Texas Bluebonnet List 2023-24

Created on November 7, 2022, 3:05 pm

Last Updated December 12, 2023, 10:53 am

The Texas Library Association's Texas Bluebonnet Award program encourages reading for pleasure for students in grades 3 - 6. Each year, 20 books are chosen for the Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List of nominees and are announced by Texas students at the Texas Book Festival. Schools and libraries around the state participate in the program, encouraging students to read a minimum of five books from the list. In late January 2024, students vote for their favorite title. The author of the book receiving the most votes wins the Texas Bluebonnet Award (TBA) which is presented during the TLA Annual Conference in the spring. https://txla.org/tools-resources/reading-lists/texas-bluebonnet-award

1) The legend of Gravity: a tall basketball tale

Author

Description

"Have you ever heard of Gravity? No, not gravity, the centrifugal force pulling us to the Earth. I'm talking about Gravity--the greatest ball player to ever lace up a pair of sneakers."-- Amazon.

2) Black boy joy

Formats:

Book, Large Print, eAudiobook

Description

A collection of stories, comics, and poems about the power of joy and the wonders of Black boyhood.

3) Blue: a history of the color as deep as the sea and as wide as the sky

Author

Brew-Hammond, Nana Ekua

Formats:

Book, Talking Book, eAudiobook

Description

"Discover a world of creativity and tradition in this ... picture book that explores the history and cultural significance of the color blue"--Publisher marketing.

4) Gladys the magic chicken

Author

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook

Description

In Ancient Times, Gladys the dancing chicken goes on an epic adventure when she is mistaken for a magical chicken who grants wishes to those she encounters.

5) Haven: a small cat's big adventure

Author

Lloyd, Megan Wagner

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle, eAudiobook

Description

A warm, cozy lap. The toasty smell of baking bread. Tasty food served in a bright-blue bowl. These make Haven's life as an indoor pet heaven. All thanks to her beloved human and rescuer, Ma Millie. But when Ma Millie becomes too sick to care for her, the cat's cozy life is turned upside down, and Haven decides she must seek out another human for help. Anything for Ma Millie! Her vow pulls her out of her safe nest into the shadowy forest and down unfamiliar...

6) Indelible Ann: the larger-than-life story of Governor Ann Richards

Author

Browne, Meghan P

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook

Description

"A folksy, larger-than-life picture book biography about Ann Richards, the late governor of Texas who has inspired countless women in politics today"-- Provided by publisher.

Author

Gonzalez, Christina Diaz

Description

"Can five overlooked kids make one big difference? There's George: the brain Sara: the loner Dayara: the tough kid Nico: the rich kid And Miguel: the athlete And they're stuck together when they're forced to complete their school's community service hours. Although they're sure they have nothing in common with one another, some people see them as all the same...just five Spanish-speaking kids. Then they meet someone who truly needs their help, and...

Author

Gonzalez, Christina Diaz

Series

Formats:

Talking Book, Playaway, eComic, eAudiobook

Description

For fans of New Kid and Allergic, a must-have graphic novel about five very different students who are forced together by their school to complete community service... and may just have more in common than they thought. Can five overlooked kids make one big difference? There's George: the brain Sara: the loner Dayara: the tough kid Nico: the rich kid And Miguel: the athlete And they're stuck together when they're forced to complete their...

9) Leave it to Plum!

Author

Series

Plum (Matt Phelan) volume 1

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle, eAudiobook

Description

Every day at the Athensville Zoo the peacocks are allowed to wander freely among the visitors, delighting and guiding kids and grownups alike, and kind, curious Plum is the peacock most proud of their responsibility.

10) Once upon a Tim

Author

Series

Once upon a Tim volume 1

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook

Description

With no knightly experience but plenty of pluck and an impressive vocabulary, a twelve-year-old peasant, hoping to improve his station in life, volunteers to help a cowardly prince and his not very powerful wizard rescue a princess from an evil, foul-smelling monster.

11) Solimar: the sword of the monarchs

Author

Ryan, Pam Muñoz

Formats:

Book, Large Print, eBook, eAudiobook

Description

"Middle-grade fans of Pam Muñoz Ryan's Esperanza Rising, will find a new Mexican heroine to love in Solimar and a fresh, magical story! On the brink of her Quinceañera, and her official coronation, Solimar visits the oyamel forest to sit among the monarch butterflies. There, the sun pierces through a sword-shaped crevice in a boulder, which shines on her and sends the butterflies humming and swirling around her. After the magical frenzy, she realizes...

12) Tales to keep you up at night

Author

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook

Description

Ignoring a handwritten warning from her grandmother, Amelia reads an old book she finds in the attic, and as elements from the stories begin to come to life around her, she realizes that she may be in a spooky story of her own.

13) The Beatryce Prophecy

Author

DiCamillo, Kate

Formats:

Book, Playaway, eBook, Kindle, eAudiobook

Description

"We shall all, in the end, be led to where we belong. We shall all, in the end, find our way home. In a time of war, a mysterious child appears at the monastery of the Order of the Chronicles of Sorrowing. Gentle Brother Edik finds the girl, Beatryce, curled in a stall, wracked with fever, coated in dirt and blood, and holding fast to the ear of Answelica the goat. As the monk nurses Beatryce to health, he uncovers her dangerous secret, one that imperils...

14) The dirt book: poems about animals that live beneath our feet

Author

Harrison, David L

Description

"A collection of poems about dirt and the many organisms that live there such as grubs, trap door spiders, moles, earthworms, chipmunks, and doodlebugs"-- Provided by publisher.

15) The first cat in space ate pizza

Author

Series

First cat in space volume 1

Formats:

Graphic Novels & Manga, Talking Book, Playaway, eComic, eAudiobook

Description

"Something terrible is happening in the skies! Rats are eating the MOON! There's only ONE hero for the job, a bold and fearsome beast bioengineered in a secret lab to be the moon's savior and Earth's last hope! And that hero is ... a cat. A cat who will be blasted into space! Accompanied by the imperious Moon Queen and LOZ 4000, a toenail clipping robot, the First Cat in Space journeys across a fantastic lunar landscape in a quest to save the world....

16) The last beekeeper

Author

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Playaway

Description

"In a future shaken by climate disasters, Yolanda Ciceron knows that nature is something to be feared. While life in the Valley is brutal and harsh, Yoly dreams of leaving her farm to live in Silo--the most advanced town for miles around. But first, Yoly will need to prove she belongs in a place where only the smartest and most useful are welcomed. Between her razor-sharp smarts and sheer determination, Yoly is well on her way until she discovers...

17) The last mapmaker

Author

Soontornvat, Christina

Formats:

Book, Playaway, eBook, Kindle, eAudiobook

Description

A high-seas adventure set in a Thai-inspired fantasy world. This is the story of a young woman's struggle to unburden herself of the past and chart her own destiny in a world of secrets. As assistant to Mangkon's most celebrated mapmaker, twelve-year-old Sai plays the part of a well-bred young lady with a glittering future. In reality, her father is a conman - and in a kingdom where the status of one's ancestors dictates their social position, the...

18) The Marvellers

Author

Clayton, Dhonielle

Series

Marvellerverse volume 1

Formats:

Book, Playaway, eAudiobook

Description

"Eleven-year-old Ella Durand is the first Conjuror to attend the Arcanum Training Institute, a magic school in the clouds where Marvellers from around the world practice their cultural arts. Despite her excitement, Ella discovers that being the first isn't easy--some Marvellers mistrust her magic. Eventually, she finds friends in elixirs teacher, Masterji Thakur, and fellow misfits Brigit and Jason. When a dangerous criminal escapes prison, supposedly...

19) The polter-ghost problem

Author

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook

Description

Best friends Aldo, Pen, and Jasper stumble onto an abandoned orphanage and discover that freeing a houseful of imprisoned ghosts from an angry poltergeist could get them into serious trouble.

Author

Formats:

Book, Talking Book, eAudiobook

Description

Minni lives in the poorest part of Mumbai, where access to water is limited to a few hours a day and the communal taps have long lines. Lately, though, even that access is threatened by severe water shortages and thieves who are stealing this precious commodityan act that Minni accidentally witnesses one night. Meanwhile, in the high-rise building where she just started to work, she discovers that water streams out of every faucet and theres even...