The Black-Eyed Susan Book Award

The Black-Eyed Susan Book Award is a student choice award for the state of Maryland that has been awarded each year since 1992. The award seeks to promote literacy and lifelong reading habits by encouraging students to read quality, contemporary literature. ... The nominated books are expected to be outstanding books that broaden the human experience and provide students with new insights into their own lives. Books may be suggested for consideration by students, teachers, parents, or other interested readers.

Criteria for Nominated Books:

• May be fiction or nonfiction.
• Published within the last 4 years (2023 or newer).
• Readily available.
• Positively reviewed in at least 2 professional review sources (such as School Library Journal, Booklist, Kirkus, etc.)

This award gets its name from the State flower of Maryland - the Black-eyed Susan:

You can see the 2025-26 nominees here. I was pleased to see I have already read several of these:

Balto and Togo: Hero Dogs of Alaska by Helen Moss

Gracie Under the Waves by Linda Sue Park

Invisible Isabel by Sally Pla, illustrated by Tania De Regil

Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All by Chanel Miller

Max in the House of Spies (Operation Kinderspion, Book 1) by Adam Gidwitz

The Mystery of Locked Rooms by Lindsay Currie

Olivetti by Allie Millington

The Sherlock Society (The Sherlock Society, Book 1) by James Ponti

A Strange Thing Happened in Cherry Hall by Jasmine Warga

Tree Table Book by Lois Lowry

Previous winners 

2024-25

• Picture Book – Yoshi and the Ocean: A Sea Turtle's Incredible Journey Home by Lindsay Moore
• Grades 3-5 -- Dogtown by Katherine Applegate 
• Graphic Novels Grades 3-5 –Saving Sunshine by Saadia Faruqi, illustrated by Shazleen Khan

Other past winners (here are the ones I have talked about previously): Odder; The Barnabus Project; A wolf called Wonder; Front Desk; Wishtree; Starfish; The Wild Robot; The fourteenth Goldfish; Escape from Mr Lemoncello's Library; Wild Wings; The Girl who could fly; Out of my Mind; The World according to Humphrey; and The 13th floor a Ghost story.