In 1975, after finding that many children lose interest in reading books after reaching the intermediate grades, Dr. Helen Constant founded the Massachusetts Children’s Book Award Program. The program is designed for Massachusetts school children in grades 4-6 and is sponsored by Salem State University.
We are very pleased and excited to announce that thanks to a B.E.S.T. organization grant award, this year Gr. 6 students will have the opportunity to be involved in a popular and successful statewide program in which students from Topsfield Public Schools and Middleton Public Schools, their future student peers at Masco Middle School, have been participating in for several years. B.E.S.T. granted $900 from the Harriet Ernst fund. Ms. Ernst was known for her love of children’s literacy and this fund was established in her name accordingly.
The money will be used to purchase multiple copies of the (25) book titles on the MCBA Master List of titles 2019. Each year, a list is compiled from nominations of participating teachers, librarians, and interested publishers. A selection committee works with the nominations and chooses 25 titles to appear on the master list. Criteria for the master list include literary quality, genres variety, representation of diverse cultural groups, and reader appeal. All the books have been published within five years of the award and are available in paperback.
After reading five of the books, students may vote for their favorite in March.
Stayed tuned for the announcement of both the statewide winning book and the books that were voted “best of the list” by our participating Gr. 6 students.
We are excited about the possibilities to expand this program to include students in Grades 4 and 5 in 2020!
Ms. Boulay and Mrs. Kasmarcik
“According to published research, kids and teens who read fiction, as opposed to non-fiction or nothing at all, are better able to understand their own emotions and the emotions of others – a trait known as empathy.
As studies out of Emory University in Atlanta show, fiction helps to trick our brain into thinking we’re a part of the story – meaning kids are able to feel sympathy for the characters, which can extend to how they interact with real people in their own lives. They begin to develop better “feeling words” words, and are better able to relate to their friends and peers.
In other words, books can teach children valuable lessons about considering other people’s feelings, seeing things from a different perspective and being kind and understanding to those who look different than they do.” https://www.choa.org
