The Massachusetts Children's Book Award Program was founded by Dr. Helen Constant in 1975 to encourage children in the fourth, fifth and sixth grades to read great books.
Students are given a “master list” of book titles. Children in grades 4 and 5 are eligible to vote if they have read, or have heard read aloud, at least five of the books from the 2018 Master List.
The author of the winning book receives a plaque to commemorate the award.
The 2018-2019 MCBA winners will be announced on the Salem State University website on April (TBA?) 2019.
MCBA Master List for 2018-2019
- All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook by Leslie Connor
- The Bad Guys (Episode #1) by Aaron Blabey
- A Boy Called Bat by by Elana Arnold
- The Curious World of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly
- The Doldrums by Nicholas Gannon
- Framed: A T.O.A.S.T. Mystery by James Ponti
- Ghost by Jason Reynolds
- Growing Up Pedro: How the Martinez Brothers Made It from the Dominican Republic All the Way to the Major Leagues by Matt Tavares
- A Handful of Stars by Cynthia Lord
- The Inquisitor's Tale: Or, The Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog
- by Adam Gidwitz
- It Ain’t So Awful, Falafel by Firoozeh Dumas
- The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary by Laura Shovan
- Ms. Bixby's Last Day by John David Anderson
- A Night Divided by Jennifer A. Nielsen
- One Last Word by Nikki Grimes
- Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin
- Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo
- Science Comics: Volcanoes: Fire and Life by Jon Chad
- The Terrible Two by Mac Barnett
- Took: A Ghost Story by Mary Downing Hahn
- Towers Falling by Jewell Parker Rhodes
- The Underground Abductor by Nathan Hale
- Waylon! One Awesome Thing by Sara Pennypacker
- What Elephants Know by Eric Dinerstein
- Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk