Children’s Book Week 2021

Children’s Book Week, the longest-running national literacy initiative, is observed November 8-14, 2021. Children’s Book Week is an annual observance of the importance of children’s and teen books while fostering a love of reading.

Our School Districts Celebrate Book Week and Book Character Day

Students in Edgewood ISD created costumes representing their favorite books and characters!

Check out a few of the many award-winning books and recommended reading lists for children this year:

Texas Bluebonnet Award Books

The Texas Library Association promotes the Texas Bluebonnet Award Program.

The Texas Bluebonnet Award Program is a statewide program for students in grades 3-6 to encourage free-choice reading for pleasure. The program exposes students to quality literature. Texas Librarians nominate 20 new books each year from different genres, and a winner is named each spring.

2021 Bluebonnet Award Winner

If I Built a School by Chris Van Dusen

In this companion to If I Built a Car, a boy fantasizes about his dream school. If Jack built a school, there would be hover desks and pop-up textbooks, skydiving wind tunnels and a trampoline basketball court in the gym, a robot chef to serve lunch in the cafeteria, field trips to Mars, and a whole lot more.

See past Texas Bluebonnet Award Winners 1981-2021 and the current Texas Bluebonnet Master List 2022-2023.

Texas Tejas Star Award

The Tejas Star Reading List provides recommended recreational reading to encourage children ages 5-12 to explore multicultural books and to discover the benefits of bilingualism and multilingualism.

Featured Tejas Star Books

Evelyn Del Rey se muda (Evelyn Del Rey Is Moving Away) by Meg Medina.

This book follows best friends Daniela and Evelyn as they play together right before Evelyn’s family moves away to a new city. The two friends find moments of imagination and joy together while packing for the move. Though they are sad when the time comes to say goodbye, they know they will always be mejores amigas.

Oye, Muro (Hey, Wall): Un cuento de arte y comunidad by Susan Verde

Around a bleak wall in the neighborhood, the community bustles with life: music, dancing, laughing. One boy decides to change the wall’s appearance, but he can’t do it alone. This inspiring picture book celebrates the power of art to tell a story and bring a community together.

See past Tejas Star Reading Lists 2007-2021.

Children’s STEM Books

The National Science Teaching Association promotes its list of the Best STEM Books. Winners explore problems and possible solutions in the scientific world and in the lives of the protagonists. The Best STEM Books emphasize real-world issues that cross disciplinary boundaries. Parents, grandparents, and other caregivers can involve the very youngest children in the process of STEM thinking- it’s never too early!

The Best STEM Books celebrate thinking, analysis, creativity, persistence, and the joy of figuring things out.

Featured STEM Books

Gnu and Shrew, by Danny Schnitzlein

Gnu and Shrew takes young readers on a playful journey into engineering and design using two delightful characters, Gnu and Shrew.

Numbers in Motion: Sophie Kowalevski, Queen of Mathematics, by Laurie Wallmark

Sophie Kowalevski, the first female mathematician, lived in a time when women were not permitted to be in a man’s world. Sophie’s persistence paved a way for all young girls to develop a love of math.

All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys’ Soccer Team, by Christina Soontornvat

STEM combines with suspense and perseverance in the account of the rescue of 12 young soccer players and their coach who were trapped for 17 days in a flooded cave.