The 2025 Texas Bluebonnet Award Winner Is…
Thousands of students across Texas voted, and the results are in! The 2025 Texas Bluebonnet Award winner is Ice Cream Man: How Augustus Jackson Made a Sweet Treat Better, written by Glenda Armand and Kim Freeman and illustrated by Keith Mallett.
In this buoyant and colorful book, readers are introduced to Augustus Jackson:
Augustus Jackson was born in 1808 in Philadelphia. While most African Americans were enslaved at that time, in Pennsylvania, slavery was against the law. But while Augustus and his family were free, they were poor, and they depended on their garden and their chickens for food. Augustus enjoyed helping his mom prepare meals for their family. When he was only twelve years old, he set off for Washington, D.C. He applied to work in the White House, where the head cook offered him a job as a kitchen helper. After five years of working hard, Augustus, or Gus, was promoted to cook.
During his time at the White House, Augustus became an expert at making a popular egg-based dessert. He soon made an eggless version—known to us today as ice cream—and left the White House determined to make and sell the frozen treat to everyone. Gus headed back home to Philadelphia and opened his very own ice cream parlor. He devised a way to keep the ice cream frozen so that it could be shipped and sold to other businesses. Gus’s dream had come true, and better yet, he had brought smiles to many faces.
Shining a light on a little-known visionary, this inspiring picture-book biography includes an afterword, a list of sources, and an easy-to-follow recipe so readers can make their own delicious ice cream!
View the Texas Bluebonnet award book trailer for Ice Cream Man here.
The Texas Bluebonnet Award is one of the oldest and most prestigious children’s choice literary awards in the country. A total of 36,000 students, all in third through sixth grade, voted. Each student had to read at least five books from the 2024-2025 Texas Bluebonnet Award list in order to vote.
Students will present the award to Armand and Freeman at the Texas Bluebonnet Award Author Session on Thursday, April 3 from 11:30am – 1:00pm, during the TLA 2025 Annual Conference in Dallas.
Register for conference and purchase tickets to the TBA Author Session today.
You can also support the Texas Bluebonnet Award by purchasing one of our TBA T-shirts. Order online (men’s, women’s and children’s sizes available; women’s sizes run small) and have it shipped to your home. Proceeds go to the Texas Bluebonnet Award program.