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BATON ROUGE, La. – More than 23,000 students across Louisiana read almost 81,000 books during the last year to select the winners of the 2023-2024 Louisiana Readers' Choice Awards.
More students were able to cast votes this year with the addition of a category for kindergarten to second grade. In that category, 9,274 students read almost 31,000 books.
Since the program began 25 years ago, students have ready almost 1.5 million books and cast 460,000 votes.
"The Louisiana Readers' Choice Awards program has always been a great way to get our young people to read," said Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser. "I'm proud of our State Library staff for taking the initiative to increase participation by adding a category for our youngest readers."
"It's always encouraging to see how many students take part in the Louisiana Readers' Choice Awards voting process. I hope that means they've been busy with books, hopefully developing a lifelong love of reading," said State Librarian Meg Placke. "This year's nominated lists were varied in theme and genre, but the winning and honor titles showcase friendship, teamwork, and empathy."
Winners are selected from booklists carefully chosen by committees of school and public librarians across the state. Many students cast their ballots on voting machines supplied by the Secretary of State's Voter Outreach Division.
This 2023-2024 Louisiana Readers' Choice winners and honor titles are:
Louisiana Young Readers’ Choice Kindergarten-Second Grade
Winner: Are You a Cheeseburger?(Katherine Tegen Books, HarperCollins)
written and illustrated by Monica Arnaldo
Honor: Chez Bob(Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, Hachette Book Group)
written and illustrated by Bob Shea
Louisiana Young Readers’ Choice Grades 3-5
Winner: Allergic(Graphix, Scholastic)
written by Megan Wagner Lloyd, illustrated by Michelle Mee Nutter
Honor: The Floating Field: How a Group of Thai Boys Built Their Own Soccer Field(Millbrook Press, Lerner Publishing Group)
written by Scott Riley, illustrated by Nguyen Quang and Kim Lien
Louisiana Young Readers’ Choice Grades 6-8
Winner: Starfish(Nancy Paulsen Books, Penguin Random House)
written by Lisa Fipps
Honor: Deadman’s Castle(Margaret Ferguson Books, Holiday House)
written by Iain Lawrence
Louisiana Teen Readers’ Choice Grades 9-12
Winner: Firekeeper’s Daughter(Henry Holt & Co. Books for Young Readers, Macmillan)
written by Angeline Boulley
Honor: Any Sign of Life(Greenwillow Books, Harper Collins)
written by Rae Carson
An award ceremony for honored authors will be held during the Louisiana Book Festival on Saturday, November 2. For more information about the program, including previous winners, participation information, and additional resources such as bookmarks, posters, and study guides provided at no cost, please visit the Louisiana Readers' Choice Awards website.
Daniel Monteverde
State Library of Louisiana
dmonteverde@SLOL.LIB.LA.US
225-342-4930
Veronica Mosgrove
Office of the Lieutenant Governor
vmosgrove@crt.la.gov
225-342-7009