FAQ

The Texas Bluebonnet Award (TBA) was established in 1979 to encourage Texas children to read more, explore diverse books, and identify their favorite ones. The program offers insight into young readers’ preferences and honors authors who create engaging children’s literature. Sponsored by the Texas Library Association, the TBA aims to promote free voluntary reading.

The Texas Bluebonnet Award Program Committee creates all lessons, and materials. The program committee is made up of certified Texas librarians who apply for the position.

The Texas Bluebonnet Award Selection Committee selects the books for each year’s list. Recommendations are welcomed from librarians, teachers, parents, students, and other interested individuals via the suggestion form on the TBA website. The committee considers children’s interests, content relevance, reputable reviews, and literary quality, including both fiction and nonfiction. Eligible books must be published in the U.S. within three years prior to the list’s release, and the author must be a living U.S. citizen or resident. A new list of twenty books is released each November.

No, the Texas Bluebonnet Award (TBA) books are not meant to be read by all children. The program recognizes that reading tastes vary among third to sixth graders and encourages kids to choose books that interest them. The goal is to promote pleasure reading, not to reward those who read the entire list. The motto is, “Read 5, then decide.”

Additionally, the TBA Policy and Procedure Manual states that while librarians may choose not to order all titles, they cannot substitute or add titles to the official Bluebonnet Master List, nor can any titles be removed from the list or promotional materials.

Any librarian can start the Bluebonnet Program at their library or school. The list of books and materials are available on the TBA website. Patrons or students simply need to read five books before they decide on their favorite.

No, you do not need to be a TLA member to vote in the Texas Bluebonnet Program. When the voting link is live, it will prompt you to log into your account, if you do not have a TLA account, you will create one (as a non member), and you will then be brought to the voting site. When you are on the voting site, you will enter all your students’ votes, hit submit and you will then pay. Your payment will be $20 whether you are a member or a non-member.

You can participate by using the resources available on the TBA Google Site, which include book reviews, videos, Reader’s Advisory, and Book Talk activities. Additional resources like a student reading log and chart are also available to track progress. Librarians, teachers, and parents can also create their own activities to enhance the program. Promotional supplies such as pencils, bookmarks, and certificates can be purchased online or by mail (credit card or check payments only)..

You can collect votes using a Google Form template or paper ballots. After gathering all the votes, submit them on the voting site, which opens in September and closes mid-January. The librarian of record accesses the voting page via the Texas Bluebonnet Award page on txla.org. Librarians log into their TLA account (or create one if needed), enter the tallied votes for each book, and submit the votes with a credit/debit card payment. Once paid, the votes are officially submitted.

Starting in mid-September, there will be a link on the TBA webpage that says “vote now”. That link will take you to the voting site as mentioned above. You will type in all of your students’ tallied votes at that point.

Yes, we can provide a document that is a quote. Please contact Kelly Mantay at [email protected]. This document is strictly a quote, we can not offer an invoice or a PO. Please allow for three business days to process your quote request.

In February the winner will be announced. The winner will be honored at the Texas Bluebonnet Award Author Lunch at the Texas Library Association’s Annual Conference.

The TBA website contains job descriptions of selection, and program committee members as well as applications for each position. Openings for committee positions are available each year as rotating district members complete their terms. Email and social media announcements of openings are sent out or posted in September with reminders following in October and November. Applications are due Oct. 1. New member announcements are made by the TLA President-Elect by Dec. 1.

There are printable certificates on the TBA resource page. There are also official seals you can purchase on the TBA store. You will print out the certificates and hand it to your students.