In 1979, the Texas Bluebonnet Award (TBA) was established to encourage the children of Texas to read for fun. Each year a committee of Texas librarians chooses 20 books for children to read and enjoy. This list of books is called the Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List. It is made up of different types of books such as fiction, nonfiction, poetry, biography and picture books. From these 20 books, it is our hope that each child in grades three, four, five or six will find five (5) titles that they will be able to read and enjoy.  Each child who has read at least five of the Bluebonnet Master List books is allowed to vote for their favorite. All of the votes from all over Texas are tabulated and a winner is announced!

Students that read 5* Bluebonnet nominees and complete a Bluebonnet Book Tracker submission for each of the 5 books will be invited to a special Bluebonnet Breakfast celebration at the end of the spring semester. 

Parents can help children participate in these ways:

• Review the attached master list with annotations to learn more about book reading levels (RL), interest levels (IL) and plot summaries.
• Help your child to choose appropriate books that are of interest to him or her.
• Talk to the school librarian to find the Texas Bluebonnet Award list of books each year.
• Find the TBA books in the school library or in the local public library. Titles on the list are chosen for children in grades 3, 4, 5, and 6. A librarian can help find those of interest to your child.
• Find Bluebonnet Book clubs at public libraries, bookstores or in school libraries.
• Listen to Bluebonnet Books on CD in the car as you ride.
• Read the books together with your child. It also counts if the child listens to books being read by someone else.
• Have fun exploring new genres and reading as a family

Visit the Texas Library Association website to learm more about the Texas Bluebonnet Award Program.

*Please note, the requirement to be invited to the Bluebonnet Breakfast has been changed from 10 books to 5 books.