California State Reading Lists
Award Lists
John and Patricia Beatty Award
Eureka! Excellence in Nonfiction Gold Award
2023 - 2024 California Young Reader Medal Finalist
2022 - 2023 California Young Reader Medal Finalist
A Heart in a Body in the World
“This is one for the ages.” —Gayle Forman, author of the #1 bestseller If I Stay “A book everyone should read right now.” —The New York Times Book ...
Parker Looks Up
An Extraordinary Moment
A New York Times bestseller! A visit to Washington, DC’s National Portrait Gallery forever alters Parker Curry’s young life when she views First La...
2021 - 2022 California Young Reader Medal finalist
The Black Kids
A New York Times bestseller A William C. Morris Award Finalist “Should be required reading in every classroom.” —Nic Stone, #1 New York Times bests...
Sulwe
A New York Times bestseller! Featured in its own episode in the Netflix original show Bookmarks: Celebrating Black Voices! Recipient of a Coretta S...
2020 - 2021 California Young Reader Medal Finalist
Long Way Down
Longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature Parents’ Choice Gold Award Winner An ode to Put the Damn Guns Down, this is Na...
2022 John and Patricia Beatty Award
Frankie & Bug
“Joyful, occasionally heartbreaking, deeply moving.” —R. J. Palacio, bestselling author of Wonder In the debut middle grade novel from #1 New York ...
2022 Eureka! Excellence in Nonfiction Gold Award
Hardcourt
Stories from 75 Years of the National Basketball Association
Celebrate seventy-five years of the NBA in this exciting and beautifully illustrated middle grade account of the legendary athletes, coaches, and t...
2021 Eureka! Excellence in Nonfiction Gold Award
Jump at the Sun
The True Life Tale of Unstoppable Storycatcher Zora Neale Hurston
From the Newbery Honor–winning author of Genesis Begins Again comes a shimmering picture book that shines the light on Zora Neale Hurston, the extr...
Keeping the City Going
Caldecott Award winner Brian Floca gives a heartfelt thank you to the essential workers who keep their cities going during COVID-19 quarantine in t...
The Beak Book
From Caldecott Honor illustrator Robin Page comes this striking nonfiction STEM picture book exploring the fascinating and surprising ways differen...
2022 Eureka! Excellence in Nonfiction Award Honor Title
Black Ballerinas
My Journey to Our Legacy
From New York Times bestselling and award-winning author and American Ballet Theatre principal dancer Misty Copeland comes an illustrated nonfictio...
2021 Eureka! Excellence in Nonfiction Award Honor Title
Yayoi Kusama
Ready-to-Read Level 3
Get to know Yayoi Kusama, a Japanese artist known for her extensive use of polka dots and for her infinity installations, in this fascinating nonfi...
Fourteen Monkeys
A Rain Forest Rhyme
Travel to a tropical rainforest where fourteen species of monkeys live in harmony in this playful, fact-filled book from award-winning author Melis...
Rock by Rock
The Fantastical Garden of Nek Chand
This luminous picture book tells the fascinating true story of artist Nek Chand and how his secret art project—hidden away in a jungle—became one o...
Try It!
How Frieda Caplan Changed the Way We Eat
Meet fearless Frieda Caplan—the produce pioneer who changed the way Americans eat by introducing exciting new fruits and vegetables, from baby carr...
Yayoi Kusama
Ready-to-Read Level 3
Get to know Yayoi Kusama, a Japanese artist known for her extensive use of polka dots and for her infinity installations, in this fascinating nonfi...
2021 California Book Award (Commonwealth of CA)
The Black Kids
A New York Times bestseller A William C. Morris Award Finalist “Should be required reading in every classroom.” —Nic Stone, #1 New York Times bests...
2020 California Book Award (Commonwealth of CA)
A Place to Belong
A Kirkus Reviews Best Middle Grade Book of 2019 A Japanese-American family, reeling from their ill treatment in the Japanese internment camps, give...