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Texas 2x2 Reading List

By Sara Pope, Contributing writer | April 30, 2019

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Texas Library Association’s Children’s Round Table

Sara Pope from Houston Public Library served as chair of the Texas Library Association Children's Round Table and shares some of her favorites from The Texas 2X2 Reading List for kids age 2-grade 2. Pictured are committee members (from left) Kristin Johnson, Wells Branch Community Library; Amy Roberts, San Antonio Public Library; Rebecca Ivey, Denton Pubic Library; Cynthia Cooksey, McAllen ISD; Sara Pope, Houston Public Library; Karen Currie, Pflugerville ISD. Not pictured: Clare Rossetter, Dallas ISD

You may have heard of the Texas Bluebonnet List, but have you heard of the Texas 2x2 Reading List? It’s a list of 20 great books for kids age 2-grade 2 that were published in the last year. The list was released on Feb. 1.

Who decides what books get to be on this list? A committee of children’s librarians and school librarians are selected by the Texas Library Association’s Children’s Round Table, and I got to serve as chair of the committee, so I’m going to give you the inside scoop on how it works! The committee read over 1,000 book, and had the tough task of choosing only 20 books for the list! That means only 2 percent of the books the committee looked at got to be on the list! We read a lot individually and tried books out with kids to see what they like. The committee met at the beginning of January to talk about our top selections for the list, and we came up with these 20!

The 2x2 List, unlike the Bluebonnet List, has recommended activities for each title! Check out the list and the activities on the TLA’s website.

Want to read all 20 books? Check out the list on your Beanstack account: Just log in, go to Recommendations, Book Lists, and find the “2019 Texas 2x2 Reading List”. Add your favorite books to your Wish List! What 2x2 book is your favorite?

It’s really hard to pick, but a few of my favorites are:

Crunch, the Shy Dinosaur by Cirocco Dunlap, illustrated by Greg Pizzoli.
Readers are invited to interact with Crunch the Dinosaur, but he’s a little shy! Kids will love saying hello to Crunch in storytime, or 1 on 1 with a favorite reader.

Teddy’s Favorite Toy by Christian Trimmer, illustrated by Madeline Valentine.
Teddy has a lot of toys that he likes to play with, but his favorite is Bren-Da, Warrior Queen of Pacifica! When tragedy strikes, a super hero (his mom!) steps in to save the day!

Alma and How She Got Her Name by Juana Martinez-Neal.
Alma Sofia Esperanza Jose Pura Candela believes she has the longest name ever, and isn’t impressed, until her Daddy tells her the story of her name. Perfect for sharing 1 on 1, this softly illustrated story will have kids asking about the stories of their names.