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2020 - 2021 Texas Bluebonnet Award ListEach year, 20 books are chosen for the Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List. Schools and libraries around the state participate in the program, encouraging students to read a minimum of five books from the list. In January, students vote for their favorite title. The author of the book receiving the most votes is the winner of the Texas Bluebonnet Award (TBA) which is presented at the Texas Bluebonnet Award Luncheon held during the TLA Annual Conference in the spring.
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A Place to Land: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Speech that Inspired a Nation
by Barry Wittenstein, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney Year Published: Neal Porter Books, 2019Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech has been etched into the public consciousness. Yet King's actual speech was an in-the-moment response to the audience climate during the March on Washington. A bolt of encouragement from gospel singer Mahalia Jackson prompts King to "Tell them about the dream," igniting the raw passion that his pre-rehearsed words had been missing.
A Wolf Called Wander
by Rosanne Parry Year Published: Greenwillow, 2019Swift, a yearling wolf, is separated from his family after a rival wolf pack attacks and claims his family's territory as their own. His thousand-mile journey across the Pacific Northwest to find a new home brings danger, hunger, and desperate loneliness. Inspired by the story of OR-7, a real wolf that naturalists tracked in the wild.
Bernie Buttman Model Citizen
by Niki Lenz Year Published: Random House Publishing, 2019Bernice Buttman is tired of being labeled a 'bully,' so when her mom leaves her with her aunt, who is a nun, Bernice decides to mend her ways and become a model citizen.
Caterpillar Summer
by Gillian McDunn Year Published: Bloomsbury Children's Books, 2019Since her father's death, Cat has taken care of her brother, Chicken, for their hardworking mother but while spending time with grandparents they never knew, Cat has the chance to be a child again.
Charlie Hernandez and the League of Shadows
by Ryan Cajelo Year Published: Aladdin, 2018Steeped in Hispanic folklore since childhood, middle schooler Charlie Hernandez learns the stories are true when, shortly after his parents disappearance, he grows horns and feathers and finds himself at the heart of a battle to save the world.
Frankie Sparks & the Class Pet
by Megan Frazer Blakemore, illustrated by Nadja Sarell Year Published: Aladdin, 2019The class is getting a pet and they need to decide together what kind of animal is best. Frankie is sure that a rodent, specifically a rat, is the best choice. But Frankie will need to convince her teacher, the whole class, and, most importantly, her best friend Maya who thinks a betta fish would be better.
From an Idea to Disney: How Branding Made Disney a Household Name
by Lowey Bundy Sichol, illustrated by C.S. Jennings Year Published: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Co, 2019From an Idea to Disney is a behind-the-movie-screen look into the history, business, and brand of the world's largest entertainment empire.
Greystone Secrets #1: The Strangers
by Margaret Petersen Haddix Year Published: Katherine Tegen Books, 2019Chess (12), Emma (10), and Finn (8) come home from school one day to find their mother in despair over a news story about a bizarre kidnapping—bizarre because the three children who were taken share the names, ages, and birthdays of the Greystone kids. Then Mrs. Greystone is called suddenly out of town, leaving her kids in the care of a stranger, with nothing but questions and a coded letter.
If I Built a School
by by Chris Van Dusen Year Published: Dial Books for Young Readers, 2019Imaginative Jack describes the kind of school he would build--one full of animals, with tubes to transport students directly to their classrooms, and library books that come alive.
New Kid
by Jerry Craft Year Published: Harper, 2019Seventh grader Jordan Banks loves nothing more than drawing cartoons about his life. But instead of sending him to the art school of his dreams, his parents enroll him in a prestigious private school known for its academics, where Jordan is one of the few kids of color in his entire grade. As he makes the daily trip from his Washington Heights apartment to the upscale Riverdale Academy Day School, Jordan soon finds himself torn between two worlds--and not really fitting into either one.
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Nightbooks
by J.A. White Year Published: Katherine Tegen Books, 2018Alex loves horror stories, but the night he sets out to destroy his beloved "nightbooks"-notebooks full of his original tales-he finds himself trapped by a witch in an enchanted apartment. Natacha, the capricious witch, requires Alex to tell her one of his horror stories each night, or else.
No More Poems! A Book in Verse That Just Gets Worse
by Rhett Miller, illustrated by Dan Santat Year Published: Little, Brown and Company, 2019Serious poetic fun. Dark humor abounds in Old 97’s singer/songwriter Miller’s nearly two dozen rhymed “silly, subversive poems” aimed at capturing children at their scheming best and adults as less than perfect.
Pass Go and Collect $200: The Real Story of How MONOPOLY Was Invented
by Tanya Lee Stone, illustrated by Steven Salerno Year Published: Christy Ottaviano Books, 2018Monopoly’s success as a board game boils down to the ideas and innovations of two individuals: Elizabeth “Lizzie” Magie and Charles Darrow—but they weren’t working together.
Rocket to the Moon (Big Ideas That Changed the World)
by Don Brown Year Published: Amulet, 2019A nonfiction graphic novel that explores the people and technology that made the moon landing possible.
Stay
by Bobbie Pyron Year Published: Katherine Tegen Books, 2019Piper's life is turned upside down when her family moves into a shelter in a new city. But while Hope House offers her new challenges, it also brings new friendships, like the girls in Firefly Girls Troop 423 and a sweet street dog named Baby. So when Baby's person goes missing, Piper knows she has to help.
Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster
by Jonathan Auxier Year Published: Amulet, 2018In nineteenth-century England, after her father's disappearance Nan Sparrow, ten, works as a "climbing boy," aiding chimney sweeps, but when her most treasured possessions end up in a fireplace, she unwittingly creates a golem.
The Bridge Home
by Padma Venkatraman Year Published: Nancy Paulsen, 2019In this novel set in Chennai, India, 11-year-old Viji and her sister, Rukku, run away from their abusive father after he breaks their mother's arm and hits Rukku. On the city streets, the sisters find shelter by a bridge, adopt a stray dog, and meet brothers Mathu and Arul, who quickly become a kind of family to them.
The Rhino in the Right Field
by Stacy Dekeyser Year Published: Margaret K McElderry Books, 2018In 1948, Nikko Spirakis, twelve, loves baseball but must get past his hard-working immigrant parents--and the rhino in the outfield--to become a batboy for the local minor league team.
They Call Me Güero: A Border Kid’s Poems
by David Bowles Year Published: Cinco Puntos Press, 2018The dynamic complexity of the Rio Grande borderlands pulses in the poetry of twelve-year-old Güero—a nickname commonly given to light-skinned, freckled Mexican and Chicano boys. Inspired by the words of his seventh-grade teacher, Ms. Wong, who declares poetry to be the “clearest lens for viewing the world,” Güero sets out to record everything he sees around him.
What Do You Do With a Voice Like That? The Story of Extraordinary Congresswoman Barbara Jordan
by Chris Barton Year Published: Beach Lane Books, 2018This picture-book biography tells the story of lawyer, politician, and civil rights leader Barbara Jordan. Whether expressing her own beliefs or speaking out on behalf of others, she made sure that she was heard—and young readers are encouraged to do the same.
