2025 Picture Book and Junior Book Nominees

We are very pleased to announce the nominees for the 2025 North Carolina Children's Book Awards.    In order to vote in March 2025, 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

Acorn Was a Little Wild Jen Arena Illustrated by Jessica Gibson Beneath Cori Doerrfeld How Dinosaurs Went Extinct: A Safety Guide Ame Dyckman Illustrated by Jennifer Harney I Cannot Draw a Horse Charise Mericle Harper I Want 100 Dogs Stacy McAnulty Illustrated by Claire Keane Jumper: A Day in the Life of a Backyard Jumping Spider Jessica Lanan My Hands Tell a Story Kelly Starling Lyons Illustrated by Tonya Engel Place Hands Here Katie Yamasaki This Story is Not About a Kitten Randall de Sève Illustrated by Carson Ellis A Unicorn, a Dinosaur, and a Shark Walk Into a Book Jonathan Fenske A Very Cranky Book Angela DiTerlizzi Illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi Yoshi, Sea Turtle Genius: a True Story About an Amazing Swimmer Lynne Cox Illustrated by Richard Jones

Air Monica Roe Chunky Yehudi Mercado Finally Seen Kelly Yang The Fire of Stars: the Life and Brilliance of the Woman Who Discovered What Stars are Made Of Kirsten W. Larson Illustrated by Katherine Roy Kaboom! A Volcano Erupts Jessica Kulekjian Illustrated by Zoe Si The Lost Library Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass The Magical Imperfect Chris Baron The Marvellers Dhonielle Clayton Maya and the Robot Eve L. Ewing Illustrated Christine Almeda My Head Has a Bellyache: More Nonsense for Mischievous Kids and Immature Grown-ups Chris Harris Illustrated by Andrea Tsurumi Odder Katherine Applegate Shine On, Luz Véliz! Rebecca Balcárcel