Announcement: 2022 ORCA Winners & 2023 ORCA Nominees!

The winners of the 2022 Oregon Reader’s Choice Award are:

Grades 3-5: Stargazing by Jen Wang

Grades 6-8: I Can Make This Promise by Christine Day

Grades 9-12: Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me by Mariko Tamaki with illustrations by Rosemary Valero-O’Connell

Congratulations to Jen Wang, Christine Day, and Mariko Tamaki for their wonderful stories, and thank you to all of the Oregon kids and teens who voted for their favorite ORCA title!

Nominees for the 2023 ORCA are:

2023 ORCA nominees for grades 3-5:

• Measuring Up by Lily LaMotte
• The Next President: The Unexpected Beginnings and Unwritten Future of America’s Presidents by Kate Messner
• Thirteens by Kate Alice Marshall
• The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez by Adrianna Cuevas
• Ways to Make Sunshine by Renee Watson
• Winterborne Home for Vengeance and Valor by Ally Carter
• A Wish in the Dark by Christina Soontornvat 
• Wondrous Rex by Patricia MacLachlen

2023 ORCA nominees for grades 6-8:

• All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys’ Soccer Team by Christina Soontornvat
• Becoming Muhammad Ali by James Patterson and Kwame Alexander
• Chance: Escape from the Holocaust by Uri Shulevitz 
• Efrin Divided by Ernesto Cisneros
• Maya and the Rising Dark by Rena Barron
• Snapdragon by Kat Leyh
• Stand Up, Yumi Chung! by Jessica Kim
• Wink by Rob Harrell

2023 ORCA nominees for grades 9-12:

• Almost American Girl by Robin Ha
• Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
• Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
• Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender
• The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune
• The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
• Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
• You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson

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It’s time for Oregon kids and teens to vote for the 2022 ORCA!

It’s time to vote for the 2022 Oregon Reader’s Choice Award! Students in grade 3-12 who have read two or more books in any of the three divisions may vote for their favorite in that division. Votes can be submitted by teachers or librarians using the school-and-library-wide voting form. Voting ballots can be found under the Resources tab on this blog’s navigation bar. Students can also vote directly using the student form. Please have votes submitted by the end of the day on April 20. Winners will be announced here on May 1, 2022

Again, voting is open from March 14-April 20. Thank you for participating and promoting ORCA to your students and patrons.

Time to nominate titles for the 2023 ORCA.

3/8/2022 Update! Nominations are now closed. We are excited to announce the 2022-2023 ORCA lists on May 1, 2022.

We would love your suggestions for titles you think would make great nominees for the 2022-2023 ORCA lists! Click here and nominate your favorite books that were published in 2020.

Announcement: 2021 ORCA Winners and 2022 ORCA Nominees!

The winners of the 2021 Oregon Reader’s Choice Award were announced at the Oregon Library Association annual conference on 4/22/2021. The winners are…

Upper Elementary (Grades 3-5): Front Desk by Kelly Yang

Middle School (Grades 6-8): Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes

High School (Grades 9-12): The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

Congratulations to Kelly Yang, Jewell Parker Rhodes, and Elizabeth Acevedo for their wonderful stories, and thank you to all of the Oregon kids and teens who voted for their favorite ORCA title!

Nominees for the 2022 ORCA were also announced. They are:

Grades 3-5:

• The Chupacabras of the Rio Grande (The Unicorn Rescue Society #4) by Adam Gidwitz and David Bowles with illustrations by Hatem Aly
• Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee
• Indian No More by Charlene Willing McManis with Traci Sorell
• Song for a Whale by Lynne Kelly
• Stargazing by Jen Wang
• The Strangers (The Greystone Secrets #1) by Margaret Peterson Haddix
• Two Truths and a Lie: Forces of Nature by Ammi-Joan Paquette and Laurie Ann Thompson
• The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander with illustrations by Kadir Nelson

Grades 6-8:

• The Bridge Home by Padma Venkatraman 
• Free Lunch by Rex Ogle
• Gabi & Sal Break the Universe (Gabi and Sal #1) by Carlos Hernandez
• I Can Make This Promise by Christine Day
• Maybe He Just Likes You by Barbara Dee
• Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga
• Some Places More Than Others by Renee Watson
• Words on Fire by Jennifer A. Nielsen

Grades 9-12:

• Butterfly Yellow by Thanhha Lai
• The Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben Philippe
• Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me by Mariko Tamaki with illustrations by Rosemary Valero-O’Connell
• Lovely War by Julie Berry
• On the Come Up by Angie Thomas
• Opposite of Always by Justin A. Reynolds
• Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay
• With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo

It’s time for Oregon kids and teens to vote for the 2021 ORCA!

Voting is now closed. Thank you for voting.

It’s time to vote for the 2021 Oregon Reader’s Choice Award! Students in grade 3-12 who have read two or more books in any of the three divisions may vote for their favorite in that division. Votes can be submitted by teachers or librarians using the school-and-library-wide voting form. Voting ballots can be found under the Resources tab on this blog’s navigation bar. Students can also vote directly using the student form. Please have votes submitted by the end of the day on April 15. Winners will be announced virtually, along with next year’s nominees at the Oregon Library Association’s spring conference on April 22.

Again, voting is open from March 17-April 15. Thank you for participating and promoting ORCA to your students and patrons.

Time to nominate titles for the 2022 ORCA.

3/17/21 Update! Nominations are now closed. We are excited to announce the 2021-2022 lists in April!

We would love your suggestions for titles you think would make great nominees for the 2021-2022 ORCA lists! Click here and nominate your favorite books that were published in 2019.

Announcement: 2020 ORCA Winners!

Hello! We are excited to announce our 2020 ORCA winners (drumroll, please…):

Upper Elementary (Grades 3-5):

Middle School (Grades 6-8):

High School (Grades 9-12):

Congratulations to Katherine Applegate, Gordon Korman, and Adam Silvera for their wonderful stories, and thank you to all of the Oregon kids and teens who voted for their favorite ORCA title!

Announcement: 2021 ORCA Nominees!

Hello, everyone! COVID-19 has certainly turned things a bit upside-down for everyone, and that included ORCA. We will announce the 2021 winners in June, but meanwhile, we wanted to share the 2021 nominees with you! We hope you enjoy these titles as much as we do.

Upper Elementary (grades 3-5):
Bob by Wendy Mass and Rebecca Stead and Nicholas Gannon
Cardboard Kingdom by Chad Sell
Dragons in a Bag by Zetta Elliott
Front Desk by Kelly Yang
Knights vs. Dinosaurs by Matt Phelan
Louisiana’s Way Home by Kate DiCamillo
Out of Left Field by Ellen Klages
Thirty Minutes Over Oregon: A Japanese Pilot’s World War II Story by Marc Tyler Nobleman and Melissa Iwai

Middle School Division (grades 6-8):
Be Prepared by Vera Brosgol
Escape from Aleppo by N.H. Senzai
Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes
The Last by Katherine Applegate
The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani
No Fixed Address by Susin Nielsen
Sunny by Jason Reynolds
Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster by Jonathan Auxier

High School Division (grades 9-12):
Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram
Dread Nation by Justina Ireland
Dry by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
Emergency Contact by Mary H.K. Choi
The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler by John Hendrix
A Heart in a Body in the World by Deb Caletti
Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett J. Krosoczka
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

It’s time for Oregon kids and teens to vote for the 2020 ORCA!

4/13/20: Given that Oregon schools are engaging with students through remote learning, we are extending ORCA voting through June 15. Also, since the Oregon Library Association spring conference has been canceled, we will share the winners and new 2020-21 lists by virtual means.

It’s time to vote for the 2020 Oregon Reader’s Choice Award! Students in grades 3-12 who have read two or more books in any of the three divisions may vote for their favorite in that division. Votes can be submitted by teachers or librarians using the school- and library-wide voting form. Students can also directly vote using the student form. Please have them submitted by the end of the day on June 15th. Voting ballots can be found under the Resources tab on this blog’s navigation bar. Winners will be announced virtually, along with next year’s nominees. Voting is open from March 5 – June 15. Questions, comments, etc. can be sent to orca@olaweb.org. Thank you for participating and promoting ORCA to your students and patrons!

Time to nominate titles for the 2021 ORCA!

02/15/2020 Update: Nominations are now closed. We are excited the announce the 2020-2021 lists in April!

We would love your suggestions for titles you think would make great nominees for the 2020-2021 ORCA lists! Click here and nominate your favorite books that were published in 2018.