Louisiana Readers' Choice Award winners announced

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The State Library of Louisiana announced the winners of the 2018-2019 Louisiana Readers’ Choice Awards, which include graphic novels winning both the grade 3-5 and grade 6-8 lists, and for the first time ever, a tie for first place for the teen readers’ choice list. With the program in its 20th year, Louisiana’s young people read more than 72,276 books and cast 22,741 votes this year alone. 

The 2018-2019 Louisiana Young Readers’ Choice winners are:

Grades 3-5

The Bad Guys No. 1 (Scholastic) by Aaron Blabey

Grades 6-8

Ghosts (Scholastic) by Raina Telgemeier

Grades 9-12

Aging Out (The RoadRunner Press) by Alton Carter, Illustrated by Tim Jessell

Scythe: Arc of a Scythe Book 1 (Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers) by Neal Schusterman

Honor titles include Wish (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) by Barbara O’Connor for the grade 3-5 list, Projekt 1065 (Scholastic) by Alan Gratz for the grade 6-8 list, and Heartless (Feiwel and Friends) by Marissa Meyer for the teen list.

“The Louisiana Readers’ Choice program is not only a great way to introduce students to some fantastic reads, but encourages an interest in the democratic process by allowing them the opportunity to vote on actual voting machines,” said Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser.

“We are so proud to have delivered this premier program to school-aged children across Louisiana for the past 20 years,” said State Librarian Rebecca Hamilton. “One of our central goals has always been to promote literacy, and the Louisiana Young Readers’ Choice Awards does just that, providing students with high-interest titles selected by public and school librarians from all regions of Louisiana.” 

Winners are selected from diverse booklists carefully chosen by committees of school and public librarians from across the state, and many students cast their ballots on voting machines supplied by the Secretary of State’s Voter Outreach Division.

An awards ceremony for honored book authors will be held at the Louisiana Book Festival on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2019, in Baton Rouge. For more information about the program, including previous winners, how to participate, and additional resources such as free bookmarks, posters, study guides, etc., visit the Louisiana Young Readers’ Choice webpage.

Louisiana Book News is written by award-winning author Chere Dastugue Coen, who writes Louisiana romances and mysteries under the pen name of Cherie Claire. Her first book in each series is FREE to download as an ebook, including "Emilie," book one of The Cajun Series, "Ticket to Paradise," book one of The Cajun Embassy series and "A Ghost of a Chance," the first Viola Valentine mystery.