High school students from across Rhode Island have voted! We are thrilled to announce the winner of the 2025 Rhode Island Teen Book Award: Promise Boys by Nick Brooks
Our Honor Books are Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross andHockey Girl Loves Drama Boy by Erin Faith Hicks.
The book with the most readers was The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich by Deya Muniz, followed by The Infinity Particle by Wendy Xu and Chaos Theory by Nic Stone.
These were 3 of 20 young adult books nominated by school librarians, teachers, and public librarians from throughout Rhode Island. The nominees were selected on the basis of literary quality and their appeal to those in grades 9 and up. Throughout the past year, young adults could find copies of the books available to read at their school and public libraries and area stores.
We would also like to thank all the schools and libraries that served as voting locations and supported the Rhode Island Teen Book Award. Portsmouth High School collected the most votes, and the runners up were Providence Career & Technical Academy and Toll Gate High School. The Rhode Island Teen Book Award Committee would like to thank all the teens who voted this year and read from the list as well as the teachers and librarians who helped promote these titles.
In addition, the committee is proud to announce the list of 20 nominees for the 2026 award.
Becoming a Queen by Dan Clay
Bright Red Fruit by Safia Elhillo
Call Me Iggy by Jorge Aguirre and Rafael Rosado
The Color of a Lie by Kim Johnson
A Deathly Compendium of Poisonous Plants by Rebecca Hirsch
Everything We Never Had by Randy Ribay
Full Shift by Jennifer Dugan
Gatherby Kenneth M Cadow
The Great Cool Ranch Dorito in the Sky by Josh Glarza
Greymist Fair by Francesca Zappia
Homebody by Theo Parish
I Shall Never Fall in Love by Hari Conner
Icarus by K Ancrum
The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland
Looking for Smoke by K.A. Cobell
The Maid and the Crocodile by Jordan Ifueko
Shadowed by Carl Deuker
Six Truths and a Lie by Ream Shukairy
Twenty-Four Seconds from Now: A LOVE Story by Jason Reynolds
The Wilderness of Girls by Madeline Claire Franklin
You can find promotional materials including bookmarks, flyers, and posters for the 2026 nominees here. Student voting for the new list will begin on July 1. Details to follow in June.
For more information about the RI Teen Book award please visit riteenbookaward.org. Please direct any questions to riteenbookaward@gmail.com