Colorado State Reading Lists
2023 Colorado Children's Book Award Nominee
Unicorns Are the Worst!
Perfect for fans of Dragons Love Tacos and Unicorn Thinks He’s Pretty Great, this wildly funny and imaginative picture book celebrates the value of...
2022 Colorado Children's Book Award Nominee
Blended
Eleven-year-old Isabella’s blended family is more divided than ever in this thoughtful story about divorce and racial identity from the award-winni...
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...
The Very, Very Far North
An inquisitive polar bear named Duane befriends an array of animals as he discovers where he belongs in this charming classic-in-the making that’s ...
You Matter
A New York Times bestseller! Five starred reviews! Named Best Book of the Year by Barnes & Noble, The New York Times/New York Public Library, P...
2023 Colorado Book Award Finalist
Swim, Jim!
Jim the crocodile finds the courage to face his fear of swimming in this funny and charming debut picture book for fans of Jabari Jumps and Jean Re...
2022 Colorado Book Award Finalist
Born Curious
20 Girls Who Grew Up to Be Awesome Scientists
“An inspiring look at women who realized curiosity plus tenacity equals success.” —Kirkus Reviews “[A] captivating compendium.” —Publishers Weekly ...
The Beak Book
From Caldecott Honor illustrator Robin Page comes this striking nonfiction STEM picture book exploring the fascinating and surprising ways differen...
Noah McNichol and the Backstage Ghost
“Will make a theater lover of any young reader.” —Booklist Perfect for fans of The Wednesday Wars, this raucous and delightful middle grade myste...
2022 Colorado Book Award
10 Things I Hate about Pinky
The delightful follow-up to When Dimple Met Rishi and There’s Something about Sweetie, which follows Ashish’s friends Pinky and Samir as they prete...
2021 Colorado Book Award Finalist
Alone
Perfect for fans of Hatchet and the I Survived series, this harrowing middle grade debut novel-in-verse from a Pushcart Prize–nominated poet tells ...
Born Curious
20 Girls Who Grew Up to Be Awesome Scientists
“An inspiring look at women who realized curiosity plus tenacity equals success.” —Kirkus Reviews “[A] captivating compendium.” —Publishers Weekly ...
Turtle under Ice
A teen navigates questions of grief, identity, and guilt in the wake of her sister’s mysterious disappearance in this breathtaking novel-in-verse f...
I Will Dance
This poetic and uplifting picture book illustrated by the #1 New York Times bestselling illustrator of We Are the Gardeners by Joanna Gaines follow...