# Mississippi Magnolia Book Award reading list

**36** books referenced by Mississippi Magnolia Book Award, a reading-program curriculum framework spanning applicable K-12 grade levels.

The Magnolia Book Awards are Mississippi's statewide children's- and teen-choice reading awards, run by the Mississippi Library Association with the University of Southern Mississippi's Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival. Each year a committee of Mississippi librarians and educators publishes nominee lists in four divisions — PreK-2, grades 3-5, grades 6-8 and grades 9-12 — and students across the state read the nominees and vote for the winners. The 2026 lists mix picture books, middle-grade novels, graphic novels, nonfiction and young-adult fiction published in 2023-2025.

**Framework type:** reading-program
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/curriculum/mississippi-magnolia-book-award
**Primary source:** https://aquila.usm.edu/magnolia_book_awards/12 (aquila.usm.edu/magnolia_book_awards/12)
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## Mississippi Magnolia Book Award reading list

- [100 Chapatis](https://readinglist.school/book/100-chapatis) by Derek Mascarenhas _(Grades K–2)_
- [A Meerkat Diary](https://readinglist.school/book/a-meerkat-diary) by Suzi Eszterhas _(Grades 3–5)_
- [All the Ways to Go](https://readinglist.school/book/all-the-ways-to-go) by Jessie Janowitz _(Grades 6–8)_
- [Avocado Magic](https://readinglist.school/book/avocado-magic) by Taltal Levi _(Grades K–2)_
- [Brave Baby Hummingbird](https://readinglist.school/book/brave-baby-hummingbird) by Sy Montgomery _(Grades K–2)_
- [Breaking into Sunlight](https://readinglist.school/book/breaking-into-sunlight) by John Cochran _(Grades 6–8)_
- [Conditions of a Heart](https://readinglist.school/book/conditions-of-a-heart) by Bethany Mangle _(Grades 9–12)_
- [Curveball](https://readinglist.school/book/curveball) by Pablo Cartaya _(Grades 3–5)_
- [Daughter of the Light-Footed People](https://readinglist.school/book/daughter-of-the-light-footed-people) by Belen Medina _(Grades K–2)_
- [Finding Normal](https://readinglist.school/book/finding-normal) by Stephanie Faris _(Grades 3–5)_
- [Genius Ears](https://readinglist.school/book/genius-ears) by Lena Anlauf _(Grades 3–5)_
- [Gifts from the Garbage Truck](https://readinglist.school/book/gifts-from-the-garbage-truck) by Andrew Larsen _(Grades K–2)_
- [Greetings, Floof!](https://readinglist.school/book/greetings-floof) by C. J. Hong _(Grades K–2)_
- [Guts for Glory](https://readinglist.school/book/guts-for-glory) by Jonna Lapati _(Grades 3–5)_
- [How to Make a Peanut Butter Sandwich in 17 Easy Steps](https://readinglist.school/book/how-to-make-a-peanut-butter-sandwich-in-17-easy-steps) by Bambi Edlund _(Grades K–2)_
- [It Watches in the Dark](https://readinglist.school/book/it-watches-in-the-dark) by Jeff Strand _(Grades 6–8)_
- [Jose Feeds the World](https://readinglist.school/book/jose-feeds-the-world) by David Unger _(Grades K–2)_
- [Juniper Mae](https://readinglist.school/book/juniper-mae) by Sarah Soh _(Grades 6–8)_
- [Lightningborn (Storm Dragons #1)](https://readinglist.school/book/lightningborn) by Julie Kagawa _(Grades 3–5)_
- [Little Ghost Makes a Friend](https://readinglist.school/book/little-ghost-makes-a-friend) by Maggie Edkins Willis _(Grades K–2)_
- [Moko Magic: Carnival Chaos](https://readinglist.school/book/moko-magic-carnival-chaos) by Tracey Baptiste _(Grades 6–8)_
- [Not Nothing](https://readinglist.school/book/not-nothing) by Gayle Forman _(Grades 4–8)_
- [One Day This Tree Will Fall](https://readinglist.school/book/one-day-this-tree-will-fall) by Leslie Barnard Booth _(Grades K–2)_
- [Rise](https://readinglist.school/book/rise) by Freya Finch _(Grades 9–12)_
- [Search for a Giant Squid](https://readinglist.school/book/search-for-a-giant-squid) by Amy Seto Forrester _(Grades 3–5)_
- [Squirrel-Ish](https://readinglist.school/book/squirrel-ish) by Bambi Edlund _(Grades K–2)_
- [The Beasts in Your Brain](https://readinglist.school/book/the-beasts-in-your-brain) by Katherine Speller _(Grades 9–12)_
- [The Dark Becomes Her](https://readinglist.school/book/the-dark-becomes-her) by Judy I. Lin _(Grades 9–12)_
- [The Girl Who Figured It Out](https://readinglist.school/book/the-girl-who-figured-it-out) by Minda Dentler _(Grades 3–6)_
- [The Mystery of Locked Rooms](https://readinglist.school/book/the-mystery-of-locked-rooms) by Lindsay Currie _(Grades 6–8)_
- [The One and Only Family](https://readinglist.school/book/the-one-and-only-family) by Katherine Applegate _(Grades 3–5)_
- [The Revenant Games](https://readinglist.school/book/the-revenant-games) by Margie Fuston _(Grades 9–12)_
- [The Sherlock Society](https://readinglist.school/book/the-sherlock-society) by James Ponti _(Grades 4–8)_
- [Welcome to Scare School](https://readinglist.school/book/welcome-to-scare-school) by Jarrett Lerner _(Grades K–2)_
- [Where the Dark Stands Still](https://readinglist.school/book/where-the-dark-stands-still) by A.B. Poranek _(Grades 9–12)_
- [Who Got Game? Basketball](https://readinglist.school/book/who-got-game-basketball) by Derrick Barnes _(Grades 6–8)_

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