# Hawai'i Nēnē Award reading list

**30** books referenced by Hawai'i Nēnē Award, a reading-program curriculum framework spanning applicable K-12 grade levels.

The Hawai'i Nēnē Award is Hawai'i's statewide student-choice reading program — children in grades 4-6 across the islands read from an annual shortlist of fiction and vote for their favorite. Named for the nēnē, Hawai'i's state bird, the program has run since 1964 and is coordinated by the Hawai'i Association of School Librarians. The winner roll runs from Superfudge, Bunnicula, and Dear Mr. Henshaw through The Whipping Boy, Shiloh, Maniac Magee, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Holes, Bud Not Buddy, The Lightning Thief, Inkheart, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, The Strange Case of Origami Yoda, Wonder, Smile, El Deafo, The Wild Robot, Front Desk, New Kid, Restart, City Spies, and Odder — four decades of the books Hawai'i kids actually vote for, with island winners like Under the Blood-Red Sun and Lei and the Fire Goddess.

**Framework type:** reading-program
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/curriculum/hawaii-nene-award
**Primary source:** https://www.neneaward.org/winners.html (www.neneaward.org/winners.html)
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## Hawai'i Nēnē Award reading list

- [Because of Winn-Dixie](https://readinglist.school/book/because-of-winn-dixie) by Kate DiCamillo _(610L · Grades 3–5)_
- [Bud, Not Buddy](https://readinglist.school/book/bud-not-buddy) by Christopher Paul Curtis _(950L · Grades 4–7)_
- [Bunnicula](https://readinglist.school/book/bunnicula) by Deborah Howe _(Grades 3–6)_
- [El Deafo](https://readinglist.school/book/el-deafo) by Cece Bell _(420L · Grades 4–6)_
- [Eragon](https://readinglist.school/book/eragon) by Christopher Paolini _(Grades 6–9)_
- [Found](https://readinglist.school/book/found) by Margaret Peterson Haddix _(Grades 4–6)_
- [Frizzy](https://readinglist.school/book/frizzy) by Claribel Ortega _(Grades 4–5)_
- [Front Desk](https://readinglist.school/book/front-desk) by Kelly Yang _(640L · Grades 3–7)_
- [Fudge-a-Mania](https://readinglist.school/book/fudge-a-mania) by Judy Blume _(Grades 3–6)_
- [Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone](https://readinglist.school/book/harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone) by J.K. Rowling _(880L · Grades 4–7)_
- [Holes](https://readinglist.school/book/holes) by Louis Sachar _(660L · Grades 4–7)_
- [Maniac Magee](https://readinglist.school/book/maniac-magee) by Jerry Spinelli _(820L · Grades 4–7)_
- [New Kid](https://readinglist.school/book/new-kid) by Jerry Craft _(Grades 4–8)_
- [Nothing's Fair in Fifth Grade](https://readinglist.school/book/nothings-fair-in-fifth-grade) by Barthe DeClements _(Grades 3–6)_
- [Odder](https://readinglist.school/book/odder) by Katherine Applegate _(Grades 3–5)_
- [Restart](https://readinglist.school/book/restart) by Gordon Korman _(730L · Grades 5–8)_
- [Roller Girl](https://readinglist.school/book/roller-girl) by Victoria Jamieson _(440L · Grades 4–7)_
- [Shiloh](https://readinglist.school/book/shiloh) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor _(890L · Grades 3–6)_
- [Small Spaces](https://readinglist.school/book/small-spaces) by Katherine Arden _(Grades 3–5)_
- [Smile](https://readinglist.school/book/smile) by Raina Telgemeier _(410L · Grades 4–8)_
- [Superfudge](https://readinglist.school/book/superfudge) by Judy Blume _(Grades 3–6)_
- [The Bad Beginning (A Series of Unfortunate Events #1)](https://readinglist.school/book/the-bad-beginning) by Lemony Snicket _(1010L · Grades 4–7)_
- [The Best School Year Ever](https://readinglist.school/book/the-best-school-year-ever) by Barbara Robinson _(Grades 3–6)_
- [The Invention of Hugo Cabret](https://readinglist.school/book/the-invention-of-hugo-cabret) by Brian Selznick _(Grades 3–7)_
- [The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1)](https://readinglist.school/book/the-lightning-thief) by Rick Riordan _(740L · Grades 4–7)_
- [The Terrible Two](https://readinglist.school/book/the-terrible-two) by Mac Barnett _(Grades 3–5)_
- [The Wild Robot](https://readinglist.school/book/the-wild-robot) by Peter Brown _(740L · Grades 4–6)_
- [There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom](https://readinglist.school/book/theres-a-boy-in-the-girls-bathroom) by Louis Sachar _(Grades 4–6)_
- [Under the Blood-Red Sun](https://readinglist.school/book/under-the-blood-red-sun) by Graham Salisbury _(Grades 5–8)_
- [Wonder](https://readinglist.school/book/wonder) by R.J. Palacio _(790L · Grades 3–7)_

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