Middle grade fiction encompasses a wide range of stories that do not have magical elements and are geared toward the 8 to 12 year old age group. These stories could be mysteries, histories, humor, sports, adventure and other tales set in the real world. Books should not contain mature content in regards to violence, sex or language are more appropriate …

The world as it was and is. Not as it could, or would, or should be. Send the dystopias and space operas, the fairies and angels, the blood-suckers, zombies, and alternate realities to SFF. In YA Fiction we are looking for realistic fiction, be it contemporary or historical, funny or mysterious, romantic or adventurous. We want the real world of …

 Poetry is tiny but mighty in nominations. From words that rhyme, words that flow and shape emotions on all different topics to poetic forms, the Poetry Genre is home to a veritable stew of entries. These books will appeal to the very young, middle grade and/or young adults. What belongs in Poetry? Consider nominating anthologies and poetry collections written by …

Nonfiction is the perfect way to introduce elementary and middle grade kids to the amazing world around them from history and biography to art and nature. Science? Math? Animals? Sports? It's all here and more besides! We're looking for titles that are suitable for reading aloud or independently, including picture books, easy readers, and early chapters, text and illustrations or …

Everyone loves comics…and the graphic storytelling mode goes way beyond Superman! The graphic novels category covers a wide range of stories–everything from wordless picture books appealing to the very young to intense, issue-based young adult novels–all of which tell their stories through serial artwork. We give an award for both the younger graphics and for the young adult graphics. Since …

The category of Fiction Picture Books would appear clearcut: books that are fictional with pictures. Oh, but that simplicity is deceptive. The category contains titles for toddlers and third graders, funny stories and moving tales, history and fantasy, traditions and diversity, elegance and silliness, education and entertainment. An amazing conceptual range for books with typically 32 to 48 pages.   …

The young Speculative Fiction readers of today are lucky, with hundreds of great new books every year to pick from! Speculative Fiction encompasses everything that isn’t real. Along with wizards and aliens, it includes talking animals, time-travel, ghosts, and paranormal abilities, and all the other books that might not have obvious magic or travel to distant planets, but which push …

Speculative Fiction takes us to realms of the imagination: places and times and realities where the rules of life may be different than our own and where the impossible and improbable become real. But good science fiction and fantasy does more than that: it asks, "What if?" It makes us think. It holds up a mirror to our own society …

What can I say as a third-year chair that I didn’t say last year or the year before? But then again one of the secrets of creating a bookworm is repetition. We'll read books that are built around sight words to meatier, lightly illustrated chapter books. Yes, we have a very broad audience. Our readers … Like hearing stories over and over again. We want …