Each year, the Ballenger Teachers Center collects the nominees for the Illinois Young Readers’ Choice Awards.
Take a look at our Illinois Young Readers’ Choice Award Guide here to see the titles on the 2021 nominees lists.
The Rebecca Caudill Award is the flagship Illinois Young Readers’ Choice Award. It was first awarded in 1988. Twenty books representative of quality literature for children in grades 4 through 8 are chosen each year. Children have a year to read each book, and then vote for their favorite through their school or public library.
The Association of Illinois School Library Educators (AISLE) sponsors three additional awards:
- Monarch Award (grades K-3) was first awarded in 2005
- Bluestem Award (grades 3-5) was first awarded in 2011
- Lincoln Award (teens) was first awarded in 2014
Nominee lists are announced in March, and students vote in February and March of the following year.