The Missouri Building Block Picture Book Award, sponsored and selected by the Youth Services Community of Interest (YSCI), is presented annually to the author and illustrator of the picture book voted most popular by preschool children in Missouri’s public libraries and is designed to encourage reading aloud to children from birth through kindergarten age.
Designed to encourage reading aloud to children from birth through kindergarten age, the award was first given in 1996. Parents and other caregivers are encouraged to read aloud to children from a list of ten titles selected annually by a group of Missouri children’s librarians. Colorful posters, bookmarks, activity sheets, and a manual of great ideas add to the fun.
See the Missouri Building Block Picture Book Award Procedures and the Missouri Building Block Picture Book Award Committee Handbook in Appendix G of the MLA Handbook MLA Handbook for details.
We are excited to announce the winner of the 2020 Missouri Building Block Picture Book Award. About 8,700 Missouri children voted this year, and Dandy by Ame Dyckman is the winner!
Here are the top five titles:
1) Dandy by Ame Dyckman – 1,646 votes
2) Piranhas Don’t Eat Bananas by Aaron Blabey – 1,617 votes
3) Everybody Says Meow by Constance Lombardo – 1,594 votes
4) Duck! by Meg McKinlay – 719 votes
5) I Can Only Draw Worms by Will Mabbitt – 691 votes
Now, on to 2021!
We invite you to read and vote on your favorite titles from this exciting new group of nominees:
- I Want a Dog by Jon Agee
- Stomp by Ian Aurora
- Bad Dog by Mike Boldt
- Crocodiles Need Kisses Too by Rebecca Colby
- Saturday by Oge Mora
- Bear Came Along by Richard T. Morris
- The Book Hog by Greg Pizzoli
- One Red Sock by Jennifer Sattler
- The Farm that Mac Built by Tammi Sauer
- The Pigeon HASto Go to School by Mo Willems
We hope you and your youth enjoy this year’s selections as much as last year’s.
The Missouri Building Block committee wants to thank all of the teachers, librarians, parents, and caregivers who read to their kids and helped them vote. Your support fuels this award!
Members of the Building Block Award subgroup of YSCI are listed on the YSCI page.
2021 Nominees Activity Sheets
How to Nominate a Book for 2022 (Nomination period: July 2021 – November 2021)
Have you found an excellent read-aloud book for young children (birth-kindergarten)? The committee is seeking both fiction and non-fiction titles with the qualities of a great read-aloud, such as a rich vocabulary, flowing language, and engaging illustrations.
All nominations must be published within the last two years (December 2019-November 2021). Holiday books do not qualify.
Nominations of books for 2022 are made through the online form (form will go live in July 2021) during the nomination period (July 2021 to November 2021); the committee generally reads these nominations in December 2021 and January 2022.
How To Vote on Your Favorite (voting available: September 1, 2021 – January 15, 2022)
Individuals and groups may vote using the online ballot or the paper ballot.
Librarians and teachers can use the paper ballot to gather individual votes, then input totals on the online ballot.
Winners Announced: January/February 2022
Previous Winners and Nominees
Building Block Award Winners, 1996-2020
Building Block Award Nominees, 1996-2020
Is there not a way to send in votes for the Building Block Picture Book Award by class or school? I do not want to enter each student in individually!
Jerilyn the Awards Chair says: “Yes. People can e-mail me jhahn@dbrl.org or Deb Barry deborah.d.barry@gmail.com.”
Would it be possible to see the total number of votes per title? I would like to see how the state totals compare to my library totals.
I’ve asked Jerilyn to respond. I don’t know if this is public information or not; you might try her email above if you’d like to ask her directly. -Rachel, Webmaster
I am new to this process, how is the voting process handled in the library? Is there a form the parents fill out? Do we mail these in? Do they vote online???
From Jerilyn Hahn:
“How libraries present the Building Block Award nominees varies. At some libraries, ballots are produced by the community/public relations department. Then the ballots are placed by a voting box (container of some
kind.) Parents may read the books to their children in the library or at home and vote in the library. Many libraries hold voting during a story time—read 5 books, then vote. (We understand you can’t read all 10 during one story time.) Some libraries read one or two nominees a week for 5-10 weeks (using the activity guides) and vote after all the books have been shared. Hopefully those who vote had a chance to hear at least 5 books.
In September this website will include a link to a paper ballot that parents and teachers may print out and an online link for individual votes. Those who submit multiple votes for schools and libraries may count all the ballots and submit the results via e-mail to ronfreeman@kclibrary.org.”
I found the links for activity sheets for each 2015 Building Block nominees, but I was wondering if there is a link for the whole activity packet.
I would like save and print out it as a whole packet. Please email me back to let me know. If not I can save each one individually, but having a link to the whole packet would be very helpful.
Thanks…
Marcia Rhinehart
PK-12 Librarian
Sturgeon R- V School District
Jerilyn has created this PDF, which is now linked from the page with the current nominees: http://molib.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Activity-sheets-2015-all-books.pdf
Are any of these books available in Spanish?
When will the 2016 preliminary nominees be available? I would like to order them as soon as possible. Thank you !
On January 22 the committee will come up with a list of our favorite 30 books . On January 29 the list will be narrowed down to 10.
Is there any kind of social media image or blurb we can send out? Thanks for your response in the matter.
Since the Building Block Award is managed by the Youth Services Community of Interest, I would contact the current Youth Services CI Awards Committee Chair. Here’s her information:
Michelle Ballard
michelleb@thelibrary.org
Hope this helps!
We have sent out the following statement to groups so they can nominate titles:
The Missouri Building Block Award Committee is seeking nominations for the
2016 Building Block Picture Book Award. The Building Block Award,
administered by the Youth Services Community of Interest of the Missouri
Library Association, is presented annually to the author and illustrator of
the picture book voted most popular by preschool children in Missouri’s
public libraries. We need your input to ensure that we continue to have
high quality, enjoyable picture books on our list of nominees.
Here are some of the criteria:
– Must be an original picture book, age appropriate (birth through
first-grade) with child appeal.
– Copyright must be within the last two years (2014-2015).
– Must be a great read-aloud: rich vocabulary, flowing language and
accurate grammar.
– May be fiction or nonfiction.
– Can *not* be a holiday book.
Everyone is encouraged to nominate picture books. Please submit the titles
directly to me at: haid@dbrl.org. I would really appreciate it if you
would send the title, author, illustrator, publisher and publication date.
If you would like to know more about the Building Block Award, please visit
the Missouri Library Association’s handbook starting on page 169:
http://molib.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Handbook-REVISION-2_2015.pdf
Deadline for submissions is November 30.
Our Pinterest page is: https://www.pinterest.com/mobuildingblock/
Re: Spanish language availability of the books – probably the best way to check would be to go to worldcat.org’s advanced search, and search for the author and title, while limiting language to Spanish. This site may also have some resources: https://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/books/spanishdist.asp
I was forwarded the question about whether the Building Blocks were available in Spanish. I Checked Amazon.com. I did general Google searches, and I checked Barnes and Noble. Here is what I found:
Digger Dog was on a downloadable website: librosespanol.org
I do not know if you have to join.
This Book Just Ate My Dog! is available on Amazon.com in Spanish ISBN-10: 8469601415
Oh So Brave Dragon was available from Amazon.com but it looks like they are only listing it.
I have not checked WorldCat. I hope this helps.
Has anyone on the committee received the long list? I’ve not & it’s two days before the meeting…
Hello! I was wondering when the bookmarks for the 2016 MO Building Block Picture Book Award would be available?
Thanks in advance!
Marlana
Hi Marlana, The person to contact is Jerilyn Hahn from the Callaway County Public Library. She is the chair of the Building Block Subcommittee. Her e-mail is jhahn@dbrl.org.
I hope this helps!
Amy
I was wondering when the 2017-18 list will be posted. I am trying to spend the last of my budget money so the next librarian won’t have to worry about what to order (I get to retire!!!). Thanks!
The list has been posted! Webmaster’s still waiting for activity sheets & other material, but the actual list is linked from this page now.
I don’t remember receiving an email announcement for the BB winner, but I see it has been announced. Would you please email me a breakdown of the votes. My students are always interested in knowing which books won 2nd and 3rd place. Thanks!
It’s been a heated battle to the end. In fact, we believe this may have been one of the tightest races in Missouri Building Block Award history! At the final hour, Bunnies!!! snuck past Little Penguin Gets the Hiccups by Tadgh Bentley and Rex Wrecks It! by Ben Clanton.
I have currently been asked when the 2018 nominee book list will be out for the Building Block Award. I am new to being a Children’s Librarian and do not have the answer to this. Could someone tell me when I will be able to find the new list?
We hope to have the new list decided by the end of this week. We will be working on suggestions of activities to accompany each book and hope to have everything posted by mid March.
Can you tell me when the 2018 list will be announced?
Hi, Mark. They are up! We hope you enjoy this year’s books.
http://molib.org/awards/building-block-award/current-nominees/
Is there a way to see the previous year’s activity sheets?
Can you tell me the label number for the spine label templates?
Hi, Lysha,
The spine label templates aren’t formatted to a specific label size. You would want to print them on colored paper, cut them out, and cover them with clear label protectors.
When is the nomination period for 2019?
Is there a poster of the Building Block books? If so where can I get one from?
I just received the Building Block Award list from BTSB for 2019 but one book is missing from the list. I am not seeing it here on the website. Will that be posted soon?
Can I be your Dog?
Rabbit Listened
Cookiesaurus Rex
Crunch the Shy Dinosaur
Beware the Monster
I Just Ate my Friend
Eat Pete
Perfect Day
Hello Hello
What is the tenth title for next year?
When will the list of nominees for the Building Blocks for 2019-2020 school year be available? I saw one email that gave 9 of the nominees. Thank you!
Here are the 2019 books:
Can I Be Your Dog? by Troy Cummings
A Perfect Day by Lane Smith
Crunch, The Shy Dinosaur by Cirocco Dunlap
Beware the Monster by Michaël Escoffier
The Rabbit Listened by Cori Doerrfeld
Cookiesaurus Rex by Amy Fellner Dominy and Nate Evans
Eat Pete by Michael Rex
Hello Hello by Brendan Wenzel
Where is Bear? by Jonathan Bentley
I Just Ate My Friend by Heidi McKinnon
The site was updated last month, the 2019 titles can be found here:
http://molib.org/awards/building-block-award/current-nominees/
I have tried to print the paper ballot to use with my students, but the link is not correct. Would love a paper ballot if that’s still an option!
I emailed you the paper ballot, for your ease of access.
Thanks,
Shelly
I navigate to this page: http://molib.org/awards/building-block-award/
Click the link for paper ballot: http://molib.org/2019-building-block-ballot-committee-dates/
This takes me to this page: http://molib.org/2019-building-block-ballot-committee-dates/ on this page click: 2019 Building Block Ballot – Committee Dates – this is a link to this page: http://molib.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/2019-Building-Block-Ballot-Committee-Dates.pdf which is the paper ballot.
The link for the paper ballot doesn’t work. It takes me to meeting dates. I would love to have access to the paper ballot.
I navigate to this page: http://molib.org/awards/building-block-award/
Click the link for paper ballot: http://molib.org/2019-building-block-ballot-committee-dates/
This takes me to this page: http://molib.org/2019-building-block-ballot-committee-dates/ on this page click: 2019 Building Block Ballot – Committee Dates – this is a link to this page: http://molib.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/2019-Building-Block-Ballot-Committee-Dates.pdf which is the paper ballot.
can I also have the paper ballot the link does not work
I navigate to this page: http://molib.org/awards/building-block-award/
Click the link for paper ballot: http://molib.org/2019-building-block-ballot-committee-dates/
This takes me to this page: http://molib.org/2019-building-block-ballot-committee-dates/ on this page click: 2019 Building Block Ballot – Committee Dates – this is a link to this page: http://molib.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/2019-Building-Block-Ballot-Committee-Dates.pdf which is the paper ballot.
Any chance the online ballot will stay open through the 17th? As a school, I’m in the predicament that some students won’t here all the books if I have to submit totals in the middle of the week. With snow days, inservice days, and get to know you days, I’m almost done, but not quite. Just trying to plan ahead!
As of yesterday, Jonathan Schoff informed another teacher that they didn’t have all the ballots turned in yet, but to get them in as quickly as possible.
Thanks,
Shelly
When will the 2020 list be announced?
I would love to see voting extended to March, we just don’t get through them all by January. AG
Do you know the 2021 titles yet?
When looking for the 2021 Nominees, I noticed that one of your listed books contains an innovative spelling.
The Pidgeon Has to Go to School by Mo Willems has a typo in the title. Pigeon doesn’t have a “d” in the spelling.
I am looking forward to reading these books!