The North Carolina Children’s Book Award began in 1992. Each year since then, school and public libraries participate in the process of selecting, studying and voting for the next winner! Members of the North Carolina Library Association’s children’s committee select a group of picture books and junior novels from suggestions submitted by North Carolinian school children. The list of books is then given to each school and public library throughout the state. During the course of the year, classroom teachers, media specialists and public librarians in North Carolina encourage children to become familiar with the nominees and vote for their favorite title in two categories: “Picture Book” and “Junior Book”. The award is therefore truly a children’s book award - selected by the children of the state of North Carolina!

Two Bobbies: A True Story of Hurricane Katrina, Friendship, and Survival, written by Kirby Larson and Mary Nethery, is the winner in the Picture Book category with 26,940 of the 120,583 votes cast.

Cracker!: The Best Dog in Vietnam, by Cynthia Kadahota, is the winner in the Junior Book category with 2,820 votes of the 16,312 votes cast.

The North Carolina Children's Book Award Program is a children's choice award program sponsored by the school and public librarians in North Carolina designed to introduce children to current children's literature and to instill a love of reading