The Great Stone Face Book Award
The Great Stone Face Book Award is given annually to an author whose book receives the most votes from 4th through 6th graders throughout the state. The children vote for their favorite book from a list of 25 recently-published titles that are chosen by the Great Stone Face (GSF) Committee. The voting takes place every April during National Library Week, and the winner is announced in May. The purpose of the award is to promote reading enjoyment, to increase awareness of contemporary writing, and to allow children to honor their favorite authors.
For more information, the mission statement and selection criteria are available, and you can learn more about the GSF Committee if you are interested in joining.
A thank-you letter from Avi—
Avi, winner of the 2011 Great Stone Face Award for Murder at Midnight, sent a very kind letter of thanks to the committee and to the children of New Hampshire:
Murder at Midnight is the story of Fabrizio, an orphaned, street-smart servant boy who lives in Renaissance Italy, where everyone except his master, Mangus the Magician, is busy plotting to attain power. Mangus knows that people are awed and frightened by his skill as an illusionist, but Frabrizio, who doesn't understand the difference between magic and sleight of hand, gets his master arrested when he answers, “Oh yes, my master performs magic!” It takes a printer s devil, Maria, the newly invented printing press, a casket with a secret compartment, and Fabrizio’s street-smarts to save his master and find out who really is plotting against the king.
Murder at Midnight received 397 out of the 4,632 votes that were submitted. A full list of the voting results is available, as well as a list of all the past winners.
2011-2012 Nominees
- The Adventures of Nanny Piggins by R. A. Spratt
- After All, You're Callie Boone by Winnie Mack
- Big Nate in a Class by Himself by Lincoln Peirce
- Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce
- The Crowfield Curse by Pat Walsh
- Dream of Night by Heather Henson
- Emily's Fortune by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
- The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester by Barbara O'Connor
- The Fast and the Furriest by Andy Behrens
- Frozen in Time by Ali Sparkes
- Ghost Dog Secrets by Peg Kehret
- Guinea Dog by Patrick Jennings
- Hide and Seek by Katy Grant
- Magic below Stairs by Caroline Stevermer
- Masters of Disaster by Gary Paulsen
- Musuem of Thieves by Lian Tanner
- On the Blue Comet by Rosemary Wells/li>
- Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper
- Saving Sky by Diane Stanely
- Saving Zasha by Randi Barrow
- The Shadows by Jacqueline West
- The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger
- Sugar and Ice by Kate Messner
- A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz
- We the Children by Andrew Clements