Kansas State Reading Lists
Award Lists
Kansas NEA Reading Circle List Top Pick
2024 Kansas NEA Reading Circle List Top Pick
Stanley's Secret
The award-winning author of Kitten and the Night Watchman is back with an inspiring and poignant picture book about a boy learning the self-confide...
A Day in the Life of an Astronaut, Mars, and the Distant Stars
From the creators of A Day in the Life of a Poo, a Gnu, and You comes an encyclopedic glance at all things outer space and makes a hilarious and in...
Legend of the Yearling
In the first installment of the action-packed Guardians of Horsa graphic novel series, four young horses from clashing herds must join forces to so...
Linus
In the spirit of All Are Welcome, this gentle picture book about being yourself and inspiring change in others follows sweet, plucky Linus who does...
Palace of Books
From beloved storyteller Patricia Polacco comes a picture book based on her childhood about how a very special librarian and town library made her ...
The Enchanted Life of Valentina Mejía
Encanto meets The Chronicles of Narnia by way of Colombian folklore in this middle grade fantasy adventure. To save their father’s life, a brother ...
Finally Seen
From the New York Times bestselling author of Front Desk comes a “involving, realistic” (Booklist, starred review) middle grade novel about a young...
Wings in the Wild
This gorgeously romantic contemporary novel-in-verse from award-winning author Margarita Engle tells the “inspiring and hopeful” (Kirkus Reviews, s...
Whale Done
In the eighth novel in New York Times bestselling Stuart Gibbs’s FunJungle series, Teddy Fitzroy returns as FunJungle’s resident sleuth to find the...
Children of the Black Glass
Howl’s Moving Castle meets Christopher Paolini in this “dark and flinty” (Booklist) middle grade fantasy, set in a world as mesmerizing as it is me...
The In-Between
For fans of Enchanted Air by Margarita Engle and Life in Motion by Misty Copeland, this middle grade memoir in verse with “stellar writing [and] pe...
A Door in the Dark
An instant New York Times bestseller! “For readers who have just finished Naomi Novik’s The Golden Enclaves and are ravenous for more dark academi...
2024 Kansas NEA Reading Circle Recommended Titles List
Wonder Dogs!
This tender and humorous picture book is an ode to all dogs do, from the extraordinary to the everyday.THEY’RE WONDER DOGS! They catch and carry, S...
Ramen for Everyone
In this adorable picture book for fans of Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao and Bilal Cooks Daal, Hiro aspires to make a bowl of ramen as delicious as his...
Rain
From Newbery Medalist Cynthia Rylant comes a vibrantly illustrated, poetic picture book tribute to the beauty and magic of a rainy day.There is a s...
Plátanos Are Love
A delicious picture book about the ways plantains shape Latinx culture, community, and family, told through a young girl’s experiences in the kitch...
Peek-A-Boo Haiku
A Lift-the-Flap Book
This poetic lift-the-flap board book features haikus about hidden woodland animals, plus flaps that reveal those animals!Warm breezes blowing, pond...
Peekaboo Rex!
Join a T. rex who loves playing peekaboo in this surprising board book from bestselling and beloved Sandra Boynton!Follow a lovable T. rex througho...
The Not-So-Brave Little Lion
From the illustrator of Bob Dylan’s If Not for You comes a wildly cute, encouraging picture book about a lovable lion who learns to be brave and th...
Nat the Cat Takes a Bath
Ready-to-Read Pre-Level 1
A School Library Journal Best Transitional Book It’s bath time for Nat the Cat in this second book in the hilarious, fourth wall–breaking Pre-Level...
Find Your Brave
A Coco and Bear Story
Coco and Bear find their brave in this charming sequel to the New York Times bestseller Share Some Kindness, Bring Some Light. Coco and Bear are ex...
Worm and Caterpillar Are Friends
Ready-to-Read Graphics Level 1
A Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book A Kirkus Reviews Best Graphic Novel & Comic A New York Public Library Best Book A Chicago Public Library Best...
The Library Fish
In this sweet and adventurous picture book, an unusually literary fish leaves the safety of her bowl to explore her library home for the first time...
In Every Life
(Caldecott Honor)
This Caldecott Honor picture book is a simple and profound meditation on the many wonders of life from three-time Caldecott Honor recipient Marla F...
Ketanji Brown Jackson
A Justice for All
Discover the incredible story of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who followed her childhood dream of becoming a lawyer and eventually became the fir...
Happy Easter, Little Pookie
Pookie gets ready for Easter in this adorable board book from the bestselling and beloved Sandra Boynton.It’s Easter! Join Mom and her little Pooki...
Daddy Dressed Me
Celebrate the creative and empowering bond between a father and his daughter in this picture book that “exudes creativity, joy, and daddy-daughter ...
I Am a GREAT Friend!
A baby capybara learns the best way to make true friends is by being yourself in this whimsically wonderful picture book from the author of The Pro...
Love Makes a Garden Grow
From the bestselling illustrator of Strictly No Elephants comes a sweetly personal and stunningly illustrated picture book about a young girl who g...
The Great Vandal Scandal
The Secret Life of Pets meets Spy School as furry friends come out of retirement to do some secret spy work sure to inspire “chuckles aplenty” (Kir...
A Bucket of Questions
A hilarious picture book of curious questions with refreshingly quirky answers perfect for fans of Mac Barnett and Amy Krouse Rosenthal!Why do kids...
Trashed!
From Edgar Award–nominated author Martha Freeman comes a “delightful” (Kirkus Reviews) middle grade mystery following a young boy working at his fa...
Hope's Path to Glory
The Story of a Family's Journey on the Overland Trail
From the author of Eliza’s Freedom Road and Calico Girl (a Kirkus Best Book of the Year) comes a dramatic historical middle grade novel that is “a ...
Shall We Dance?
Nature puts on a dance recital in this beautiful nonfiction picture book from Caldecott Honor author-illustrator Robin Page, exploring how and why ...
City of the Dead
In this fourth installment in the New York Times bestselling series from Edgar Award winner James Ponti, the young group of spies go codebreaking i...
You So Black
Based on Theresa Wilson’s (a.k.a. Theresa tha S.O.N.G.B.I.R.D.’s) beautiful, viral spoken word poem of the same name, You So Black is a picture boo...
Wizkit
An Adventure Overdue
Hilda and the Troll meets The Okay Witch in this delightfully whimsical middle grade graphic novel about a magical cyclops cat on her first trip aw...
The Spooky Story
Fact-loving Paige sets out to prove imaginative Penn wrong about a school haunting in this second book in the mystery graphic novel chapter book se...
Love Is Loud
How Diane Nash Led the Civil Rights Movement
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...
The Day the River Caught Fire
How the Cuyahoga River Exploded and Ignited the Earth Day Movement
Discover the true story of how a 1969 fire in one of the most polluted rivers in America sparked the national Earth Day movement in this nonfiction...
Far Out!
From the author of Blue Skies comes a lively middle grade novel about a young, alien-loving girl trying to clear her grandmother’s name in this mys...
Spy Camp the Graphic Novel
The second book in the New York Times bestselling Spy School series continues in graphic novel form as aspiring spy Ben Ripley must spend his summe...
In the Mix
Better Nate than Ever meets Love Sugar Magic in this “delectable” (Kirkus Reviews) third novel in the Fearless middle grade series from Hamilton an...
One True Wish
A dash of fairy magic brightens this heartfelt and bittersweet middle grade novel about three friends confronting their deepest wishes from #1 New ...
Once There Was
A New York Times bestseller! A Morris Award Finalist Impossible Creatures meets Neil Gaiman in this “striking and heartfelt” (Kirkus Reviews) novel...
We Are Your Children Too
Black Students, White Supremacists, and the Battle for America's Schools in Prince Edward County, Virginia
This “detailed, fascinating” (Booklist, starred review) nonfiction middle grade book explores a deeply troubling chapter in American history that i...
The Grip
In this first book in the semi-autobiographical middle grade series from MLB pitcher Marcus Stroman, a young baseball player learns that perfect ga...
Daughters of Oduma
An elite female fighter must reenter the competition to protect her found family of younger sisters in this “absorbing, striking” (Publishers Weekl...
Saving Cody
Two brothers fight to save their grandmother’s land from developers in the third “fun, fast-paced, crisp caper” (School Library Journal) of the Wil...
Spin
A Chicago Public Library Teen-Approved Best Book of 2023 “A powerful feminist retelling of an ancient tale about empathy and defiance, written in b...
Borderless
Caught in the crosshairs of gang violence, a teen girl and her mother set off on a perilous journey from Guatemala City to the US border in this “e...
Forget Me Not
2023 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature Longlist Perfect for fans of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Five Feet Apart, this...
Ravensong
“Heartfelt, thrilling, and refreshingly steeped in lore.” —Courtney Gould, bestselling author of The Dead and the Dark A demi-god who refuses to co...
Retro
What starts off as a lighthearted competition to live without modern technology for a year turns into a fight for survival in this unputdownable yo...
Spell Bound
An instant New York Times bestseller! Two rival apprentice sorcerers must team up to save their teachers and protect their own magic in this “char...
16 & Pregnant
A Novel
The bond between two best friends is put to the test when one of them gets pregnant in this “powerful and timely” (award-winning author Angela John...
2022 - 2023 William Allen White Childrens Book Award Master List
Tune It Out
From the author of the acclaimed Roll with It comes a moving novel about a girl with a sensory processing disorder who has to find her own voice af...
The Great Stink
How Joseph Bazalgette Solved London's Poop Pollution Problem
A Robert F. Sibert Honor Book! Discover the true story about the determined engineer who fixed London’s pollution problem in this funny, accessible...
Once Upon a Camel
“A delight to the senses.” —Kirkus Reviews Perfect for fans of The One and Only Ivan, this exquisite middle grade novel from Newbery Honoree and Na...