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California State Reading Lists

2024 - 2025 California Young Reader Medal Award Nominee

Room for Everyone

Illustrated by Mercè López
This edition: Hardcover, 40 pages
Publication date: November 09, 2021
Ages: 4 - 8

A young boy on a crowded bus discovers that, after some wiggles and giggles, there’s room for everyone in this lighthearted rhyming picture book se...

Cougar Crossing

How Hollywood's Celebrity Cougar Helped Build a Bridge for City Wildlife
Illustrated by Alexander Vidal
This edition: Hardcover, 40 pages
Publication date: February 02, 2021
Ages: 4 - 8

Discover the amazing true story of P-22, the wild cougar living in Los Angeles, in this inspiring picture book.P-22, the famed “Hollywood Cougar,” ...

New from Here

This edition: Hardcover, 368 pages
Publication date: March 01, 2022
Ages: 8 - 12

An instant #1 New York Times bestseller! This “timely and compelling” (Kirkus Reviews) middle grade novel about courage, hope, and resilience follo...

Three Strike Summer

This edition: Hardcover, 320 pages
Publication date: August 30, 2022
Ages: 8 - 12

Four starred reviews! A Chicago Public Library Best of the Best Selection A Horn Book Magazine Best Book of 2022 “Told in a voice that is so real i...

My Nest of Silence

Illustrated by Matt Faulkner
This edition: Hardcover, 384 pages
Publication date: October 18, 2022
Ages: 10 - 99

“Evocative prose and illustrations bring to life…[the] heart-wrenching decisions and considerations that Japanese Americans had to face…[and] their...

2023 - 2024 California Young Reader Medal Winner

Alone

(Part of Alone)
This edition: Hardcover, 416 pages
Publication date: January 12, 2021
Ages: 10 - 99

A New York Times bestseller! Perfect for fans of Hatchet and the I Survived series, this harrowing middle grade debut novel-in-verse from a Pushcar...

2023 Eureka Gold Awards

Born Reading

20 Stories of Women Reading Their Way into History
Illustrated by Aura Lewis
This edition: Hardcover, 144 pages
Publication date: August 01, 2023
Ages: 8 - 12

Once books kick-start their brains, girls change history. Discover the foundation of reading that empowered some of the world’s most influential wo...

2023 Eureka Silver/Honor Awards

Jerry Changed the Game!

How Engineer Jerry Lawson Revolutionized Video Games Forever
Illustrated by Cherise Harris
This edition: Hardcover, 40 pages
Publication date: August 29, 2023
Ages: 4 - 8

Junior Library Guild Selection | Eureka! Excellence in Nonfiction Honor | CBC Best STEM Book List | Mathical Book Prize Honor | BCALA Youth Literar...

Love Is Loud

How Diane Nash Led the Civil Rights Movement
Illustrated by Bryan Collier
This edition: Hardcover, 48 pages
Publication date: January 10, 2023
Ages: 4 - 8

Four starred reviews! Meet Diane Nash, a civil rights leader who worked alongside Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lewis, in this “poignant and powe...

O Is for Ossicone

A Surprising Animal Alphabet
Illustrated by Sarah Papworth
This edition: Board Book, 28 pages
Publication date: June 27, 2023
Ages: 0 - 99

Did you know that ossicones are the hornlike parts of a giraffe’s head? Introduce young readers to unusual animal facts and new vocabulary like “os...