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2026 marks the 10th anniversary of the Anna Dewdney Read-Together Award, the book award created by Penguin Young Readers, Every Child a Reader, and the Children’s Book Council in honor of the late Anna Dewdney (1965-2016), author and illustrator of the New York Times bestselling Llama Llama series. Since 2016, the award has been given annually to a picture book that is both a superb read-aloud and reflects Anna Dewdney’s mission to spark compassion, empathy, and connection through reading. The award commemorates Dewdney’s life and work and celebrates her commitment to reading with young children and putting books into as many little hands as possible.
To celebrate this milestone, Penguin Young Readers, Every Child a Reader, and the Children’s Book Council invite parents, caregivers, librarians, educators, and booksellers across the country to vote now through April 17 on books that have proven to be excellent read-alouds in your classrooms, school libraries, public libraries, bookstores, and homes.
Once votes have been tallied, a shortlist of finalists will be read by an independent selection committee chaired by Anna’s daughter and teacher, Berol Dewdney, to select the 2026 award winner.
The Anna Dewdney Read-Together Award is given annually to a picture book that is both a superb read-aloud and also sparks compassion, empathy, and connection. The award commemorates the life and work of author/illustrator Anna Dewdney and celebrates her commitment to reading with young children and putting books into as many little hands as possible.
As a children’s book creator, a literacy advocate, and a parent, Dewdney believed, “A good children’s book can be read by an adult to a child, and experienced genuinely by both. A good children’s book is like a performance. Reading with children makes an intimate, human connection that teaches that child what it means to be alive as one of many beings on the planet. When we read a book with children, then children — no matter how stressed, no matter how challenged — are drawn out of themselves to bond with other human beings, and to see and feel the experiences of others. It is this moment that makes us human. In this sense, reading makes us human.” (Wall Street Journal)
The Anna Dewdney Read-Together Award, co-sponsored by Penguin Young Readers, the Children’s Book Council, and Every Child a Reader, recognizes a picture book published within the last five years (2021-2025) in the United States that kids and grown-ups are currently discovering and enjoying together.
Anna Dewdney was the New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of Llama Llama Red Pajama, originally published in May 2005. She was also the author/illustrator of Little Excavator, Nobunny’s Perfect, Roly Poly Pangolin, and Grumpy Gloria. Anna worked as a rural mail carrier and taught at a boys’ boarding school for many years before becoming a full-time author and illustrator. Anna was a committed advocate of literacy, speaking regularly on this topic and publishing articles in the Wall Street Journal and other national outlets.
Anna Dewdney passed away in September 2016, at the age of fifty, from cancer. A teacher, mother, and enthusiastic proponent of reading aloud to children, she continually honed her skills as an artist and writer and published her first Llama Llama book in 2005. Her passion for creating extended to home and garden, and she lovingly restored an eighteenth-century farmhouse in southern Vermont. She wrote, painted, gardened, and lived there with her partner, Reed, her two daughters, two wire-haired pointing griffons, and one bulldog. Anna was a warm-hearted, wonderful, wise soul who will be forever missed, but whose spirit lives on in her books.
There are currently over 45 million Llama Llama books in print worldwide. Other books in the #1 New York Times bestselling Llama Llama series include Llama Llama Red Pajama, Llama Llama Holiday Drama, Llama Llama Misses Mama, Llama Llama Time to Share, Llama Llama Gram and Grandpa, Llama Llama Loves to Read, Llama Llama Mess Mess Mess, Llama Llama Loose Tooth Drama, Llama Loves his Teacher, and several others. The latest book in the Llama Llama series, Llama Llama Graduation Day! publishes on April 7, 2026.
Anna Dewdney’s Llama books have become a cultural touchstone, branching out to all types of media, including the Netflix animated series, ‘Llama Llama’ starring Golden Globe Award-winning actress Jennifer Garner. Llama Llama Red Pajama has been adapted by Dolly Parton for a musical performed at Dollywood and was also chosen as Jumpstart’s Read for the Record book in 2011, setting the world benchmark for the most readings of a single book in one day.
