Barnes & Noble announced 24 titles competing this year for the honor of being named the best in the 2024 Barnes & Noble Children’s & Young Adult Book Awards. The annual award highlights the best talent in books for the year, and the titles are voted on by booksellers across the country.
Three categories of books are considered in the awards. They are Picture Books, Young Reader, and Young Adult. Each category will have one winner and one title will be selected as overall winner. The announcement of those will happen May 13, 2024.
“Getting kids and young adults to love reading is our priority, and the passion for stories our dedicated children’s booksellers bring to these shortlists is so exciting.” said Shannon DeVito, Senior Director of Books, Barnes & Noble. “Booksellers are able to highlight authors and books that inspire younger generations of readers that might otherwise be overlooked. Each book on these lists is a thrilling discovery, reaching across audiences to give young readers new authors to fall in love with.”
The finalists for the award this year in each category are as follows:
Picture Books
- Big by Vashti Harrison
- The Book That Can Read Your Mind by Marianna Coppo
- Buffalo Fluffalo by Bess Kalb, Erin Kraan (Illustrator)
- Down the Hole by Scott Slater, Adam Ming (Illustrator)
- I Lived Inside a Whale by Xin Li
- Tokyo Night Parade by J.P. Takahashi, Minako Tomigahara (Illustrator)
- While You’re Asleep by Emmy Kastner, Emmy Kastner (Illustrator)
Young Readers
- Ellie Engle Saves Herself by Leah Johnson
- The Eyes and the Impossible by Dave Eggers, Shawn Harris (Illustrator)
- Ghost Book by Remy Lai
- Greenwild: The World Behind the Door by Pari Thomson
- Mexikid by Pedro Martín, Pedro Martín (Illustrator)
- The Misfits #1: A Royal Conundrum by Lisa Yee, Dan Santat (Illustrator)
- Once There Was by Kiyash Monsef
- Parachute Kids: A Graphic Novel by Betty C. Tang, Betty C. Tang (Illustrator)
- The Sky Over Rebecca by Matthew Fox
Young Adult
- Curious Tides by Pascale Lacelle
- Gwen & Art Are Not in Love: A Novel by Lex Croucher
- The Last Bloodcarver by Vanessa Le
- Powerless by Lauren Roberts
- Their Vicious Games by Joelle Wellington
- Thieves’ Gambit by Kayvion Lewis
- To Kill a Shadow by Katherine Quinn
- What the River Knows by Isabel Ibañez
The annual award announcement serves as the kickoff for Barnes & Noble’s Summer Reading Program. Children in grades 1-6 can sign up following the awards announcement in May and when they read eight books, they are eligible to pick out one free book at the end of summer.
Previous overall winners of the Barnes & Noble Children’s & Young Adult Book Awards include The Swifts by Beth Lincoln and illustrated by Claire Powell in 2023, Knight Owl by Christopher Denise in 2022, and Amari and the Night Brothers by B. B. Alston in 2021.
Find more news and stories of interest from the book world in Breaking in Books.
