Goodreads Choice Awards 2021

It’s the time of year when you start seeing “Best of” lists and “2021 Favorites” almost everywhere you turn! The National Book Award winners were announced last night. I don’t tend to read a lot of the National Book Awards as they focus primarily on books for adult readers. And their young reader’s list usually leans pretty heavily toward YA lit. But, if you haven’t read Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo, try and squeeze it in before the end of the year, I really enjoyed this YA title.

But, I’m not here to talk about the National Book Award, today, I’m here to share about the Goodreads Choice Awards 2021! The opening round is currently ready for voters and there were so many great titles on the Best Middle Grade & Children’s list that I got stuck and wasn’t sure where to start! This opening round is live until November 28, the final round of voting will be November 30 – December 5. And finally, winners will be announced December 9.

As a reminder to readers, writers, illustrators, and creators there are thousands of books being published every year. Few get the gold star treatment with lots of publicity push from publishers. So you’re most likely hearing about some of the same books on all of these lists. If you aren’t on these fancy “best of” lists or don’t win the prize, it’s okay. Having so many books out there means that there are kids who find something that speaks to them. And that is more powerful than any award, at least in my opinion! Just keep doing what you do best!