State Award Winning Books

Every year students across Iowa participate in a democratic process of our own as we read and then vote on our state award books. The Iowa Goldfinch Award is given to a book that's suitable for students in grades K - 3 while the Iowa Children's Choice Award focuses on books for students in grades 3 - 6. Students are to read--or have read to them--at least two of the nominated books to be eligible to vote. Here were this year's nominees:

Since the fall, students have been reading and listening to many of the books, and the voted in their respective buildings in March. At Dallas Center Elementary, the K - 2 students voted for Ball by Mary Sullivan to be the Goldfinch winner, and students at South Prairie voted for Memoirs of a Hamster by Devin Scillian.

The DC Elementary students in grades 3 - 5 students voted for Duke by Kirby Larson to be the Children’s Choice while North Ridge students chose Dog Diaries: Ginger by Kate Kilmo as their winner.

State winners were announced in early April at a statewide librarian conference. The Goldfinch Award winner for the state was The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt; the Iowa Children’s Choice winner was Duke by Kirby Larson.