Each year, the Texas Library Association nominates 20 books to be considered for the Texas Bluebonnet Award. Kids (no adults!) in grades 3-6 are allowed the opportunity to vote for the winner. In order to be eligible to vote, students must read (or have read to them) at least 5 of the nominated books. I have the kids fill out a short review sheet to prove that they read the books.
This year, we had 7 kids earn the right to vote: one 3rd grader, three 4th graders, and three 5th graders. The kids voted for Pizza Hut for their lunch, and we talked about the books and then voted online. These 7 kids were also informed of a little surprise! Sometime this spring, we will be taking a field trip to Barnes and Noble to spend some of the money that we earned last year from our B&N book fair. The kids will be able to pick out books for our library as well as picking out a book of their own.
The Bluebonnet Award is a huge deal in the Texas reading/library world, and it is such an honor for the author and illustrator to be chosen as the winner. We found out a couple of weeks after we voted that the winner of this year's Texas Bluebonnet Award is Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson. This book was definitely a hit among our readers, too!
Here are some pictures from our voting party. Congratulations to them all! I am so proud of them. :)
*Koa missed our voting party, but we did cast his vote for him. He'll also be able to join us on our field trip to Barnes and Noble.
