CLEL Bell Award Winners 2026!Like this list

20 items

• Let's Be Bees

  Harris, Shawn (Artist),

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  Winner: Read! While reading a book together, a child and parent play games of pretend, making the sounds of bees, birds, trees, weather and other animate and inanimate objects before pretending to be each other.

• Just One More Story

  Emerson, Perry (Children's author),

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  Short List: Read. Bunnies Pip and Bun are very different: Pip loves reading, and Bun does not. Then Bun stumbles upon a book of action and adventure and soon finds a way to enjoy stories.

• My Mom Loves... Books!

  Kers, Nancy,

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  Short List: Read. Celebrate the joy of reading and the bond between mother and child in this heart-warming book.

• So Many Books!

  Fliess, Sue,

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  Short List: Books. Celebrates the joy of reading books through rhyming text that describes all the different kinds of books in the world.

• Don't Draw in This Book!

  Cotter, Bill,

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  Winner: Write! A purple monster named Larry tells the reader they can't draw in the book, but things take a crazy turn when he wonders what happens if the reader just draws with their finger.

• Angel Draws a Dinosaur

  Giron, Pavonis,

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  Short List: Write. Angel must overcome perfectionism when they set out to draw the best dinosaur ever.

• Sidewalk Chalk

  Jasinski, Jen Fier,

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  Short List: Write. A bucket of chalk turns a neighborhood sidewalk into a working canvas as kids join together to create colorful masterpieces.

• Oh No, Ojó!

  Onajin, Alaba,

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  Short List: Write. Ojó loves to draw, and his family wants to support his drawing ability. But things get complicated as Ojó draws on all his family's belongings from his mother's grocery list and his father's newspaper to his sister's uniform and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• I Can Say Moo!

  Cohen, Stephanie (Speech therapist),

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  Winner: Talk! A board book with color photographs of real children and simple rhyming text introducing young readers to more than 20 first words.

• Thunderland

  Willis, Maggie Edkins,

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  Short List: Talk. A young girl doesn't like thunderstorms, so she hides under the kitchen sink when they happen. But something magical happens when her dad, who isn't afraid of storms at all, tells her about a fantastic place called Thunderland, a…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Whoa Panda!

  Jennings, C. S.,

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  Short List: Talk. An excited, affectionate young panda learns to navigate his friends' — and the narrator's — personal boundaries.

• pêyak Little Duck

  Lamouche, Sandra,

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  Short List: Talk. Simple rhyming text in English with colorful illustrations introduces learning readers to bird words in the Plains Cree language — including "pêyak" for duck and "mitâtaht" for geese.

• Abuelita's Song

  Amescua, Gloria,

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  Winner: Sing! Based on the author's true story, a young mother makes up a Spanish lullaby for her son. Later, when he grows up, he teaches the song to her granddaughters, which they share with her during a visit.

• On Our Way!

  What a Day!

  Brown-Wood, JaNay,

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  Short List: Sing. Through the use of rhythmic text and onomatopoeia, a group of siblings takes a trip to visit their grandmother for her birthday.

• Five Little Friends

  a Collection of Finger Rhymes

  Taylor, Sean, 1965-

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  Short List: Sing. Contains a collection of 35 rhyming children's poems on topics ranging from bikes to bubbles to animals, with illustrations that demonstrate body actions to be performed alongside the words.

• Pop! Goes the Nursery Rhyme

  Bird, Betsy,

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  Short List: Sing. An ornery weasel keeps interrupting the recitation of classic nursery rhymes, such as "Jack and Jill" and "One, Two, Buckle my Shoe," with an exclamation of "Pop! Goes the Weasel," exasperating a bird who just wants the nursery…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Catch!

  Cooke, Trish,

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  Winner: Play! Kiona cannot seem to catch anything while playing with Mom, but before bedtime, she catches something just right.

• Downpour

  Splish! Splash! Ker-splash!

  Ōnari, Yūko, 1965-

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  Short List: Play. When a hot summer day turns into a downpour, a young boy grabs an umbrella and relishes in the different sounds the rain makes as it falls, and his feet make as they splash.

• Let's Rumble!

  a Rough-and-tumble Book of Play

  Payne, Rachel,

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  Short List: Play. Depicts three siblings of various ages who roughhouse in healthy, imaginative ways and use a codeword for safety.

• Mama Hug

  Straub, Emma,

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  Short List: Play. Rhyming text follows a mother and infant throughout their day as Mama cuddles, kisses, teaches, hugs, feeds and bathes the baby before it's time for bed.