Rhode Island Children's Book Award 2023 Nominees

Stymied by her unfinished family tree assignment for school, a young girl seeks Grandma's counsel and learns about her ancestors, the consequences of slavery, and the history of Black resistance in the United States.

After a horrible year, twelve-year-old Milton spends the summer with his Uncle Evan, a naturalist on the Lone Island, where he learns about friendship, protecting the environment, and fighting for what is right.

Hoping to adopt a pet to find a sense of belonging in her busy family, Maggie is disappointed to discover she is severely allergic to anything with fur and tries to find a pet to love anyway

Describes how Italian cyclist Gino Bartali, winner of the 1938 Tour de France, secretly worked with the Italian resistance to save more than eight hundred Jewish men, women, and children, and others, from certain death during World War II.

Soon after her mother marries a man with three sons, sixth-grader Bea Embers fights to form a girls' soccer team at school, despite discrimination and setbacks.

In this full-color middle grade graphic memoir, Yehudi Mercado draws inspiration from his childhood struggle with his weight while finding friendship with his imaginary mascot, Chunky, as he navigates growing up in a working class Mexican-Jewish family

Katie is dreading the boring summer ahead while her best friends are all away at camp--something that's way out of Katie and her mom's budget, UNLESS Katie can figure out a way earn the money for camp herself. But when Katie gets a job catsitting for her mysterious upstairs neighbor, life get interesting.

Bell has spent his whole life - all eleven years of it - on Mars. But he's still just a regular kid - he loves cats, any kind of cake, and is curious about the secrets the adults in the US colony are keeping. Like, why don't have contact with anyone on the other Mars colonies? Why are they so isolated? When a virus breaks out and the grown-ups all fall ill, Bell and the other children are the only ones who can help. It's up to Bell, a regular kid in a very different world to uncover the truth and save his family ... and possibly unite an entire planet.

A forgotten homemade robot comes to life just when aspiring fifth-grade scientist Maya needs a friend--and a science fair project.

“The first thing I can remember,” Ben said, “I drew.”
As an observant child growing up in Lithuania, Ben Shahn yearns to draw everything he sees—and, after seeing his father banished by the Czar for demanding workers’ rights, he develops a keen sense of justice, too.

Ten-year-old Anthony Joplin has made it to double digits! Which means he's finally old enough to play in the spades tournament every Joplin Man before him seems to have won. So while Ant's friends are stressing about fifth grade homework and girls, Ant only has one thing on his mind: how he'll measure up to his father's expectations at the card table.

A biography of MaVynee Betsch, an African American opera singer turned environmentalist who worked to preserve American Beach, Florida as a historical landmark.

A young conservationist overcomes the odds to return a sun bear to its natural habitat.

When a Hollywood director starts filming a blockbuster action film on the otherwise sleepy island of Martha's Vineyard, thirteen-year-old Gayle and her friends set out to make their own film and solve an island mystery

A picture biography of educator and politician Shirley Chisholm, who in 1968 was the first Black woman elected to Congress and in 1972 was the first Black candidate from a major political party (the Democratic party) to run for the United States presidency.

Chicago fifth-grader Simon, an aspiring rapper who lacks self-confidence, uses his rhymes to help bring his community together.

Sona is not sure how she feels about a new baby in the family until the baby-naming ceremony, during which she is determined to find the best name for her new brother or sister.

Young Nurah reluctantly moves with her family from Karachi, Pakistan, to Peachtree City, Georgia, but, after some ups and downs, begins to feel at home.

A powerful look at the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, one of the worst incidents of racial violence in United States history

When the annual migration of hummingbears, a source of local pride and income, dwindles and no one knows why, Willodeen, armed with a magical birthday gift, speaks up for the animals she loves and vows to uncover this mystery.