EVERY STUDENT VOTE COUNTS!
Voting is in process! The Maryland Black-Eyed Susan Book (BES) Award opened voting on January 31st and runs through Friday, April 25, 2025.
Each year, 15 picture books, 10 chapter books, and 10 graphic novels are nominated for the BES award. Students in the state of Maryland vote for the winning book in each category.
Students may cast one vote for the book they consider to be the most outstanding book in each of the categories. All votes from schools across the state of Maryland are submitted to the Black-Eyed Susan Book Award committee to be tallied in order to determine the winners.
The Maryland State Library Agency recorded several BES books in audiobook format. Take a listen. You may be surprised to hear a book narrated by your LBPD Director and even our State Librarian, Morgan Lehr Miller!
Read the current nominees, and cast your vote for your favorite using the STUDENT VOTING FORM LINK.
Maryland Black-Eyed Susan 2024-2025 Nominees
Picture Books
A New Day by Brad Meltzer, illustrated by Dan Santat
Acorn was a Little Wild by Jen Arena, illustrated by Jessica Gibson DBC28498/DBC29245
Beneath by Cori Doerrfeld DBC29456
Counting in Dog Years and Other Sassy Math Poems by Betsy Franco, illustrated by Priscilla Tey
Her Name was Mary Katharine: The Only Woman Whose Name is on The Declaration of Independence by Ella Schwartz, illustrated by Dow Phumiruk DBC12718
I Am a Tornado by Drew Beckmeyer DBC29462
I Can’t Draw by Stephen W. Martin, illustrated by Brian Biggs
I Want 100 Dogs by Stacy McAnulty, illustrated by Claire Keane DBC29461
Love in the Library by Maggie Tokuda-Hall, illustrated by Yas Imamura DB117547
Once Upon a Book by Grace Lin and Kate Messner, illustrated by Grace Lin DBC29460
The Sweetest Scoop: Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Revolution by Lisa Robinson, illustrated by Stacy Innerst DBC29455
What Happened to You? By James Catchpole, illustrated by Karen George DBC29459
When the Stars Came Home by Brittany Luby, illustrated by Natasha Donovan
The Witness Trees by Ryan G. Van Cleave, illustrated by Dom Dom DBC12719
Yoshi and the Ocean: A Sea Turtle’s Incredible Journey Home by Lindsay Moore DBC29457
Grades 3-5
The Curious Vanishing of Beatrice Willoughby by G. Z. Schmidt
Dogtown by Katherine Applegate and Gennifer Choldenko, illustrated by Wallace West DB122537
Finally Seen by Kelly Yang DB113786
Home Away from Home by Cynthia Lord
The Lost Library by Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass
Minerva Keen’s Detective Club by James Patterson and Keir Graff DB114533
Montgomery and the Case of the Golden Key by Tracy Occomy Crowder
The Superteacher Project by Gordon Korman DB118900
The Way I Say It by Nancy Tandon
You are Here: Connecting Flights edited by Ellen Oh DB114037/BR024935
Grades 6-8
Concealed by Christina Diaz Gonzalez DB108412
Harboring Hope: The True Story of How Henny Sinding Helped Denmark’s Jews Escape the Nazis by Susan Hood
Hunters of the Lost City by Kali Wallace
The Midnight Children by Dan Gemeinhart DB110084
The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne by Jonathan Stroud DB105563
The Probability of Everything by Sarah Everett
Serwa Boateng’s Guide to Vampire Hunting by Roseanne A. Brown DB112720
Simon Sort of Says by Erin Bow DB113782
Two Degrees by Alan Gratz DB110837
What Happened to Rachel Riley? by Claire Swinarski DB112718
High School
Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed by Dashka Slater DB116594/BR025344
Four for the Road by K. J. Reilly DB110007
Goth Girl, Queen of the Universe by Lindsay S. Zrull
Hollow Fires by Samira Ahmed DB108627
The Honeys by Ryan La Sala DB110575
Lore by Alexandra Bracken DB102852
Love in English by Maria E. Andreu
Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses by Kristen O’Neal DB103650
Promise Boys by Nick Brooks DB113776
We Deserve Monuments by Jas Hammonds DB111540/BR024861
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