Charlie May Simon Book Award

2013 Nominees

Charlie May Simon 1897-1977 The first prominent

children’s book author from Arkansas.

Wrote almost 30 books in her lifetime.

Married to another writer.The two lived in a home

overlooking the Arkansas River in Little Rock.

An award was created in her name in 1971 and is given to an outstanding book chosen by Arkansas students in grades 4-6.

2012 Charlie May Simon Winner and Honor Book

ZOOBREAK by Gordon Korman

MUDSHARK by Gary Paulsen

A Nest for Celeste

by Henry ColeBeneath the crackled and faded painting of a horse, underneath the worn and dusty floorboards of the dining room, lives Celeste, a mouse who spends her days weaving baskets, until one day she is thrust into the world above. Here Celeste encounters danger—and love—unlike any she's ever imagined. She dodges a hungry cat and witnesses the brutality of hunting for the first time. She makes friends but all the while, Celeste is looking for a new home. In the end, Celeste discovers that home is really the place deep inside her heart, where friendships live.

Crunchby Leslie ConnorMom and Dad take their annual anniversary drive up the New England coast for a week, and this year, they let 18-year-old Lil and 14-year-old Dewey hold down the fort while they're gone. The national fuel shortage hits crunch level, and there is no gasoline to be had. With their parents stranded near the Canadian border, Dewey and his younger brother, Vince, keep their dad's bicycle-repair shop running. It is only when things reach the breaking point that they all come to realize that there is no shame in trusting in others.

Mockingbirdby Kathryn Erskine

In Caitlin’s world, everything is black or white. Things are good or bad. Anything in between is confusing. That’s the stuff Caitlin’s older brother, Devon, has always explained. But now Devon’s dead, and Dad is no help at all. Caitlin wants to get over it, but she doesn’t know how. When she reads the definition of closure, she realizes that is what she needs. In her search for it, Caitlin discovers that not everything is black and white—the world is full of colors—messy and beautiful.

Theodore Boone, Kid Lawyerby John Grisham

A perfect murder … A faceless witness

In the small city of Strattenburg, there are many lawyers, and though he’s

only 13 years old, Theo Boone thinks he’s one of them. He dreams of being

a great trial lawyer, but Theo finds himself in court much sooner than

expected. Because he knows so much—maybe too much—he is suddenly

dragged into the middle of a sensational murder trial. A cold-

blooded killer is about to go free, and only Theo knows the truth. The stakes

are high, but Theo won’t stop until justice is served.

Turtle in Paradiseby Jennifer Holm

Life isn't like the movies, and 11-year-old Turtle is no Shirley Temple. She's smart and tough and has seen enough of the world not to expect a Hollywood ending. After all, it's 1935 and money and sometimes even dreams are scarce. So when Turtle's mother gets a job housekeeping for a lady who doesn't like kids, Turtle says goodbye and heads off to Florida to live with relatives. Florida's like nothing Turtle's ever seen before though. It's full of rag-tag boy cousins, family secrets to unravel . . . and even a little bit of fun.

The Reinvention of Edison Thomas

by Jacqueline Houtman Science geek Eddy Thomas can invent

useful devices to do anything, except solve his bully problem. Eddy can read a college physics book, but he can’t read the emotions on the faces of his classmates. He can spend hours tinkering with an invention, but he can't stand more than a few minutes in a noisy crowd… like the crowd at the science fair, which Eddy fails to win. When the local school crossing guard is laid off, Eddy is haunted by thoughts of the potentially disastrous consequences and invents a traffic-calming device, using parts he has scavenged from discarded machines. Eddy also discovers new friends, who appreciate his abilities and respect his unique view of the world.

Touch Blueby Cynthia Lord

The state of Maine plans to shut down her island's schoolhouse, which would force Tess's family to move to the mainland--and Tess to leave the only home she has ever known. Fortunately, the islanders have a plan too: increase the numbers of students by having several families take in foster children. So now Tess and her family are taking a chance on Aaron, a thirteen-year-old trumpet player who has been bounced from home to home. And Tess needs a plan of her own--and all the luck she can muster. Will Tess's wish come true or will her luck run out?

The Sixty-Eight Roomsby Marianne Malone

Almost everybody who has grown up in Chicago knows about the Thorne Rooms. Housed in the Children’s Galleries of the Chicago Art Institute, they are a collection of 68 exquisitely crafted miniature rooms made in the 1930s by Mrs. James Ward Thorne. Each of the 68 rooms is designed in the style of a different historic period, and every detail is perfect, from the knobs on the doors to the candles in the candlesticks. Some might even say, the rooms are magic. Imagine—what if you discovered a key that allowed you to shrink so that you were small enough to sneak inside and explore the rooms’ secrets? What if you discovered that others had done so before you? And that someone had left something important behind?

The Dreamer by Pam Munoz Ryan From the time he is a young

boy, Neftali hears the call of a mysterious voice. He knows he must follow it--even when the neighborhood children taunt him, and when his harsh, authoritarian father ridicules him, and when he doubts himself. It leads him under the canopy of the lush rain forest, into the fearsome sea, and through the persistent Chilean rain, until finally, he discovers its source.

What Happened on Fox Street

by Tricia Springstubb Mo Wren loves the house on Fox Street

that she shares with her father and younger sister. Everyone in this blue-collar neighborhood in Cleveland, OH, looks out for one another and the street also holds all of Mo's memories of her deceased mother. When life takes some unanticipated turns, the world as Mo knows it is threatened. A shady developer offers her father a lucrative deal on the house, giving hope to his dreams of moving away from the painful past. Mo worries she will never see her best friend, Mercedes, again. Add to that the spooky lady next door…who keeps asking her to deliver mysterious gifts to Mercedes. This is turning into one eventful summer.

As Simple As It Seemsby Sarah Weeks

Trouble from the get-go. How could she not be, with parents like hers? Her mother drank when pregnant, leaving Verbie to struggle with the effects of fetal alcohol syndrome. And her father was just plain mean and is in prison. Verbie’s 5th grade year is awful, and she wishes she could be somebody else… anybody else.Enter Pooch, a boy visiting for the summer. When Pooch and his mom rent the house next door, Verbie takes the opportunity to be someone else entirely. And what starts out as a game, leads Verbie into a surprising and heartwarming journey to finding out who she really is.

One Crazy Summerby Rita Williams-Garcia

It is 1968, and Delphine and her three sisters from Brooklyn have been put on a plane by their father to spend a month with their mother, a poet who ran off years ago. Delphine, 11, remembers her mother, but for years she has heard what her grandmother has said about her… that Cecile is a selfish, crazy woman who sleeps on the street. At least Cecile lives in a real house, but she reacts to her daughters' arrival without warmth or even curiosity. Instead, she sends the girls to eat breakfast at a center run by the Black Panther Party and tells them to stay out as long as they can so that she can work on her poetry. Over the next four weeks, Delphine and her sisters spend a lot of time learning about revolution and staying out of their mother's way.

Candy Bomberby Michael Tunnell

The time was 1948, and the Soviet Union had closed all land access to West Berlin, Germany in an attempt to starve the people into accepting the Communist rule. After a C-54 cargo pilot, Lt. Gail S. Halvorsen, shared the only two sticks of gum he had with a group of about 30 children, Halvorsen and his buddies decide to start a candy-dropping operation that eventually became a USAF-sanctioned operation. As they continued to airlift food and fuel for almost two years, they also dropped tons of candy (using tiny parachutes) to the children who waited in the flight path below.

How to Vote:Read OR listen to at least 3 of the books and

you will be eligible to vote for the Charlie May Simon Award.

Vote in the school library or with your reading teacher by April 10, 2013.