CavesNell Cross BeckermanCaves invites readers into hidden natural environments around the world. The book follows an exploration of their depths and mysteries, presenting caves as ecosystems shaped by the natural world. Illustrations depict caves in many places, while the journey centers on what might be found beyond an entrance and farther underground. The account frames entering a cave as an encounter with unfamiliar spaces, their concealed features, and the questions they raise about nature’s less visible habitats.All readersView book detailsTexas Bluebonnet Award Master List 2024-2025
The 2024 through 2025 edition contains 20 selections published by the Texas Library Association. It records one Texas Bluebonnet cycle, beginning with the committee's Master List and leading to the student vote. Students in Grades 3 through 6 read from the 20-book list and vote for a favorite.
2024-2025 Texas Bluebonnet Award Master ListSee the original list
Selections20
Published byTexas Library Association
SectionsAll readers
All readers
20 selections
CavesNell Cross BeckermanCaves invites readers into hidden natural environments around the world. The book follows an exploration of their depths and mysteries, presenting caves as ecosystems shaped by the natural world. Illustrations depict caves in many places, while the journey centers on what might be found beyond an entrance and farther underground. The account frames entering a cave as an encounter with unfamiliar spaces, their concealed features, and the questions they raise about nature’s less visible habitats.All readersView book details
The Cursed MoonAngela CervantesRafael Fuentes enjoys inventing frightening stories, reading scary books, and improvising terrifying tales for his friends. Although real-life difficulties have made fictional hauntings seem less alarming, a ghost story becomes real and Rafa must face the menace he created. At the same time, his mother is due to leave jail and move in with Rafa, his sister, and their grandparents.All readersLexile Text Measure 681LATOS Book Level 4.4View book details
Daybreak on Raven IslandFleur BradleyTori, Marvin, and Noah each dread their seventh-grade field trip to Raven Island prison for different reasons. Tori is barred from soccer because of poor grades, Marvin is missing a film festival’s opening day, and Noah is uneasy about talking with classmates at his new school. On the island, the three uncover a murder and secrets connected to its haunted setting.All readersLexile Text Measure 701LATOS Book Level 4.5View book details
The Fire, The Water, and Maudie McGinnSally J. PlaAfter wildfires force an evacuation from her father’s home, neurodivergent Maudie settles in a small California town. Surfing gives her a way to express herself, but she is also carrying the difficult question of whether to tell her dad about physical and emotional abuse at her mother’s house. During a summer with her father, Maudie searches for the courage to share her secret.All readersLexile Text Measure 669LATOS Book Level 4.3View book details
The Ghost of Spruce PointNancy TandonTwelve-year-old Parker has grown up at his family’s Home Away Inn on Spruce Point, a wooded peninsula in Maine. His friend Frankie returns to the inn each summer, and their adventures use a nearby old treehouse as a headquarters. When a curse threatens the family motel, Parker must unravel it before supernatural disorder destroys the place his family calls home.All readersLexile Text Measure 730LATOS Book Level 4.7View book details
How to Stay InvisibleMaggie C. RuddTwelve-year-old Raymond Hurley has grown accustomed to being alone because his parents repeatedly move the family from place to place. After they leave him behind in a trailer in a new state, Raymond and his dog must manage on their own in the woods. Their survival depends on facing the natural world while Raymond also confronts difficult questions about trust and having no lasting home.All readersLexile Text Measure 730LATOS Book Level 4.7View book details
Ice Cream Man: How Augustus Jackson Made a Sweet Treat BetterGlenda Armand, Kim FreemanThis illustrated picture-book biography introduces Augustus Jackson, an African American entrepreneur identified as the father of ice cream. It recounts his role in improving a familiar frozen dessert and presents his life as the story of a food innovator. Jackson’s work connects the history of ice cream with the accomplishments of an African American businessperson.All readersView book details
Jovita Wore Pants: The Story of a Mexican Freedom FighterAida SalazarSet in Mexico during the Cristero War, this true story follows Jovita Valdovinos. While her father and brother fight, Jovita feels powerless at home. She disguises herself as a man so she can fight for her rights, becoming a revolutionary. The account traces her path from being unable to participate to becoming known for her role in the conflict and finally being able to wear pants.All readersLexile Text Measure 800LATOS Book Level 5.1View book details
Ketanji: Justice Jackson’s Journey to the U.S. Supreme CourtKekla MagoonThis picture-book biography tells the story of Ketanji Brown Jackson’s path to the U.S. Supreme Court. It follows a justice whose determination and accomplishments helped her overcome barriers, culminating in her becoming the first Black woman to serve on the Court. Realistic artwork accompanies this account of a public figure whose work is rooted in the nation’s highest court.All readersView book details
Legends of Lotus Island: The Guardian TestChristina SoontornvatPlum begins attending Guardian Academy on Lotus Island, a place where students learn to become magical creatures. Their transformations are connected to protecting the natural world, but Plum cannot yet identify the animal form that is hers. As she takes part in academy life, she struggles to discover how she will transform and what kind of guardian she can become.All readersLexile Text Measure 650LATOS Book Level 4.6View book details
The Mystery of the MonarchsBarb RosenstockThis picture-book account follows entomologist Fred Urquhart and his wife, Norah, as they investigate where monarch butterflies spend the winter. The Urquharts developed butterfly tags and called on people across the United States and Canada, including schoolchildren, to capture, tag, release, and report monarchs. Their collected information helped them trace the butterflies’ migration to their winter home in Mexico.All readersLexile Text Measure AD760LATOS Book Level 4.9View book details
New Dragon CityMari MancusiThree years after dragons devastate New York City and the wider world, Noah lives with his survivalist father and a group of survivors. They search abandoned homes for useful materials and visit the library for books left behind. Adults build a makeshift society and protect their shelter while the dragons hibernate. A separate account asks whether a boy and a dragon can find peace in a world marked by fear.All readersWord Count 72300View book details
OdderKatherine ApplegateBased on the experiences of real sea otters, this novel follows curious, fearless Odder after a shark attack nearly kills her. She returns to the care of aquarists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, where her friend Kairi is also receiving treatment. Because Odder was raised by people after being orphaned and has become too accustomed to them, she cannot safely return to the wild. Once healthy, Odder and Kairi are reunited, and each later shares a tank with an orphaned pup.All readersLexile Text Measure NP0LATOS Book Level 0.1View book details
A Rover’s StoryJasmine WargaResilience, or Res, is a Mars rover built to explore the planet, but he gradually develops humanlike emotions while NASA scientists assemble and test him. On Mars, he travels with a drone helicopter called Fly and a distant satellite named Guardian. Res’s mission is to locate an older rover and seek evidence of ancient life while confronting dust storms, cliffs, and danger to Fly.All readersView book details
Shermy & Shake, The Not-So-Nice NeighborKirby LarsonShermy expects a calm summer, but those plans change when Shake comes to stay with his grandmother next door. Shake is the grandmother’s energetic grandson and will be there all summer while his mother and stepfather are away on their honeymoon. His boisterous presence tests Shermy’s patience and hospitality. As the two boys share neighboring homes through the season, the story focuses on the adjustments and understanding that can be required when a new friendship begins under difficult circumstances.All readersView book details
Something Like HomeAndrea Beatriz ArangoAfter Laura calls 911 because she cannot wake her parents, the eleven-year-old stays with Titi Silvia while her parents receive treatment for drug addiction. Laura worries that her parents are angry and resists her aunt’s rules. Finding a puppy she names Sparrow opens a new connection: Laura hopes to train him as a therapy dog, with help from her friend Benson.All readersLexile Text Measure 870LATOS Book Level 5.6View book details
Stars of the Night: The Courageous Children of the Czech KindertransportCaren StelsonAt the outbreak of World War II, a group of children leave Czechoslovakia, traveling from Prague to safety in England. Told from their collective point of view, the narrative traces their perilous departure from everything familiar and their search for family after the war. Decades later, the children learn the identity of a hero connected to their escape. Their journey is a matter of survival.All readersLexile Text Measure 530LATOS Book Level 3.5View book details
Two TribesEmily Bowen CohenMia has been raised by her Jewish mother and stepfather since her Muskogee father separated from her mother when Mia was three. Feeling disconnected from her Indigenous heritage and out of place at school, she uses money from her bat mitzvah to travel secretly to Oklahoma and visit her father. There, Mia seeks knowledge of her family and Native traditions while working out how to embrace her Jewish and Muskogee identities together.All readersLexile Text Measure 420LATOS Book Level 2.9View book details
You Are Here: Connecting FlightsEllen OhTwelve linked short stories bring together East and Southeast Asian American children and teenagers whose flights are delayed at a Chicago airport during a storm. Eleven are travelers, while another is there because childcare arrangements failed. As their interrupted journeys cross, they meet helpful and hostile people and confront both overt and subtle anti-Asian racism. The stories explore their circumstances, identities, destinations, and acts of solidarity.All readersView book details
Yuck You Suck! Poems about Animals That SIP, SLURP, SUCKJane Yolen, Heidi E. Y. StempleThis collection of animal poems turns its attention to creatures that bite, slurp, cling, or suck. Its pages include ticks, mosquitoes, stingrays, elephants, jellyfish, and lampreys. By gathering animals with very different bodies and behaviors around these actions, the book presents a playful look at some of the ways animals feed or interact with the world. The poems place familiar and less familiar creatures together, with the lamprey among the animals highlighted for its sucking behavior.All readersView book details