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An American Story
by
4.63 avg rating — 1,462 ratings
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2 |
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Big
by
4.66 avg rating — 3,623 ratings
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3 |
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Once Upon a Book
by
Grace Lin (Goodreads Author) (Author/Illustrator)
4.22 avg rating — 1,062 ratings
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4 |
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Jumper: A Day in the Life of a Backyard Jumping Spider
by
4.39 avg rating — 657 ratings
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5 |
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In Every Life
by
4.28 avg rating — 1,191 ratings
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6 |
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Simon and the Better Bone
by
4.32 avg rating — 692 ratings
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7 |
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The Tree and the River
by
4.31 avg rating — 842 ratings
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8 |
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A First Time for Everything
by
4.39 avg rating — 6,648 ratings
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9 |
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Beneath
by
4.41 avg rating — 1,029 ratings
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10 |
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My Powerful Hair: A Picture Book
by
4.57 avg rating — 967 ratings
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11 |
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Nell Plants a Tree
by
4.31 avg rating — 793 ratings
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12 |
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The Skull: A Tyrolean Folktale
by
4.25 avg rating — 8,725 ratings
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13 |
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Remember
by
4.42 avg rating — 1,199 ratings
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14 |
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In the Night Garden
by
4.06 avg rating — 607 ratings
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15 |
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Woven of the World
by
4.19 avg rating — 338 ratings
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16 |
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Finding Papa
by
4.35 avg rating — 426 ratings
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17 |
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A Crown for Corina
by
4.18 avg rating — 348 ratings
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18 |
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There Was a Party for Langston: (Caldecott Honor & Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor)
by
4.49 avg rating — 1,469 ratings
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19 |
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How Do You Spell Unfair?: MacNolia Cox and the National Spelling Bee
by
4.44 avg rating — 752 ratings
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20 |
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Evergreen
by
4.29 avg rating — 1,014 ratings
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21 |
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How to Write a Poem
by
4.19 avg rating — 615 ratings
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22 |
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That Flag
by
4.63 avg rating — 830 ratings
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23 |
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Make Way: The Story of Robert McCloskey, Nancy Schön, and Some Very Famous Ducklings
by
4.39 avg rating — 292 ratings
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24 |
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The Fire of Stars: The Life and Brilliance of the Woman Who Discovered What Stars Are Made Of
by
4.35 avg rating — 563 ratings
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25 |
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The Green Piano: How Little Me Found Music
by
4.08 avg rating — 356 ratings
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26 |
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Stars of the Night: The Courageous Children of the Czech Kindertransport
by
4.48 avg rating — 484 ratings
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27 |
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River of Dust: The Life-Giving Link Between North Africa and the Amazon
by
4.60 avg rating — 221 ratings
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28 |
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Love Is Loud: How Diane Nash Led the Civil Rights Movement
by
4.28 avg rating — 213 ratings
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29 |
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Kozo the Sparrow
by
4.20 avg rating — 147 ratings
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30 |
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Ramen for Everyone
by
4.18 avg rating — 499 ratings
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31 |
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This Is Not My Home
by
4.39 avg rating — 343 ratings
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31 |
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Under the Blanket Sky
by
4.05 avg rating — 190 ratings
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33 |
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The Train Home
by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 219 ratings
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34 |
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A Flag for Juneteenth
by
4.33 avg rating — 224 ratings
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35 |
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The Truth About Dragons
by
4.37 avg rating — 947 ratings
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36 |
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Tomfoolery!: Randolph Caldecott and the Rambunctious Coming-of-Age of Children's Books
by
4.21 avg rating — 424 ratings
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37 |
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Dim Sum Palace
by
4.07 avg rating — 608 ratings
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38 |
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This is a Story
by
4.34 avg rating — 602 ratings
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39 |
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The Book of Turtles
by
4.50 avg rating — 331 ratings
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40 |
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Maribel's Year
by
4.12 avg rating — 213 ratings
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41 |
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Jovita Wore Pants: The Story of a Mexican Freedom Fighter
by
4.20 avg rating — 742 ratings
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42 |
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Ancestory: The Mystery and Majesty of Ancient Cave Art
by
4.21 avg rating — 191 ratings
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43 |
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Big Tree
by
4.04 avg rating — 3,245 ratings
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44 |
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I'm an American
by
4.50 avg rating — 129 ratings
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45 |
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A Walk in the Woods
by
4.43 avg rating — 657 ratings
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46 |
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You So Black
by
4.44 avg rating — 168 ratings
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47 |
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This Little Kitty
by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 412 ratings
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48 |
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Cape
by
4.54 avg rating — 427 ratings
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49 |
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The Umbrella
by
3.97 avg rating — 498 ratings
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50 |
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Holding Her Own: The Exceptional Life of Jackie Ormes
by
4.18 avg rating — 341 ratings
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51 |
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The Indestructible Tom Crean: Heroic Explorer of the Antarctic
by
4.31 avg rating — 225 ratings
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52 |
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Rise to the Sky: How the World's Tallest Trees Grow Up
by
4.14 avg rating — 212 ratings
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53 |
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The Artivist
by
4.33 avg rating — 385 ratings
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54 |
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Mine!
by
4.03 avg rating — 378 ratings
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55 |
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The Bees of Notre-Dame
by
3.99 avg rating — 215 ratings
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56 |
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Harlem at Four
by
3.94 avg rating — 143 ratings
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57 |
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One Day
by
4.05 avg rating — 274 ratings
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58 |
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The Making of Butterflies
by
4.08 avg rating — 118 ratings
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59 |
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Rainbow Shopping
by
4.10 avg rating — 229 ratings
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60 |
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Something Wild
by
4.10 avg rating — 219 ratings
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61 |
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You Are My Pride: A Love Letter from Your Motherland
by
3.79 avg rating — 131 ratings
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62 |
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If I Was a Horse
by
3.78 avg rating — 728 ratings
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63 |
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Stillwater and Koo Save the World (A Stillwater and Friends Book)
by
4.08 avg rating — 292 ratings
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64 |
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Whale Fall: Exploring an Ocean-Floor Ecosystem
by
4.39 avg rating — 338 ratings
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65 |
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Like Lava in My Veins
by
4.12 avg rating — 304 ratings
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65 |
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What Your Ribbon Skirt Means to Me: Deb Haaland's Historic Inauguration
by
4.20 avg rating — 147 ratings
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65 |
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Mexikid: A Graphic Memoir
by
4.27 avg rating — 4,446 ratings
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65 |
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The World and Everything in It
by
3.72 avg rating — 438 ratings
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69 |
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Chef Edna: Queen of Southern Cooking, Edna Lewis
by
4.27 avg rating — 130 ratings
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69 |
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Patchwork Prince
by
4.01 avg rating — 169 ratings
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69 |
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A Bed of Stars
by
4.07 avg rating — 320 ratings
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69 |
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Our Pool
by
4.25 avg rating — 448 ratings
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73 |
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The Red Jacket
by
4.15 avg rating — 318 ratings
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74 |
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A Beautiful House for Birds
by
3.96 avg rating — 109 ratings
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75 |
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Ode to a Bad Day
by
3.89 avg rating — 352 ratings
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76 |
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Grandma's Tipi: A Present-Day Lakota Story
by
4.08 avg rating — 186 ratings
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77 |
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Before, Now
by
3.64 avg rating — 294 ratings
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78 |
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Little Land
by
4.12 avg rating — 239 ratings
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79 |
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Outside Amelia's Window
by
4.28 avg rating — 250 ratings
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80 |
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Remembering
by
4.45 avg rating — 320 ratings
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81 |
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Something, Someday
by
4.37 avg rating — 1,131 ratings
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82 |
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The Walk
by
4.42 avg rating — 233 ratings
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83 |
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Hidden Hope: How a Toy and a Hero Saved Lives During the Holocaust
by
4.47 avg rating — 380 ratings
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84 |
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Spanish Is the Language of My Family
by
4.36 avg rating — 315 ratings
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85 |
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Papá's Magical Water-Jug Clock (Little Jesús, #1)
by
4.23 avg rating — 360 ratings
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86 |
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How Does Santa Go Down the Chimney?
by
4.26 avg rating — 1,408 ratings
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87 |
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Animals in Pants: A Poetry Picture Book
by
4.35 avg rating — 202 ratings
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88 |
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I’m From
by
4.17 avg rating — 451 ratings
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89 |
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We Are Here (An All Because You Matter Book)
by
4.24 avg rating — 444 ratings
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90 |
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Sometimes I Cry
by
4.38 avg rating — 178 ratings
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91 |
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I'm Going to Build a Snowman
by
4.23 avg rating — 333 ratings
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92 |
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Dear Stray
by
4.21 avg rating — 247 ratings
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93 |
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Ancient Night
by
3.82 avg rating — 503 ratings
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94 |
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Zora, the Story Keeper
by
4.31 avg rating — 156 ratings
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95 |
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Oh, Olive!
by
4.16 avg rating — 269 ratings
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96 |
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Small Places, Close to Home: A Child's Declaration of Rights: Inspired by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
by
4.51 avg rating — 86 ratings
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97 |
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Catside Up, Catside Down: A Book of Prepositions
by
4.24 avg rating — 252 ratings
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98 |
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Wombats Are Pretty Weird: A (Not So) Serious Guide
by
4.47 avg rating — 251 ratings
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99 |
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To Boldly Go: How Nichelle Nichols and Star Trek Helped Advance Civil Rights
by
4.37 avg rating — 352 ratings
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100 |
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Mole Is Not Alone
by
4.28 avg rating — 439 ratings
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Thank you so much for voting on this list and for adding titles that had impressed you over the past year. We did pretty well at predicting some of the 2024 Caldecott winners:
>Medal Winner: Big - written and illustrated by Vashti Harrison (#2 on our list)
>Honor Books:
- In Every Life - written and illustrated by Marla Frazee (#5 on our list)
- Jovita Wore Pants - illustrated by Molly Mendoza and written by Aida Salazar (#46 on our list)
- There Was a Party for Langston - illustrated by brothers Jerome & Jarrett Pumphrey and written by Jason Reynolds (#15 on our list)
- The Truth about Dragons - illustrated by Hanna Cha and written by Julie Leung (a book wholly new to most of our voters b/c it wasn't on our list!)
I have to admit, I was seriously disappointed not to see American Story get any Caldecott recognition because the various forms of artwork presented in the book seemed to be on another level from the rest of the field, especially knowing that Dare Coulter spent years crafting them, but at least she won the Coretta Scott King Illustrator award.
On that note, I have added 7 more picture books awarded medals or honors for the Youth Media Awards that also complied with Caldecott rules (some were illustrated by artists who do not reside in the US or were published prior to 2023). I did this in case you continue to use this list as a resource of the best picture books written in 2023 when doing reader advisory with library patrons or with students.
Looking forward, I have started the 2025 Mock Caldecott List on Goodreads and hope you participate with that list as well. (link: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1... )
Happy Reading!
Beth