RI Children's Book Award
March 30, 2023
https://olis.ri.gov/youth/ricba/winners.php
And the 2023 winner is...
2023 Voting Breakdown
2024 Nominees
Look for the annotated list and accompanying resources coming soon!
- A Comb of Wishes by Lisa Stringfellow
- A Rover's Story by Jasmine Warga
- Amazing Landmarks: Discover the hidden stories behind 10 iconic structures by Rehka S. Rajan, illustrated by Alex Asfour
- Expedition Backyard by Rosemary Mosco, illustrated by Binglin Hu
- Fighting for YES!: The Story of Disability Rights Activist Judith Heumann by Maryann Cocca-Leffler, illustrated by Vivien Mildenberger
- Flipping Forward Twisting Backward by Alma Fullerton
- Forest Fighter: The Story of Chico Mendes by Anita Ganeri, illustrated by Margaux Carpentier
- Going Places: Victor Hugo Green and His Glorious Book by Tonay Bolden, illustrated by Eric Velasquez
- Growing Pangs by Kathryn Ormsbee and Molly Brooks
- Keepunumuk: Weeâchumun's Thanksgiving Story by Danielle Greendeer, Anthony Perry, and Alexis Bunten, illustrated by Garry Meeches Sr.
- Killer Underwear Invasion! by Elise Gravel
- Marya Khan and the Incredible Henna Party by Saadia Faruqi, illustrated by Ani Bushry
- Miles Lewis: King of the Ice by Kelly Starling Lyons, illustrated by Wayne Spencer
- Nothing is Little by Carmella Van Vleet
- Singing with Elephants by Margarita Engle
- Swim Team by Johnnie Christmas
- The Button Box by Bridget Hodder and Fawzia Gilani Williams
- The Whale Who Swam Through Time: A Two-Hundred-Year Journey in the Arctic by Alex Boersma and Nick Pyenson, illustrated by Alex Boersma
- When Winter Robeson Came by Brenda Woods
- Zia Erases the World by Bree Barton
Statement from the RI Children's Book Award Committee
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 champions 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-racist 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 at https://olis-ri.libguides.com/ricba/challenges.
Unite Against Book Bans
The Rhode Island Center for the Book is pleased to partner with the American Library Association in support of Unite Against Book Bans, a national grassroots campaign to engage the public in the fight against censorship. This non-partisan campaign leverages the reach of national organizations representing librarians; educators; parents; authors, publishers; distributors; champions for civil liberties, civil rights, and equality; and more.
We invite you to raise your voice for the right to read:
- Join the Rhode Island Center for the Book Unite Against Book Bans Advocacy Committee to help us fight book bans and soft censorship in our state.
- Connect with thousands of others and sign up to Unite Against Book Bans: join and follow Unite Against Book Bans.
- Spread the word on social media. Here are some graphics.
Email kate@ribook.org to get involved.
Together, we will defeat censorship!
RI Library Association Intellectual Freedom Committee
The RI Library Association Intellectual Freedom Committee has created a form for reporting material challenges and other forms of censorship taking place in Rhode Island. This will allow the committee to track the censorship happening in RI to be better informed on how to help. The committee will also report the data to ALA's Office of Intellectual Freedom if the respondent chooses, so those facing book bans and other censorship attempts can report to the state and national library organization using only one form. The Intellectual Freedom Committee encourages any librarian, library staff member, or educator to report any incident of attempted censorship happening at your institution, no matter how small, using this new form. The link to the form can be found in the Intellectual Freedom Committee's webpage, linked below. Please share this information with your colleagues.
Kids Reading Across RI 2023 Announcement
About the RI Children's Book Award
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.
20 nominees are announced each spring. Public libraries, school libraries, and classrooms promote the award and share the nominees throughout the year. Voting takes place the following February and the winner is announced in March. Children in grades 3-5 who have read at least 3 books from the list of 20 nominees are eligible to vote. Voting takes place at participating schools and public libraries throughout the state.