Picture Books

Suggested grade level for all entries: PS–2

Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut by Derrick Barnes; illus. by Gordon C. James (Millner/Bolden/Agate)
Windows by Julia Denos; illus. by E. B. Goodale (Candlewick)
How Are You? / ¿Cómo estás? by Angela Dominguez (Holt)
A Round of Robins by Katie Hesterman; illus. by Sergio Ruzzier (Paulsen/Penguin)
Pie Is for Sharing by Stephanie Parsley Ledyard; illus. by Jason Chin (Porter/Roaring Brook)
Julián Is a Mermaid by Jessica Love (Candlewick)
The Little Red Cat Who Ran Away and Learned His ABC’s (the Hard Way) by Patrick McDonnell (Little, Brown)
Cricket in the Thicket: Poems About Bugs by Carol Murray; illus. by Melissa Sweet (Ottaviano/Holt)
The Field by Baptiste Paul; illus. by Jacqueline Alcántara (NorthSouth)
Strong as Sandow: How Eugen Sandow Became the Strongest Man on Earth by Don Tate (Charlesbridge)

Easy Readers and Primary Grades

Suggested grade level for all entries: 1–3

It’s Shoe Time! [Elephant & Piggie Like Reading!] by Bryan Collier with additional illustrations by Mo Willems (Hyperion)
The Truth About Bears; The Truth About Dolphins; and The Truth About Hippos by Maxwell Eaton III (Porter/Roaring Brook)
A Hundred Billion Trillion Stars by Seth Fishman; illus. by Isabel Greenberg (Greenwillow)
I’m Just No Good at Rhyming: And Other Nonsense for Mischievous Kids and Immature Grown-Ups by Chris Harris; illus. by Lane Smith (Little, Brown)
Where’s Halmoni? by Julie Kim (Little Bigfoot/Sasquatch)
Barkus by Patricia MacLachlan; illus. by Marc Boutavant (Chronicle)
A Different Pond by Bao Phi; illus. by Thi Bui (Capstone)
How to Be an Elephant: Growing Up in the African Wild by Katherine Roy (Macaulay/Roaring Brook)
Baby Monkey, Private Eye by Brian Selznick and David Serlin; illus. by Brian Selznick (Scholastic)
Charlie & Mouse and Charlie & Mouse & Grumpy by Laurel Snyder; illus. by Emily Hughes (Chronicle)

Intermediate

Suggested grade level for all entries: 4–6

Rise of the Jumbies by Tracey Baptiste (Algonquin)
Tumble & Blue by Cassie Beasley (Dial)
The Penderwicks at Last by Jeanne Birdsall (Knopf)
Be Prepared by Vera Brosgol; color by Alec Longstreth (First Second/Roaring Brook)
Older than Dirt: A Wild but True History of Earth by Don Brown and Mike Perfit; illus. by Don Brown (Houghton)
Writing Radar: Using Your Journal to Snoop Out and Craft Great Stories by Jack Gantos (Farrar)
Mighty Jack and the Goblin King by Ben Hatke; color by Alex Campbell and Hilary Sycamore (First Second/Roaring Brook)
Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly (Greenwillow)
The First Rule of Punk by Celia C. Pérez (Viking)
The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian’s Art Changed Science by Joyce Sidman (Houghton)

Middle School

Suggested grade level for all entries: 6–8

Hurricane Child by Kheryn Callender (Scholastic)
The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora by Pablo Cartaya (Viking)
Votes for Women!: American Suffragists and the Battle for the Ballot by Winifred Conkling (Algonquin)
The Journey of Little Charlie by Christopher Paul Curtis (Scholastic)
All’s Faire in Middle School by Victoria Jamieson (Dial)
The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson (Levine/Scholastic)
The Magician and the Spirits: Harry Houdini and the Curious Pastime of Communicating with the Dead by Deborah Noyes (Viking)
Miles Morales: Spider-Man by Jason Reynolds (Marvel/Disney)
Ascent by Roland Smith (Houghton)
Piecing Me Together by Renée Watson (Bloomsbury)

High School

Suggested grade level for all entries: 9 and up

Becoming Kareem: Growing Up On and Off the Court by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Raymond Obstfeld (Little, Brown)
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi (Holt)
Landscape with Invisible Hand by M. T. Anderson (Candlewick)
The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton (Freeform/Disney)
I Have Lost My Way by Gayle Forman (Viking)
Give Me Some Truth by Eric Gansworth (Levine/Scholastic)
Turtles All the Way Down by John Green (Dutton)
The Fashion Committee by Susan Juby (Viking)
Strangers by David A. Robertson (HighWater)
The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang (First Second/Roaring Brook)

These titles were featured in the 2018 Summer Reading list.