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More than 26,600 votes cast and nearly 90,000 books read statewide in competition’s 27th year
BATON ROUGE, La. – More than 26,600 Louisiana K-12 students read over 89,000 books during the past year to select the winners of the 2025-2026 Louisiana Readers' Choice Awards.
Now in its 27th year, the program recorded 26,658 total votes, a 10.5% increase over the previous year, and 89,460 books read, an 8% increase. Since the program's founding, Louisiana students have cast more than 511,600 votes and read nearly 1.64 million books.
Participation among the youngest readers drove much of the growth, with students in kindergarten through second grade posting an 18.2% increase in votes and students in grades 3-5 recording a 10.7% increase.
“Louisiana has always had a deep connection to storytelling, and programs like this remind us that the next generation of readers is alive and well across our state,” said Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser. “When kids are choosing to read and voting for their favorites, that’s something worth celebrating. It speaks to the passion Louisiana families, teachers, and librarians bring to nurturing young readers.”
“It’s especially encouraging to see the strongest participation gains among our youngest readers,” said State Librarian Meg Placke. “The earlier we can get children excited about books, the more likely they are to carry that love of reading with them for the rest of their lives. With nearly 90,000 books read statewide this year, our educators and librarians are clearly making a difference, and we’re grateful for everything they do to make this program a success.”
Students in grades K-12 who reside in Louisiana are eligible to vote after reading or listening to two or three nominated titles from the booklist corresponding to their grade level. Booklists are carefully chosen by committees of school and public librarians across the state and include a mix of high-quality fiction, nonfiction, graphic novels, and poetry representing a variety of genres and reading preferences.
An award winner and an honor book are chosen in each grade-level category based on student votes, with many students casting their ballots on voting machines supplied by the Secretary of State’s Voter Outreach Division. This year’s winners and honor titles are:
Louisiana Young Readers’ Choice
Kindergarten–Second Grade
Winner: One Chicken Nugget
(Balzer + Bray, HarperCollins)
Written and illustrated by Tadgh Bentley
Honor: Mr. S: A First Day of School Book
(Katherine Tegan Books, HarperCollins)
Written and illustrated by Monica Arnaldo
Louisiana Young Readers’ Choice
Grades 3–5
Winner: Heroic Heart: An Illustrated Biography of Joe Delaney
(Triumph Books)
Written by Frank Murphy and Charnaie Gordon, illustrated by Anastasia Magloire Williams
Honor: Yoshi, Sea Turtle Genius: A True Story about an Amazing Swimmer
(Anne Schwartz Books, Penguin Random House)
Written by Lynne Cox, illustrated by Richard Jones
Louisiana Young Readers’ Choice
Grades 6–8
Winner: Eb & Flow
(Crown Books for Young Readers, Penguin Random House)
Written by Kelly J. Baptiste
Honor: It Found Us
(Sourcebooks Young Readers, Sourcebooks)
Written by Lindsay Currie
Louisiana Teen Readers’ Choice
Grades 9–12
Winner: The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich
(Little, Brown Ink; Hachette Book Group)
Written and illustrated by Deya Muniz
Honor: Bonesmith
(Margaret K. McElderry Books, Simon & Schuster)
Written by Nicki Pau Preto
Honoree authors will be recognized at a special award ceremony during the Louisiana Book Festival on Saturday, October 31. For more information about the program, including previous winners and participation information, visit the Louisiana Readers’ Choice Awards webpage at library.la.gov. Promotional resources for the 2026-27 program, including bookmarks, posters, and study guides, will be available through the site in the coming weeks.
The Louisiana Readers’ Choice Awards is a reading enrichment program of the Louisiana Center for the Book in the State Library of Louisiana. Founded in 1999, the program motivates young readers to engage with high-quality literature and vote for their favorite books.
Contact Information:
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Kevin Calbert |
Barry Landry |