The Value of Awards

The Mark Twain Award is given annually to a book written targeting children in grades four through eight by the Missouri Association of School Librarians (MASL). In my daughter's school the children are awarded with a trip to a children's/young adult book festival for reading the books that are nominated for this award. They have read wonderful books through this program and come home with suggestions for me. It has led me to some wonderful books that I may not have ever known even existed.

One such book I just finished is Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio by Peg Kehret. This is a true story about the author's childhood experience with Polio and how it affected her and those around her. The book was easily written, which as any writer will tell you, meant it took a lot of hard work to achieve. While reading, you can almost feel the dread and fear that any child must have felt with this disease. You can also understand the paranoia that accompanied polio. Although this is a past nominee I had somehow missed it and am thoroughly happy to have read it.

I was pleased that not only do my children love the Percy Jackson books of the world but they also love the non-fictional tales of real people and their real life experiences. This will help ensure that they become well-read and informed as they grow into adults. The great thing about the Nominees for the Mark Twain Award is that they represent so many different types of books. Blown Away by Joan Hiatt Harlow is a story of a unannounced hurricane ripping through a community in the mid-1930's. A great ghost story is represented in Mary Downing Hahn's Deep and Dark and Dangerous.

Award programs such as the Mark Twain Award, the Newberry Award, the Caldecott Award, etc., are essential to exposing our children to experiences outside their circles of life. They are also vital for authors in terms of getting their work out to a larger audience of readers.

My children and I have enjoyed the 2009-2010 Mark Twain Award Nominees. We are now gearing up for a summer of reading the recently released list of the 2010-2011 nominees. I have included both lists of nominees below. Thank you MASL for another wonderful year of books.

2009-2010 Nominees:

The Story of Jonas by Maurine Dahlberg

Bravo Zulu, Samantha by Kathleen Benner Duble

Garden Of Eve by K.L. Going

Deep and Dark and Dangerous by Mary Downing Hahn

Blown Away by Joan Hiatt Harlow

Gabriel's Horses by Alison Hart

Friendship for Today by Patricia McKissack

The Big One-Oh by Dean Pitchford

Paint the Wind by Pam Munoz Ryan

Night of the Howling Dogs by Graham Salisbury

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

Way Down Deep by Ruth White

This year's winner was Deep and Dark and Dangerous by Mary Downing Hahn.


2010-2011 Nominees:

Seer of Shadows by Avi

The Magic Half by Annie Barrows

Margret and Flynn by Kathleen Duey

Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Go Big or Go Home by Will Hobbs

Stolen Children by Peg Kehret

School Spirit by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel

Safe at Home by Mike Lupica

The Totally Made up Civil War Diary of Amanda MacLeish by Claudia Mills

Bringing the Boy Home by N.A. Nelson

The Leanin' Dog by K.A. Nuzum

The Mysterious Case of the Allbright Academy by Diane Stanley

Happy Reading!!!