Arkansas Diamond Primary Book Award
The Arkansas Diamond Primary Book Award was established by the Arkansas Elementary School Council in 1998 to encourage reading for students in Grades K-3. The name of the award was chosen because Arkansas is the only diamond producing state. Like the Charlie May Simon Award, the Arkansas Diamond Award is selected by an annual vote. Children in Grades K-3 must have read at least three of the titles from the annual reading list and may vote for one title. Student voting is done in May each year.
2017 Arkansas Diamond Primary Book Award Winner
The winner of the 2017 Arkansas Diamond Primary Book Award is Ivan: The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla written by Katherine Applegate and illustrated by G. Brian Karas, published by Houghton Mifflin/Clarion.
2017 Diamond Honor Book
My Teacher Is A Monster! (No, I Am Not.), written and illustrated by Peter Brown, published by Little Brown, is the Honor Book for the 2017 Arkansas Diamond Primary Book Award.
The Diamond Reading List for 2018-2019 is now available.
Links to the 2018 Student Ballots and 2018 Teacher Tabulation Form will be available here in March 2018.
Contact Person: Cathy Howser
Phone Number: 501-682-2860
E-mail: cathy@library.arkansas.gov
The Arkansas Department of Education (ADE), the Arkansas State Library, and the Arkansas Reading Association are pleased to announce the annual selection process for the books to receive the Arkansas Diamond Primary Book Award and the Charlie May Simon Children’s Book Award.
The book to receive the Diamond Primary Book Award will be selected in April by students in kindergarten, first, second, and third grades. It is hoped that students in the schools have been participating in reading these books and that teachers and library media specialists have selected some titles for reading aloud. Please note that children in Grades K-3 will need to have read or heard at least three of the books from the 2016-2017 Diamond list in order to vote. It should be made clear to the children that they may vote for only one title.
Because of the age group involved in the Diamond Primary Book Award, the reading committee suggests that when books are read to children, the teachers or library media specialists may wish to devise a plan for helping the children vote on the books. This may be done by reading all the books to the children in a condensed amount of time and then asking the children to vote, or the books may have been read to the children over an extended period of time but a review of the books may be necessary for children to vote. Young children may have forgotten some of the books if the books were read at the beginning of the year.
Like the Charlie May Simon Award, the Arkansas Diamond Award is selected by an annual vote. Children in Grades K-3 must have read at least three of the titles from the annual reading list and may vote for one title. Student voting is done in May each year.
If you have questions about the awards or reading lists, please contact Cathy Howser at the Arkansas State Library, cathy@library.arkansas.gov , 501-682-2860.
- 2017 Winners Announcements - PDF
- 2016 Arkansas Diamond Primary Book Award (Grades K-3)
- Tally Sheet (ADE)
- Diamond Ballot Tabulation – PDF
- Diamond Student Ballot – PDF
- Diamond Recommendation Form - PDF
- Reading List 2015-2016 – PDF
- Reading List 2016-2017 – PDF
- Reading List 2017-2018 - PDF
- Reading List 2018-2019 - PDF
- Previous Reading Lists – PDF
- Diamond Award Winners 1998 to Current – PDF
- Diamond Reading Committee Guidelines - PDF
