Massachusetts Children's Book Award
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The Massachusetts Children's Book Award was established as a program to encourage children to read great books. The children themselves vote for the book they think deserves to be named the book of the year.
The award was started in 1975 by Dr. Helen Constant. The award program was developed because children in intermediate grades seemed to lose interest in reading after learning how to read. The award is sponsored by Salem State College in Salem, Massachusetts.
Each year, participating teachers, librarians, and publishers nominate titles for the program. A selection committee chooses 25 titles to appear on the Master List. Criteria for the Master List include literary quality, variety of genres, representation of diverse cultural groups, and reader appeal. Fourth, fifth and sixth graders who have read five books from the Master List vote for their favorite book. The author of the winning book receives a plaque to commemorate the award.
