2024-2025 Arkansas Diamond Primary Award Winners

A determined Owl builds strength and confidence in this medieval picture book about the real mettle of a hero: wits, humor, and heart.

Since the day he hatched, Owl dreamed of becoming a real knight. He may not be the biggest or the strongest, but his sharp nocturnal instincts can help protect the castle, especially since many knights have recently gone missing. While holding guard during Knight Night Watch, Owl is faced with the ultimate trial—a frightening intruder. It’s a daunting duel by any measure. But what Owl lacks in size, he makes up for in good ideas.

Full of wordplay and optimism, this surprising display of bravery proves that cleverness (and friendship) can rule over brawn.

Jolie LOVES strawberries – and she’s on an unstoppable (and hilarious) mission to grow her own food from seedling to table in this colorful introduction to the joy of growing the popular perennial.

Through Jolie’s comical scrapbook-style journal entries, young readers will learn how she convinces the “old people” (aka her parents) to let her grow her own strawberries. Growing strawberries is a lot of work and responsibility, but Jolie is ready with the help of her faithful rabbit Munchy! Together they find out just how delicious, rewarding, and sometimes complicated it can be to grow your own food.

Seth has a super fantastic story in his head. A story so completely awesome and unbelievably amazing that he needs to get it out on paper and share it with the world right away. There’s only one problem: He’s a bad drawer. Like, really bad. He’s tried and tried, but his illustrations are never quite like he imagined when they actually land on the page.

But he has an idea that might fix things: What if his friends help him bring his story to life? A delightful picture book featuring work from award-winning illustrators Jessixa Bagley, Armand Baltazar, Anna Bond, Travis Foster, Jessica Hische, Tillie Walden, and Ethan Young, Bad Drawer will make readers laugh out loud and embrace their flaws — while also having quite a bit of fun in the process.