Virginia Reader’s Choice 2016/2017 Purpose To encourage young readers to become better acquainted with contemporary books with outstanding literary appeal, to broaden students’ awareness of literature as a life-long pleasure, to encourage reading aloud in classrooms as a means of introducing reading for pleasure, and to honor favorite books and their authors. Eligibility The book must be recognized as noteworthy in the field of children’s/young adult literature. The book must be published within three years prior to the ballot on which it appears. Books must be appropriate for the level for which it is nominated.

  This is how it all begins. I’ll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson

I’d never heard of Zimbabwe. I Will Always Write Back: How one letter changed two lives by Caitlin Alifirenka & Martin Ganda, with Liz Welch was created by Aahana 6W

My mother named me Gabriela after my grandmother who – coincidentally– didn’t want to meet me when I was born because my mother was not married and was therefore living in sin. Gabi, a Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero

There’s these two kids, boys, sitting close together, squished in by the big arms of an old chair. Half Bad by Sally Green

How did you get here, Patson? Diamond Boy by Michael Williams

My name is Biddy. Girls Like Us by Gail Giles

The known facts surrounding the shooting death of sixteen-year-old Tariq Johnson are few. How it Went Down by Kekla Magoon

The first time I ever heard Bridget Smalley’s name, it was a day like any other. Sway by Kat Spears

Look: I do not know where I actually come from. 100 Sideways Miles by Andrew Smith