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The OTTER Award

Washington Students Choose Welcome to Scare School as the 2026 WLA OTTER Award Winner!

The OTTER Award Committee, part of Washington Library Association’s School Library Division, is thrilled to announce Welcome to Scare School by Jarrett Lerner as the winner of the 2026 OTTER Award.

More than 13,000 students from acr

oss Washington State voted in this year’s award, with 42% casting their vote for Welcome to Scare School - a resounding win celebrated by readers across the state!

Announcing the 2027 WLA OTTER Award Nominees 

The OTTER Award – Our Time To Enjoy Reading – is sponsored by the Washington Library Association: School Libraries Division. Established in 2015, the committee is pleased to announce the 2026-2027 nominated titles.

Ava Lin, Best Friend! by Vicky Fang (Candlewick Press)

Felix Powell, Boy Dog by Erin Entrada Kelly (Greenwillow / HarperCollins)

How to Save an Otter (Wildlife Rescue #1) by Kate Messner, illustrated by Jennifer Bricking (Bloomsbury)

Murray the Viking (Murray and Bun!) by Adam Stower (Random House Books for Young Readers)

Rise of the Green Flame (Kwame’s Magic Quest #1) by Bernard Mensah, illustrated by Natasha Nayo (Scholastic)

Tuck and Tina and the Lost Fortune (Tuck and Tina 1) by Jess Brallier and Jack Keely, illustrated by Jack Keely (Andrews McMeel Publishing)