Maine Student Book Awards

Maine Student Book Award logo  While we are still on the topic of voting, let me introduce the Maine Student Book Award!  Each year Maine students in 4th – 8th grade have the opportunity to participate in a state-wide vote for their favorite book published in the previous year.  A list of 41 popular titles is compiled by the MSBA committee in the spring, and participants are encouraged to read and review as many as possible until the ballots are collected the following year.  Dyer, Kaler and Small schools each own about 15 of the titles, but the books are rarely on the shelves!  So in order to properly introduce them, I have created PowerPoint slideshows of the books at each school.  The slides include summaries that have been copied from the MSBA 2008-2009 Reading List, as well as cover art images from the Follett Library Resources website.

Click on the appropriate file below to see the Maine Student Book Award titles available at your school.

Dyer-MSBA-Titles   

Kaler-MSBA-Titles                                              

Small-MSBA-Titles

 If you would like to know more about any of the titles on the 2008-2009 MSBA Reading List, including genres, summaries, and student reviews, visit the Maine Student Book Award website.  Happy reading!

Election Results

Thank you to everyone who participated in our Vote for Books election. The votes are in, and to all of our amazement, The Giant of Seville by Dan Andreasen won in all three schools!  At Dyer 82 of the 231 votes collected were for The Giant of Seville; at Kaler, 84 of the 222 votes; and at Small 93 of the 284 votes.

 

According to some of the students, this biography was popular because “the guy was so tall” and the townspeople were so kind to him.  Students who enjoy learning fun facts were fascinated by the photograph of the real-life giant, Martin Van Buren Bates, and his wife, both standing at nearly 8 feet tall.  Other students thought the exaggerated descriptions were funny, and the events were exciting.  While we enjoyed each book candidate, this book was definitely our favorite!