Now Accepting 2026 Ladybug Nominations and more...

The nomination form for the 2026 Ladybug Picture Book Award can be found here: 
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Ladybug2026nomination

In addition to bibliographical information about your nominee, we are asking for a sentence or two explaining why you chose to nominate the book.

Please nominate a picture book that meets the following criteria: 

•    Be published, in its current edition, within the last three years (2023-2025)
•    be currently in print
•    possess strong child appeal
•    have artistic quality with text that supports the illustrations
•    not be a title previously nominated as a finalist. (See previous nominations here: https://tinyurl.com/ladybugNOM)

****NEW THIS YEAR: Due to librarian input, we will be opening up the Ladybug Picture Book Award to include 4th graders. If you are able to include 4th graders in the Ladybug process, please do so!****

You may nominate as many books as you’d like, but they must follow the above criteria and you will need to complete the nomination survey separately for each nominated book.

The long-list of nominated titles will be announced in late January. 

   

In the still woods of small-town New Hampshire, a single gunshot shattered the quiet and the belief that everyone knew everyone.

In 1985, local mechanic Daniel Paquette was found dead in his driveway, one bullet through the chest. For twenty years, the case sat cold. No suspects. No closure. Only silence thick as pine sap and just as suffocating.

But truth doesn’t die. It hides behind loyalty, fear, and the fragile code of a town that prefers to forget. When the past finally cracked open, it revealed more than a killer: it exposed teenage secrets, buried guilt, and a community forced to reckon with what its silence had cost.

Whispers in the Pines: A Teenage Killer and the Silence of New Hampshire blends deep reporting with a restrained, haunting narrative to follow the investigation, confession, trial, and the long echo that reshaped an entire town. It asks the question no verdict can settle:

When everyone shares the secret, who carries the blame? --Publisher's blurb

   

Get a taste of some of the best hiking and mountain scenery along the entire 2,190-mile Appalachian Trail (AT). Campsites, Hostels, and Huts is the story of a father/daughter section hike of the AT in New Hampshire from the streets of Hanover and Dartmouth College to the Maine state line in the middle of the rugged Mahoosuc Mountains. You don't have to always "rough it" when hiking through the White Mountains in New Hampshire, as there are plenty of great lodging options, from backcountry campsites and shelters to roadside hiker hostels to the famous Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) High Huts. Come experience all of that and more in this firsthand account of an 18-day trek through some of the most breathtaking mountains in the northeast. --Publisher's blurb

   

White Mountains State: A Four-Year Journey Hiking and Summiting New Hampshire's 48 Highest Peaks by Keith Gentili

My Mountain Friend: Wandering & Pondering Mount Major by Mary Ellen Humphrey

Glorious Mountain Days: The 1902 Hike That Helped Save the White Mountains by Allison W. Bell and Maida Goodwin

   

What lurks in the dark woods of New Hampshire? Whose footsteps echo on the covered bridge at night when no one’s there?

Scary Stories from New Hampshire is a collection of supernatural horror drawn from the Granite State’s ghost stories, legends, and chilling local lore. Inside you’ll encounter cursed towns abandoned to the wilderness, haunted orchards where old rules are broken at your peril, and cold, dead hands that clutch at swimmers from below. Each tale pulls from real places and unsettling folklore, blending the strange with the terrifying in ways you won’t forget.

Grim, nightmarish illustrations bring these stories to life, making every page an eerie journey into New England’s haunted heart. Perfect for sharing aloud at night or reading alone with the lights low, this book offers an unforgettable descent into shadows.

Dare to read it—if you’re brave enough. --Publisher's blurb

About the author:

Rex Eldritch is an author and visual artist inspired by the eerie folklore and haunted landscapes of New England. His work combines supernatural storytelling with a folkloric sense of place, drawing on ghost stories, legends, and the darker side of local history. A resident of New Hampshire, he creates fiction that is both unsettling and accessible, written for readers who enjoy tales of mystery, horror, and the uncanny. Beyond writing, he is also an illustrator and game designer, with a lifelong passion for storytelling in many forms.