2023 Nominees

We are very pleased to announce the nominees for the 2023 North Carolina Children's Book Awards.  We selected twelve titles for both lists because of possible availability issues.  In order to vote, children should read at least 5 picture book nominees and/or 3 junior book nominees.

Annotated Picture Book list
Annotated Junior Book list

Picture Books

Junior Books

The Box Turtle Roeder, Vanessa..  New York : Dial Books, 2020. The Boy Who Grew a Forest: The True Story of Jadav Payeng Gholz, Sophia. Illustrated by Kayla Harren.   Sleeping Bear Press, 2019. Dozens of Doughnuts Finison, Carrie. Illustrated by Brianne Farley.  G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, 2020. Eat Your Rocks, Croc! Keating, Jess. Illustrated by Pete Oswald.  New York : Orchard Books, 2020. Except Antarctica! Sturgell, Todd.  Naperville, IL : Sourcebooks Explore, 2021. How to Give Your Cat a Bath in Five Easy Steps Winstanley, Nicola. Illustrated by John Martz.   Toronto, ON : Tundra Books, 2019. I'm Trying to Love Garbage Barton, Bethany.  New York : Viking Books for Young Readers, 2021. It Fell From the Sky Fan, Terry and Eric.  New York : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2021. Mars! Earthlings Welcome McAnulty, Stacy. Illustrated by Stevie Lewis.  New York : Henry Holt & Co., 2021. Nigel and the Moon Eady, Antwan. Illustrated by Gracey Zhang.   New York : Katherine Tegen Books, 2022. A Song of Frutas Engle, Margarita. Illustrated by Sara Palacios.   New York : Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2021. Watercress Wang, Andrea. Illustrated by Jason Chin.  New York : Neal Porter Books, 2021.

Amari and the Night Brothers Alston, B.B..  New York : Balzer + Bray, 2021. Clean Getaway Stone, Nic.  New York : Crown Books for Young Readers, 2020. Flower Talk: How Plants Use Color to Communicate Levine, Sara.  Illustrated by Masha D'yans. Minneapolis : Millbrook Press, 2019. How to Build an Insect Gibson, Roberta. Illustrated by Anne Lambelet.  Minneapolis : Millbrook Press, 2021. Katie the Catsitter Venable, Colleen AF. Illustrated by Stephanie Yue.   New York : Random House Children's Books, 2021. A Place at the Table Faruqi, Saadia and Laura Shovan.   Boston : Clarion Books, 2020. Rez Dogs Bruchac, Joseph.   New York : Dial Books for Young Readers, 2021. Skunk and Badger Timberlake, Amy. Illustrated by Jon Klassen.   Chapel Hill, NC ; Algonquin Young Readers, 2020. Unplugged Korman, Gordon.  New York : Balzer + Bray, 2021. Willodeen Applegate, Katherine.  New York : Feiwel and Friends, 2021. A Wolf Called Wander Parry, Rosanne.  New York : Greenwillow Books, 2019. The World Ends in April McAnulty, Stacy.  New York : Random House Books for Young Readers, 2019.