# North Carolina Children's Book Award reading list

**24** books referenced by North Carolina Children's Book Award, a reading-program curriculum framework spanning applicable K-12 grade levels.

The North Carolina Children's Book Award is the state's student-choice award, run by the Children's Services Section of the North Carolina Library Association since 1992. Each year North Carolina children nominate favourite titles published in the previous few years, a committee narrows them to twelve Picture Book nominees (grades K-3) and twelve Junior Book nominees (grades 4-6), and students who have read or heard at least three nominees vote for the winners each March. The 2026 winners were 100 Mighty Dragons All Named Broccoli (Picture Book) and Squished (Junior Book).

**Framework type:** reading-program
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/curriculum/north-carolina-childrens-book-award
**Primary source:** https://nccba.blogspot.com/p/2026-picture-book-nominees.html (nccba.blogspot.com/p/2026-picture-book-nominees.html)
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## North Carolina Children's Book Award reading list

- [100 Mighty Dragons All Named Broccoli](https://readinglist.school/book/100-mighty-dragons-all-named-broccoli) by David LaRochelle _(Grades K–3)_
- [Buffalo Fluffalo](https://readinglist.school/book/buffalo-fluffalo) by Bess Kalb _(Grades K–2)_
- [Don't Trust Cats: Life Lessons from Chip the Dog](https://readinglist.school/book/dont-trust-cats) by Dev Petty _(Grades K–3)_
- [Ferris](https://readinglist.school/book/ferris) by Kate DiCamillo _(Grades 3–6)_
- [Haiku, Ew! Celebrating the Disgusting Side of Nature](https://readinglist.school/book/haiku-ew) by Lynn Brunelle _(Grades 3–6)_
- [Home in a Lunchbox](https://readinglist.school/book/home-in-a-lunchbox) by Cherry Mo _(Grades K–1)_
- [Hummingbird](https://readinglist.school/book/hummingbird) by Natalie Lloyd _(Grades 3–8)_
- [Ice Cream Everywhere: Sweet Stories from Around the World](https://readinglist.school/book/ice-cream-everywhere) by Judy Campbell-Smith _(Grades K–3)_
- [Narwhal: Unicorn of the Arctic](https://readinglist.school/book/narwhal-unicorn-of-the-arctic) by Candace Fleming _(Grades 3–6)_
- [Nic Blake and the Remarkables: The Manifestor Prophecy](https://readinglist.school/book/nic-blake-manifestor-prophecy) by Angie Thomas _(Grades 3–7)_
- [No Matter the Distance](https://readinglist.school/book/no-matter-the-distance) by Cindy Baldwin _(Grades 4–6)_
- [Squished](https://readinglist.school/book/squished) by Megan Wagner Lloyd _(Grades 4–6)_
- [The Last Dragon on Mars](https://readinglist.school/book/the-last-dragon-on-mars) by Scott Reintgen _(Grades 4–8)_
- [The Man Who Didn't Like Animals](https://readinglist.school/book/the-man-who-didnt-like-animals) by Deborah Underwood _(Grades K–3)_
- [The Misfits: A Royal Conundrum](https://readinglist.school/book/the-misfits-a-royal-conundrum) by Lisa Yee _(Grades 4–6)_
- [The Three Billy Goats Gruff](https://readinglist.school/book/the-three-billy-goats-gruff) by Mac Barnett _(Grades 3–10)_
- [The Yellow Bus](https://readinglist.school/book/the-yellow-bus) by Loren Long _(Grades K–3)_
- [Things in the Basement](https://readinglist.school/book/things-in-the-basement) by Ben Hatke _(Grades 4–6)_
- [Two New Years](https://readinglist.school/book/two-new-years) by Richard Ho _(Grades K–3)_
- [We Own the Sky](https://readinglist.school/book/we-own-the-sky) by Rodman Philbrick _(Grades 4–6)_
- [Whalesong: The True Story of the Musician Who Talked to Orcas](https://readinglist.school/book/whalesong-the-true-story-of-the-musician-who-talked-to-orcas) by Zachariah OHora _(Grades K–3)_
- [Whirligigs: The Wondrous Windmills of Vollis Simpson's Imagination](https://readinglist.school/book/whirligigs) by Carole Boston Weatherford _(Grades K–3)_
- [Wild Brunch: Poems About How Creatures Eat](https://readinglist.school/book/wild-brunch) by David L. Harrison _(Grades 4–6)_
- [Zap! Clap! Boom!: The Story of a Thunderstorm](https://readinglist.school/book/zap-clap-boom) by Laura Purdie Salas _(Grades K–3)_

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