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</v:shapetype><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_1" o:spid="_x0000_s1026" type="#_x0000_t75" style='position:absolute;margin-left:0;margin-top:0;width:3in;height:3in;z-index:251658240;visibility:visible;mso-wrap-style:square;mso-width-percent:0;mso-height-percent:0;mso-wrap-distance-left:9pt;mso-wrap-distance-top:0;mso-wrap-distance-right:9pt;mso-wrap-distance-bottom:0;mso-position-horizontal:absolute;mso-position-horizontal-relative:text;mso-position-vertical:absolute;mso-position-vertical-relative:text;mso-width-percent:0;mso-height-percent:0;mso-width-relative:page;mso-height-relative:page'>
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</v:shape><![endif]--><![if !vml]><img width="288" height="288" style="width:3.0in;height:3.0in" src="cid:image003.jpg@01DC83D7.3694C900" align="right" hspace="12" v:shapes="Picture_x0020_1"><![endif]><span style="font-family:"Source Sans 3",sans-serif;color:#0070C0"><a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Every-Monday-Mabel/Jashar-Awan/9781665938150" target="_blank"><b><i><span style="color:#0070C0">Every
Monday Mabel</span></i></b></a></span><span style="font-family:"Source Sans 3",sans-serif"> by Jashar Awan (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2025) has been named the eleventh annual <span style="color:#0070C0"><a href="https://library.ohio.gov/floyds-pick" target="_blank"><span style="color:#0070C0">Floyd’s
Pick Book Award</span></a></span> winner, awarded by the Choose to Read Ohio (CTRO) Advisory Council in memory of children’s literature expert, advocate, and librarian Floyd Dickman. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Source Sans 3",sans-serif"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Source Sans 3",sans-serif">The Floyd’s Pick Book Award is given annually to a book written by an Ohio author or illustrated by an Ohio illustrator that is representative of high-quality literature created for children.
It aims to carry on the legacy of Floyd Dickman’s joyful work to support and share children’s literature. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Source Sans 3",sans-serif"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Source Sans 3",sans-serif">The CTRO Advisory Council has also selected two Floyd’s Pick Honor Books for 2026: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Source Sans 3",sans-serif"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<ul style="margin-top:0in" type="disc">
<li class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0in;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo3"><span style="font-family:"Source Sans 3",sans-serif;color:#0070C0"><a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250881328/homeisawish/" target="_blank"><b><i><span style="color:#0070C0">Home
Is a Wish</span></i></b></a> </span><span style="font-family:"Source Sans 3",sans-serif">by Julia Kuo (Macmillan, 2025) <o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left:0in;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo3"><span style="font-family:"Source Sans 3",sans-serif;color:#0070C0"><a href="https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/quartez-harris/go-tell-it/9780316483933/?lens=little-brown-books-for-young-readers" target="_blank"><b><i><span style="color:#0070C0">Go
Tell It: How James Baldwin Became a Writer</span></i></b></a> </span><span style="font-family:"Source Sans 3",sans-serif">by Quartez Harris, illustrated by Gordon C. James (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2025) <o:p></o:p></span></li></ul>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Source Sans 3",sans-serif"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Source Sans 3",sans-serif">Floyd’s Pick Book Award winner
<b><i>Every Monday Mabel </i></b>celebrates the best thing in the world (according to Mabel, at least) in a joyful, suspenseful, high-energy story about perspective, ritual, and delight. According to the publisher, this book is a “celebration of community helpers
that captures the joy and wonder of being a kid, centering around a precocious girl whose favorite day of the week is Monday." <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Source Sans 3",sans-serif"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Source Sans 3",sans-serif">Growing up outside of Washington, DC, Jashar Awan loved drawing and reading. In fact, he still does. Jashar debuted as an author-illustrator in 2020. His books have been recognized with
a Geisel Award Honor, an ALA Notable, and Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selections and have been included on the Choose to Read Ohio Booklist and Bank Street College’s Best Books of the Year. A longtime New Yorker, Jashar now lives in Ohio with his wife
and son, who also love drawing and reading.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Source Sans 3",sans-serif"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Source Sans 3",sans-serif">Floyd’s Pick Honor Book
<b><i>Home Is a Wish </i></b>is an exquisitely illustrated, deeply relatable meditation on the discomfort of leaving home and the gradual, hopeful process of creating a new home in a new place. Winner of the 2024 Floyd's Pick Book Award for
<b><i>Luminous: Living Things that Light Up the Night</i></b>, author and illustrator Julia Kuo is a former Cleveland resident who now lives in Washington State. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Source Sans 3",sans-serif"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Source Sans 3",sans-serif">Floyd’s Pick Honor Book
<b><i>Go Tell It</i></b> is a stunning, captivating picture book biography and an imaginative homage both to reading and writing and to creativity and persistence. It follows James Baldwin from childhood through the blossoming of his writing career. The lyrical
text and vibrant illustrations work together magically. Quartez Harris is an Ohio-based poet, teacher, and author.
<b><i>Go Tell It</i></b> is his first published children's book. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Source Sans 3",sans-serif"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Source Sans 3",sans-serif">Floyd Dickman was a Library Consultant at the State Library of Ohio and a tireless advocate for children’s literature and librarianship. He had an enduring impact on library and literacy
services in Ohio and across the country. During his career, Floyd was awarded the Ohio Library Council Librarian of the Year award and was named Outstanding Friend by the Ohio Family Literacy Task Force. Upon Floyd’s retirement in 1999, the State Library of
Ohio Board’s retirement resolution recognized his leadership, commitment, and passion for library services, children’s literature, and family literacy. Floyd is also remembered as a dedicated mentor to librarians and library science students. He remained an
active teacher, advisor, and champion for many years after retirement. Floyd Dickman passed away in June 2015. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Source Sans 3",sans-serif"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Source Sans 3",sans-serif">The CTRO Advisory Council established Floyd’s Pick in December 2015 with a proclamation by Beverly Cain, then State Librarian of Ohio. Ohio author and illustrator Loren Long, winner of
the first Floyd’s Pick Book Award for <b><i>Little Tree</i></b> and honoree in 2022 and 2025, graciously provided the Floyd’s Pick Book Award artwork.
<span style="color:#0070C0"><a href="https://library.ohio.gov/libraries/library-programs-and-development/ctro/floyds-pick-book-award" target="_blank"><span style="color:#0070C0">Learn more about Floyd’s Pick and past winners and honor books</span></a></span>. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Source Sans 3",sans-serif"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Source Sans 3",sans-serif;color:#0070C0"><a href="https://library.ohio.gov/libraries/library-programs-and-development/ctro" target="_blank"><b><span style="color:#0070C0">Choose to Read Ohio</span></b></a></span><span style="font-family:"Source Sans 3",sans-serif">
(CTRO) spotlights Ohio authors and illustrators and promotes reading across Ohio. Started in 2009 by the State Library of Ohio and the Ohioana Library with the Ohio Center for the Book and Ohio’s libraries, CTRO celebrates the bounty and diversity of Ohio
literature and invites Ohioans of all ages to read and enjoy books together. Each CTRO booklist features twenty representative titles for all ages, selected with the input of dozens of Ohio librarians, educators, and others invested in readers and reading. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Source Sans 3",sans-serif"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Source Sans 3",sans-serif">###<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ligatures:none"><img border="0" width="268" height="80" style="width:2.7916in;height:.8333in" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.png@01DC83CF.FEB165E0" alt="A picture containing text
Description automatically generated"></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#0E3F75">Marsha McDevitt-Stredney<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#5A5A5A">Director, Marketing & Communications<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#5A5A5A">State Library of Ohio<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#5A5A5A">274 E. 1<sup>st</sup> Avenue<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#5A5A5A">Columbus, OH 43201<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#5A5A5A">Tel: 614.644.6875<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#0070C0"><a href="mailto:marshams@library.ohio.gov"><span style="color:#0070C0">marshams@library.ohio.gov</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#0070C0"><a href="https://library.ohio.gov/"><span style="color:#0070C0">library.ohio.gov</span></a><u><o:p></o:p></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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