Massachusetts Children's Book Award Nominees for 2006-2007

Here are summaries of the 25 titles nominated for this year's MCBA, along with Lexiles and links to author sites, when available. Also included are links to several other great sites that offer information about books and authors. Happy reading!

Mayor of Central Park, by Avi (Lexile - 570)
Oscar Westerwit, a squirrel who loves baseball and Broadway musicals, fights back when a gangster rat named Big Daddy Duds and his thugs move uptown in the year 1900, invade Central Park, and evict Oscar and his animal friends from their homes.

The Anybodies, by N. E. Bode (Lexile - 730)
After learning that she is not the biological daughter of boring Mr. and Mrs. Drudger, Fern embarks on magical adventures with her real father and finally finds "a place that feels like home."

Sliding into Home, by Dori Hillestad Butler (Lexile - 580)
When thirteen-year-old Joelle, a star baseball player, moves to a new town where the only option for girls is softball, she starts an all-girl baseball league against the wishes of her school coaches and others in the town.

Al Capone Does My Shirts, by Gennifer Choldenko (Lexile - 600)
A twelve-year-old boy named Moose moves to Alcatraz Island in 1935 when guards' families were housed there, and has to contend with his extraordinary new environment in addition to life with his autistic sister.

Sahara Special, by Esme Raji Codell (Lexile - 660)
Struggling with school and her feelings since her father left, Sahara gets a fresh start with a new and unique teacher who supports her writing talents and the individuality of each of her classmates.

Fire On Ice: Autobiography of a Champion Figure Skater, by Sasha Cohen

Magician's Boy, by Susan Cooper (Lexile - 780)
A boy who works for a magician meets familiar fairy tale characters when he is transported to the Land of Story in search of a missing puppet.

Millions, by Frank Cottrell Boyce
After their mother dies, two brothers find a huge amount of money which they must spend quickly before England switches to the new European currency, but they disagree on what to do with it.

The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread, by Kate DiCamillo (Lexile - 670)
The adventures of Desperaux Tilling, a small mouse of unusual talents, the princess that he loves, the servant girl who longs to be a princess, and a devious rat determined to bring them all to ruin.

The Conch Bearer, by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (Lexile - 790)
In a dingy shack in the less-than-desirable Indian neighborhood he calls home, twelve-year-old Anand is entrusted with a conch shell that possesses mystical powers. His task is to return the shell to its rightful home many hundreds of miles away. Accompanying him are Nisha, a headstrong but resourceful child of the streets, and a mysterious man of indeterminate age and surprising resources named Abadhyatta. His quest will take him farther from home than he's ever been and will teach him more than he ever imagined -- and it will force him to make a poignant decision that will change him forever.

City of Ember, by Jeanne DuPrau (Lexile - 680)
In the year 241, twelve-year-old Lina trades jobs on Assignment Day to be a Messenger to run to new places in her decaying but beloved city, perhaps even to glimpse Unknown Regions.

No Small Thing, by Natale Ghent (Lexile - 780)
In Ontario, Canada, in 1977, twelve-year-old Nat and his sisters find that owning, training, and caring for a pony they acquired for free makes it easier to cope with the poverty they have faced since their father abandoned them.

Mrs. Roopy is Loopy, by Dan Gutman (Lexile - 680)
A.J. and his classmates are convinced that new school librarian, Mrs. Roopy, has multiple personality disorder because she keeps pretending to be famous people.

Among the Betrayed, by Margaret Petersen Haddix (Lexile - 690)
Thirteen-year-old Nina is imprisoned by the Population Police, who give her the option of helping them identify illegal "third-born" children, or face death.

Thunder From the Sea, by Joan Hiatt Harlow (Lexile - 700)
Just when his dreams of being part of a family and having a dog seem to be coming true, Tom wonders if trouble with neighbors on his new island home and the impending birth of a new baby will change everything. Set in Newfoundland in 1929.

Star of Kazan, by Eva Ibbotson (Lexile - 880)
After twelve-year-old Annika, a foundling living in late nineteenth-century Vienna, inherits a trunk of costume jewelry, a woman claiming to be her aristocratic mother arrives and takes her to live in a strangely decrepit mansion in Germany.

Quake! Disaster in San Francisco, 1906, by Gail Langer Karwoski
Tells the story of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake as seen through the eyes of Jacob, a thirteen-year-old Jewish boy who lives in a boarding house with his father and younger sister.

Gifts From the Sea, by Natalie Kinsey-Warnock (Lexile - 900)
Quila and her father, living alone in a remote Maine lighthouse in the 1850s, find their lives profoundly changed when a baby washes ashore and they decide to keep her as part of their family.

Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place, by Elaine Konigsburg
Upon leaving an oppressive summer camp, twelve-year-old Margaret Rose Kane spearheads a campaign to preserve three unique towers her grand uncles have been building in their back yard for over forty years.

Leaping Beauty: and Other Animal Fairy Tales, by Gregory Maguire
The author wreaks havoc on eight classic fairy tales, with a cast of characters including a dancing frog, a gorilla queen, and seven giant giraffes.

Midnight for Charlie Bone, by Jenny Nimmo (Lexile - 630)
Charlie Bone's life with his widowed mother and two grandmothers undergoes a dramatic change when he discovers that he can hear people in photographs talking.

The Young Man and the Sea, by Rodman Philbrick (Lexile - 800)
After his mother's death, twelve-year-old Skiff Beaman decides that it is up to him to earn money to take care of himself and his father, so he undertakes a dangerous trip alone out on the ocean off the coast of Maine to try to catch a bluefin tuna.

The Real Lucky Charm, by Charisse K. Richardson
Thinking that luck--rather than hard work--has helped her succeed on the court and at school, ten-year-old Mia panics and turns to her twin brother for help when her lucky gold basketball goes missing from her charm bracelet.

Becoming Naomi Leon, by Pam Munoz Ryan
When Naomi's absent mother resurfaces to claim her, Naomi runs away to Mexico with her great-grandmother and younger brother in search of her father.

Shredderman: Secret Identity, by Wendelin Van Draanen (Lexile - 520)
Fifth-grader Nolan Byrd, tired of being called names by the class bully, has a secret identity--Shredderman!

Full-Text Resources For Information About Books And Authors

Alex Awards
The Alex Awards are named for Margaret Alexander Edward, who worked for many years as a young adult specialist at Baltimore's Enoch Pratt Library. They are given each year to ten well-written, readable books written for adults, selected from genres that have special appeal to young adults, ages 12 through 18.

Best Books for Young Adults
Best Books for Young Adults include "significant adult and young adult" fiction and nonfiction books selected from the current year's publications and recommended for young adult readers ages 12 through 18.

Biography Resource Center
This outstanding database features biographical information about more than 275,000 people from throughout history, around the world, and all disciplines and subject areas. More than 400,000 biographies are included from 90 highly regarded Gale Group publications. (To access this database, you will need to use your public library barcode.)

The Caldecott Medal Home Page
Named in honor of nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott, the Caldecott Medal has been awarded annually since 1938 to "the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children." This site also features a complete list of all Caldecott Medal winners and honor books from 1938 to the present.

Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site
Hurst's rich site features book reviews listed by title, author and grade level, literature tie-ins to all areas of the language arts, math, U.S. and world history curricula, and suggested titles for all sorts of themes in children's literature, as well as wonderful profiles of children's and young adult authors.

The Children's Literature Web Guide
Visit this helpful site for information about authors, titles, award-winning books, resources for readers, children's literature online discussion groups, and much more.

Coretta Scott King Award
This award is presented annually to "authors and illustrators of African descent whose distinguished books promote an understanding and appreciation of the "American Dream."

Guys Read
This "web-based literacy program", created by author Jon Scieszka to help boys find books they will enjoy, features a searchable (readers can search by author, title, or subject in which they are interested) database of titles for "young guys", "middle guys", and "older guys", as well as links to many author web sites.

Margaret A. Edwards Award
The Margaret A. Edwards Award was established in 1988, and honors an author's lifetime achievement for his or her body of work, and its collective popularity over time.

New York Public Library: Teenlink
Look for the "New! On the Shelf" link on this page for suggestions on great new books to read. (This page is loaded with links to other terrific resources, too.)

The Newbery Medal Home Page
Named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery, the Newbery Medal is awarded annually by the American Library Association's Association for Library Services to Children to the author of "the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children."

NoveList
NoveList is an outstanding resource through which readers can learn about books and authors. This searchable database includes information, including descriptions, suggested reading levels, reviews from high quality magazines and journals, and links to related full-text articles and web sites, about picture books, children's chapter books, young adult novels, and books for adult readers. NoveList is updated monthly, and adds about 10,000 new fiction records, along with descriptions, reviews and other information, to the database each year.

The Printz Award
The Michael L. Printz award honors a work of fiction, nonfiction, poetry or an anthology that "exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature."

Reading Rants! Out of the Ordinary Teen Booklists!
Visit this site, created for teens, to find a terrific collection of booklists organized by subject. Examples of reading lists currently available include: "Boy Meets Book"; "Coolest Classics"; "Fanging Around: Teen Vampire Fiction with Byte"; "Historical Fiction for Hipsters: Stories from the Past That Won't Make You Snore"; "Short Cuts: Short Story Collections You Might Actually Want to Read"; and "Word UP! Poetry Both by and for Teenagers."

The Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction
The Scott O'Dell Award for Historicl Fiction is given "to a meritorious book published in the previous year for children or young adults." O'Dell established the annual award of $5,000.00 to encourage other writers to focus on historical fiction.