THE BLUEBONNETS ARE COMING! 

Not the flowers - but the 2023 recommended reading list will be announced at the Texas Book Festival this Saturday by the Texas Library Association (TLA)! Quick refresher - TLA presents a list of books each fall and 3rd - 6th graders have a bit over a year to read at least five of the twenty books and then - in early 2024 - choose the one they liked the best. (In January, 2023, kids will vote on the list announced last year in November of 2021 - which I am including below.) I have absolutely no idea which books will be on the next list, but I am going to provide titles that I have liked and maybe at least one of them will show up on the list? And maybe you will find a new book to read!

Here goes!

CHAPTER BOOKS 

Alias Anna: A True Story of Outwitting the Nazis by Susan Hood and Greg Dawson

Always, Clementine by Carlie Sorosiak 

The Astronomically Grand Plan, Astrid the Astronaut #1 by Rie Neal

Endlessly Ever After: Pick Your Path to Countless Fairy Tale Endings! 

by Laurel Snyder

Hummingbird by Natalie Lloyd 

It's the End of the World and I'm in My Bathing Suit by Justin A. Reynolds 

The Last Mapmaker by Christina Soontornvat

The Lock-Eater by Zack Loran Clark

Maizy Chen's Last Chance by Lisa Yee

 Odder by Katherine Applegate 

The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill

A Rover's Story by Jasmine Warga

You Only Live Once, David Bravo by Mark Oshiro

 

GRAPHIC NOVELS

Since TLA has a separate list of recommended graphic novels (the Mavericks), there usually aren't very many on the Bluebonnet list - even though kids in the designated age group LOVE graphic novels. But I digress. Here are some favorites from this past year.

The Aquanaut by Dan Santat

The First Cat in Space Ate Pizza by Mac Barnett

Freestyle: A Graphic Novel by Gale Galligan

Miss Quinces by Kat Fajardo

Swim Team by Johnnie Christmas

   

 

NON-FICTION

The Mystery of the Monarchs: How Kids, Teachers, and Butterfly Fans Helped Fred and Norah Urquhart Track the Great Monarch Migration  

by Barb Rosenstock

A Book, Too, Can Be a Star: The Story of Madeleine L'Engle and the Making of A Wrinkle in Time 

by Charlotte Jones Voiklis & Jennifer Adams 

Pizza: A Slice of History by Greg Pizzoli

Concrete: From the Ground Up by Larissa Theule

Blue: A History of the Color as Deep as the Sea and as Wide as the Sky 

by Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond

Above the Rim: How Elgin Baylor Changed Basketball by Jen Bryant

Opal Lee and What It Means to Be Free by Alice Faye Duncan

The Universe in You: A Microscopic Journey by Jason Chin

Solitary Animals: Introverts of the Wild by Joshua David Stein 

Caves by Nell Cross Beckerman

 The Museum of Odd Body Leftovers: A Tour of Your Useless Parts, Flaws, and Other Weird Bits 

by Rachel Poliquin

 

   

PICTURE BOOKS

Alone Like Me by Rebecca Evans

Farmhouse by Sophie Blackall

Gibberish by Young Vo 

Knight Owl by Christopher Denise

Powwow Day by Traci Sorell 

Rick the Rock of Room 214 by Julie Falatko

This Book Is Not for You by Shannon Hale

   

   

Last Year's List (a.k.a.Texas Bluebonnet Award 2022-2023 Master List)

 Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston

Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna by Alda P. Dobbs

Bartali’s Bicycle: The True Story of Gino Bartali, Italy’s Secret Hero 

 by Megan Hoyt, illustrated by Iacopo Bruno

 Becoming Muhammad Ali: A Novel by James Patterson & Kwame Alexander, 

illustrated by Dawud Anyabwile

 Billy Miller Makes a Wish by Kevin Henkes

The Hungry Place by Jessie Haas

J.D. and the Great Barber Battle by J. Dillard, illustrated by Akeem S. Roberts

The Lion of Mars by Jennifer Holm

Long Lost by Jacqueline West

Memoirs of a Tortoise by Devin Scillian, illustrated by Tim Bowers

Nightingale by Deva Fagan  

No Place for Monsters by Kory Merritt

Once Upon a Camel by Kathi Appelt

The One Thing You’d Save by Linda Sue Park

 Rock by Rock: The Fantastical Garden of Nek Chand by Jennifer Bradbury, 

illustrated by Sam Boughton

Stella by McCall Hoyle

Swish! The Slam-Dunking, Alley-Ooping, High-Flying Harlem Globetrotters by Suzanne Slade, illustrated by Don Tate

Twins by Varian Johnson, illustrated by Shannon Wright

 Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre by Carole Boston Weatherford,

 illustrated by Floyd Cooper

Willodeen by Katherine Applegate, illustrated by Charles Santoso