2023 WCCPBA Nominees
Click on the covers below to learn more about each book. If you want our whole packet, you can access it here!
 Aaalligator!
Author: Judith Henderson
Illustrator: Andrea Stegmaier
Publisher: Kids Can Press
Synopsis: While on a walk through the forest, a boy encounters an alligator which is stuck, hungry, and lonely. The boy befriends the alligator, and the town is not happy about it.
Suggested Activity from the WCCPBA Activity Packet for Aaalligator! Venn diagram for Aaalligator!
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Amara and the Bats
Author and Illustrator: Emma Reynolds
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Synopsis: Amara loves bats, so when she learns there are none near her new home due to habitat loss, she overcomes her feelings of helplessness and inspires her community to take action. Includes facts about bats and bat houses.
Suggested Activity from the WCCPBA Activity Packet for Amara and the Bats
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Butterflies are Pretty Gross
Author: Rosemary Mosco
Illustrator: Jacob Souva
Publisher: Tundra
Summary: Butterflies are beautiful and quiet and gentle and sparkly . . . but that's not the whole truth. Butterflies can be GROSS. And one butterfly, in particular, is here to let everyone know! Talking directly to the reader, a monarch butterfly reveals how its kind is so much more than what we think.
Claude: The True Story of a White Alligator
Author: Emma Bland Smith
Illustrator: Jennifer M. Potter
Publisher: Little Bigfoot, Sasquatch Books
Synopsis: Claude is the story of the California Academy of Sciences' beloved albino alligator, from his birth in Louisiana to his present-day life in his swamp at the Academy. Claude is a celebrity alligator and the mascot for San Francisco's California Academy of Sciences.
Suggested Activity from the WCCPBA Activity Packet for Claude: The True Story of a White Alligator
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Don't Hug Doug
Author: Carrie Finison
Illustrator: Daniel Wiseman
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Synopsis: Doug prefers not to be hugged, but there are a variety of other ways his loved ones can show him affection.
Suggested Activity from the WCCPBA Activity Packet for Don't Hug Doug
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The First Blade of Sweetgrass: A Native American Story
Author: Suzanne Greenlaw
Illustrator: Nancy Baker
Publisher: Tilbury House Publishers
Synopsis: A modern Wabanaki girl is excited to accompany her grandmother for the first time to harvest sweetgrass for basket making.
A note from the committee: We would strongly encourage you to read the back matter before sharing the story with students. The names and nicknames of the primary characters are used interchangeably; explaining how Musqon is also Tus and Uhkomi is the grandmother will help the kids to follow the story. Similarly, the first link in related websites below will help with pronunciations.
Suggested Activity from the WCCPBA Activity Packet for The First Blade of Sweetgrass: A Native American Story
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The Floating Field: How a Group of Thai Boys Built Their Own Soccer Field
Author: Scott Riley
Illustrator: Nguyen Quang and Kim Lien
Publisher: Millbrook Press
Synopsis: On a tiny Thai island without room for a soccer field, a group of resourceful teen boys gathers scraps and works together to build a floating field so they can play the game they love.
Suggested Activity from the WCCPBA Activity Packet for The Floating Field: How a Group of Thai Boys Built Their Own Soccer Field
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Fluffy McWhiskers
Author: Stephen W. Martin
Illustrator: Dan Tavis
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Synopsis: Fluffy McWhiskers is so cute that anyone who sees her instantly explodes, making it difficult for the little cat to find a single friend.
Suggested Activity from the WCCPBA Activity Packet for Fluffy McWhiskers
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Help Wanted! Must Love Books
Author: Janet Summer Johnson
Illustrator: Courtney Dawson
Publisher: Capstone Editions, A Capstone Imprint
Synopsis: Shailey loves bedtime until her father gets distracted by a new job, so she advertises for a replacement 'Bedtime Storyteller' and finds herself interviewing her favorite fairytale characters
Suggested Activity from the WCCPBA Activity Packet for Help Wanted! Must Love Books
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The Little Wooden Robot and the Log Princess
Author and Illustrator: Tom Gauld
Publisher: Holiday House
Synopsis: When a wooden robot prince forgets to say the magic words that turn his sister from a log into a princess she is thrown away, so he goes on an epic journey to find her and bring her back.
Suggested Activity from the WCCPBA Activity Packet for The Little Wooden Robot and the Log Princess
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My Very Favorite Book in the Whole Wide World
Author: Malcolm Mitchell
Illustrator: Michael Robertson
Publisher: Orchard Books, an Imprint of Scholastic Inc.
Synopsis: Henley hates to read, so his homework assignment to bring in his favorite book seems an impossible challenge--until his mother shows him a box of books, he made himself when he was younger.
Suggested Activity from the WCCPBA Activity Packet for My Favorite Book in the Whole Wide World
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Mysterious Sea Bunny
Author and Illustrator: Peter Raymundo
Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers
Synopsis: As an inch-long sea bunny makes its way slowly across the ocean
floor, readers discover that there is a lot more to this sea slug species than meets the eye-which comes in handy when a predator swoops in!
Suggested Activity from the WCCPBA Activity Packet for The Mysterious Sea Bunny
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Norman Didn't Do It (Yes, He Did.)
Author and Illustrator: Ryan T. Higgins
Publisher: Disney/Hyperion
Synopsis: Norman, a porcupine whose best friend is a tree named Mildred, begins to feel jealous when another tree grows close to Mildred and acts out against the tree new.
Suggested Activity from the WCCPBA Activity Packet for Norman Didn't Do It (Yes, He Did.)
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The Old Man and the Penguin
Author: Julie Abery
Illustrator: Pierre Pratt
Publisher: Kids Can Press
Synopsis: Told in rhyming verse, this is the touching true story of an oil-soaked penguin, the man who rescues him and an unlikely friendship.
Suggested Activity from the WCCPBA Activity Packet for The Old Man and the Penguin
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Room for Everyone
Author: Naaz Khan
Illustrator: Mercè López
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Synopsis: Musa and his sister travel to a Zanzibar beach in a shared minibus which, despite Musa's protests, gets loaded with everything from a man and his bicycle to ten swimmers.
Suggested Activity from the WCCPBA Activity Packet for Room for Everyone
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Seven Golden Rings
Author: Rajani LaRocca
Illustrator: Archana Sreenivasan
Publisher: Lee & Low Books Inc.
Synopsis: In ancient India, a boy named Bhagat travels to the Rajah's city, hoping to ensure his family's prosperity by winning a place at court as a singer.
Suggested Activity from the WCCPBA Activity Packet for Seven Golden Rings
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Sloth and Squirrel in a Pickle
Author: Cathy Ballou Mealy
Illustrator: Kelly Collier
Publisher: Kids Can Press
Synopsis: Sloth and Squirrel are good friends, but when Squirrel gets them jobs as pickle packers to earn money for a new bike, things do not go according to plan.
Suggested Activity from the WCCPBA Activity Packet for Sloth and Squirrel in a Pickle
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Someone Builds the Dream
Author: Lisa Wheeler
Illustrator: Loren Long
Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers
Synopsis: Celebrates the skilled women and men who work to see the plans of architects, engineers, and designers brought to life.
Author: Molly Beth Griffin
Illustrator: Maribel Lechuga
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Synopsis: Lily is moving into her grandmother's farm in Iowa, and she is sad about all the changes necessary in her life-- but on the long drive her grandmother challenges her to find ten beautiful things that they can share together.
Suggested Activity from the WCCPBA Activity Packet for Ten Beautiful Things
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 XO, Exoplanet
Author: Deborah Underwood
Illustrator: Jorge Lacera
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Synopsis: When Jupiter notices a planet circling a far star, he enlists the other planets in our solar system to send a letter, but soon there is a disagreement on which, exactly, is the exoplanet.
Suggested Activity from the WCCPBA Activity Packet for XO, Exoplanet
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