On April 23, the Florida Association of Media in Education revealed this year’s titles for the Sunshine State Young Readers Award Program (SSYRA). The SSYRA is a statewide initiative to encourage students to read independently to improve reading fluency. Books picked for the annual lists appeal to a wide audience, have literary value, represent different genres, and represent the rich diversity of our state.
For the library’s Collection Development team this is one of the busiest days of the year and with the library being closed this year was different. An hour before the lists were revealed the Collection Development team was finalizing the game plan for reviewing the lists through chat. Once the lists were revealed the team quickly went to work to purchase additional copies of all the titles to meet the demand of this popular reading initiative.
All the books are available in the library’s collection. Physical copies can be requested for home delivery while many titles are also available through our online platforms.
Junior List
Piranhas Don’t Eat Bananas by Aaron Blabey
Can I Be Your Dog? by Troy Cummings
When Grandma Gives You a Lemon Tree by Jamie L. B. Deenihan
Dandy by Ame Dyckman
Pencil – A Story with a Point by Ann Ingalls
T-Bone the Drone by Shanda McCloskey
Ella McKeen, Kickball Queen by Beth Mills
The Proudest Blue by Ibtihaj Muhammad
The Panda Problem by Deborah Underwood
My Furry Foster Family – Truman the Dog by Debbi Michiko Florence
Frank & Bean by Jamie Michalak
The Quiet Boat Ride by Sergio Ruzzier
A fully annotated list of the Junior List can be found here.
Titles available digitally through Overdrive can be found here.
Grades 3–5
Attack of the Not-So-Virtual Monsters by Kim Harrington
Beatrice Zinker, Upside Down Thinker by Shelley Johannes
Bernice Buttman, Model Citizen by Niki Lenz
Caterpillar Summer by Gillian McDunn
Dragons in a Bag by Zetta Elliott
How I Became A Spy: A Mystery of WWII London by Deborah Hopkinson
Klawde: Evil Alien Warlord Cat by Johnny Marciano & Emily Chenoweth
Olga and the Smelly Thing From Nowhere by Elise Gravel
Operation Frog Effect by Sarah Lynn Scheerger
Planet Earth is Blue by Nicole Panteleakos
Strongheart by Candace Fleming
The Unicorn in the Barn by Jacqueline Ogburn
Voyage of the Dogs by Greg Van Eekhout
A fully annotated list of the Grades 3–5 list can be found here.
Titles available digitally through Overdrive can be found here.
Grades 6–8
The Bridge Home by Padma Venkatraman
Charlie Hernandez and the League of Shadows by Ryan Calejo
Deep Water: A Story of Survival by Watt Key
Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish by Pablo Cartaya
The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart
Song for a Whale by Kelly Lynne
We’re Not From Here by Geoff Rodkey
A fully annotated list of the Grades 6–8 list can be found here.
Titles available digitally through Overdrive can be found here.
