Rhode Island Children's Book Award 2025 Nominees

"After the art programs are cut at his school, Dale Donavan recruits talented artists to create an after-school art club"

"When Zimdalamashkermishkada starts a new school, he decides to shrink his name to the shorter, simpler Zim, but when his new friend Elly sees him for who he truly is, Zimdalamashkermishkada finds the confidence to step proudly into his long name."-

"Structured as a guessing game competition, and told through . . . persona poems, the book celebrates animals' standout qualities, from the biggest (blue whale) to the smallest (shrew), with . . . [common] creatures (speedy cheetahs, long-necked giraffes) plus some less common animals . . . (long-lived tortoises, deep-dwelling snailfish and more). Each . . . persona poem is told from the point of view of a different animal and invites readers to guess who's the fastest flyer, strongest biter, best artist--even the smelliest! The . . . spirited poems are followed by a page turn that shows readers if their guess was correct and offers non-fiction information about each critter"--

A biography of astronaut and former director of the Johnson Space Center Ellen Ochoa.

When eleven-year-old Micah's grandfather goes missing, her instincts lead her to the off-limits Finch House, but when a boy named Theo invites her in, Micah realizes she cannot leave and must convince the house to let her go.

Running for their lives from Princess Buttons, the scariest street cat in the Big City, fox cub siblings Ted and Nancy flee to the supposedly peaceful town of Grimwood, which is not at all what they expected as they encounter an eccentric cast of characters.

Young Plum is shocked to discover that she's been accepted to the Guardian Academy on Lotus Island, an elite school where kids learn how to transform into Guardians, magical creatures who are sworn to protect the natural world. The Guardian masters teach Plum and her friends how to communicate with animals and how to use meditation to strengthen their minds and bodies. All the kids also learn to fight, so they can protect the defenseless if needed. To her dismay, Plum struggles at school. While her classmates begin to transform into amazing creatures, Plum can't even seem to magic up a single feather! If she can't embrace her inner animal form soon, she'll have to leave school and lose the first group of real friends she's ever known.

Mia is spending her summer with her grandmother in a small Maine town, expecting it to be an oasis of stability in her changing life, but there is a new know-it-all boy next door, and soon she finds herself competing with Cayman in identifying an injured bird of prey--and pretty much everything else.

From camouflage and color-changing to playing dead and detachable body parts, this fascinating glimpse into the clever, creative, and crazy ways animals avoid being eaten sheds new light on the natural world.

Jovita didn't want to cook and clean like her sisters, and she especially didn't want to wear the skirts her abuela gave her. She wanted to race her brothers and climb the tallest mesquite trees in Rancho Palos Blancos, ride horses, and wear pants! When her father and brothers joined the Cristeros War to fight for the right to practice religion, she wanted to help. She wasn't allowed to fight, but that didn't stop her from observing how her father strategized and familiarizing herself with the terrain. When tragedy struck, she did the only thing that felt right to her--cut her hair, donned a pair of pants, and continued the fight, commanding a battalion who followed her without question. Jovita Wore Pants is the story of a trailblazing revolutionary who fought for her freedom, told by her great niece.

A history of the technological advancements behind the straw, how modern plastic straws harm the environment, and what is being done to solve the problem of plastic pollution.

After recently moving to the United States, a young girl reminisces about her time spent helping her Lolo run his sari-sari store in the Philippines, and uses some of his wisdom to make herself feel more at home.

First-generation Filipino siblings JJ and Althea struggle to belong at school. JJ wants to fit in with the crowd, while Althea wants to be accepted as she is. But that hope seems like a long shot, for both of them. To make matters worse, they have to help their parents run the family food truck by dressing up as a dancing pig and passing out samples. Ugh! And their mom is always pointing out lessons from Filipino folklore -- annoying tales they've heard again and again. But when witches, ogres, and other creatures from those same stories threaten their family, JJ and Althea realize that the folklore may be more real that they'd suspected. Can they embrace who they really are and save their family?

A "bad" demon, meaning she always sees the good in those around her, twelve-year-old Meesh, bullied by the other demons, must save her world when disaster strikes, making surprising new friends and learning to love herself as she searches for her place in the underworld.

Our ancestors say our hair is our memories, our source of strength and power, a celebration of our lives. Mom never had long hair--she was told it was too wild. Grandma couldn't have long hair--hers was taken from her. But one young girl can't wait to grow her hair long: for herself, for her family, for her connection to her culture and the Earth, and to honor the strength and resilience of those who came before her. From Carole Lindstrom, author of the New York Times bestseller and Caldecott Medal winner We Are Water Protectors, and debut illustrator Steph Littlebird comes an empowering and healing celebration of hair and its significance across Indigenous cultures.

Eleven-year-old Sam, who lives with her siblings and mothers in a house on Sunrise Lagoon, tries to come up with a plan to save the family's charter boat business before the summer is over.

When a storm threatens Diwali celebrations, eight-year-old Sejal Sinha, a spunky Indian-American girl with an active imagination, tries to use science to save her family's beloved holiday.

Shermy finds his plans for a quiet, relaxing summer upended by the arrival of Shake, who moves in next door, and as they are forced to spend more and more time together, these polar opposites must learn how to get along.

When a lost dog helps Laura find a way home to her family, they discover family in each other along the way.

It's 1967 in Nablus, Palestine. Oraib loves the olive trees that grow outside the refugee camp where she lives. Each harvest, she and her mama pick the small fruits and she eagerly stomp stomp stomps on them to release their golden oil. Olives have always tied her family to the land, as Oraib learns from the stories Mama tells of a home before war. But war has come to their door once more, forcing them to flee. Even as her family is uprooted, Oraib makes a solemn promise to her beloved olive trees. She will see to it that their legacy lives on for generations to come