern Grows (middle grade) by Wilson Rawls
A Day No Pigs Would Die (young adult) by Robert Newton Peck
I Am the Cheese (young adult) by Robert Cormier
Best Series
Junie B. Jones (early reader) by Barbara Park
Babymouse (elementary) by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm
Alvin Ho (elementary) by Lenore Look and illustrated by LeUyen Pham
Calvin Coconut (elementary) by Graham Salisbury
Cheesie Mack (elementary) by Steve Cotler
Jackson Jones (elementary) by Mary Quattlebaum
The Boys and Girls (middle grade) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Sammy Keyes (young adult) by Wendelin van Draanen
Most Admired Character
Ida Lewis from The Bravest Woman in America (picture book) by Marissa Moss and illustrated by Andrea U’Ren
The boy from Paperboy (middle grade) by Vince Vawter
Clare Silver from Laugh with the Moon (middle grade) by Shana Burg
Auggie Pullman from Wonder (middle grade) by R. J. Palacio
Kenny from The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963 (middle grade) by Christopher Paul Curtis
Andi Alpers from Revolution (young adult) by Jennifer Donnelly
Jerry from The Chocolate War (young adult) by Robert Cormier
Hattie Brooks from Hattie Big Sky and Hattie Ever After (young adult) by Kirby Larson