[OPLINLIST] 2026 Buckeye Book Award nominees announced

[jdwyer at library.ohio.gov]

Cross-posted. Please excuse duplication.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 1, 2026

The Buckeye Children's & Teen Book Award Council is pleased to announce the nominees for the 2026 Buckeye Children's Book Award and the 2026 Buckeye Teen Book Award. The following titles were chosen by young readers across Ohio through an online nomination process.

Buckeye Children's Book Award:
Grades K-2

  *   Aggie and the Ghost by Matthew Forsythe (A Paula Wiseman Book/Beach Lane Books, 2025)
  *   Cranky Crabby Crow (Saves the World) by Corey R. Tabor (Greenwillow Books, 2025)
  *   Don't Trust Fish by Neil Sharpson, illus. by Dan Santat (Dial Books, 2025)
  *   Forts by Katie Venit, illus. by Kenard Pak (Viking Books for Young Readers, 2025)
  *   Pencil's Best Story Ever by Carly Gledhill (Postwave, 2025)

Grades 3-5

  *   The Bear Out There by Jess Hannigan (Quill Tree Books, 2025)
  *   The Dangerous Alphabet Book by DK Ryland (Astra Young Readers, 2025)
  *   Dog Man: Big Jim Believes (Dog Man #14) by Dav Pilkey (Graphix, 2025)
  *   Keeper of the Lost Cities: Unraveled by Shannon Messenger (Aladdin, 2024)
  *   Stalactite & Stalagmite: A Big Tale From a Little Cave by Drew Beckmeyer (Atheneum Books For Young Readers, 2025)

Grades 6-8

  *   Busted by Dan Gemeinhart (Henry Holt & Co. (BYR), 2025)
  *   The Court of the Dead (From the World of Percy Jackson: A Nico di Angelo Adventure) by Rick Riordan and Mark Oshiro (Disney Hyperion, 2025)
  *   Rise of the Spider (The Web of the Spider Book 1) by Michael P. Spradlin (Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2024)
  *   War Games: A Novel of 1936 Berlin by Alan Gratz (Scholastic Press, 2025)

  *   Westfallen by Ann and Ben Brashares (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2024)

Buckeye Teen Book Award (grades 9-12)

  *   Codebreaker by Jay Martel (Wednesday Books, 2025)
  *   Falling Like Leaves by Misty Wilson (Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2025)
  *   49 Miles Alone by Natalie D. Richards (Sourcebooks Fire, 2024)
  *   The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn't a Guy at All (Vol. 1) by Sumiko Arai, translated by Ajani Oloye (Yen Press, 2024)
  *   Wind and Truth (Book Five of the Stormlight Archive) by Brandon Sanderson (Tor Books, 2024)

To be eligible for nomination, a book must have been published in the United States in the previous two years and not be part of a series that has previously won the award. Voting is open to any student in Ohio, and runs September 1 - November 10, 2026 on the Buckeye Book Award website: www.bcbookaward.info<http://www.bcbookaward.info/>. Winners will be announced after December 1, 2026. Nominations for the 2027 awards are being accepted at the same website through March 10, 2027. The Buckeye Book Award is notable among state readers' choice programs because the books are nominated entirely by Ohio's children and teens.

More information on the Buckeye Book Awards is available on the website www.bcbookaward.info<http://www.bcbookaward.info/> or by contacting the BCTBA Council President at buckeyekidsread at gmail.com<mailto:buckeyekidsread at gmail.com>.


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Janet Ingraham Dwyer
Youth Services Library Consultant
Library Programs & Development
State Library of Ohio
274 E. 1st Avenue
Columbus, OH 43201
614.644.6910
jdwyer at library.ohio.gov<mailto:jdwyer at library.ohio.gov>
library.ohio.gov<https://library.ohio.gov/>

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