The Mark Twain Award

2009 - 2010 Award Nominees

2008 - 2009 Award Nominees

Each year, Missouri schoolchildren in grades 4-8 vote for their favorite book from a list of nominated titles. The Mark Twain Award is awarded to the author of this book by the Missouri Association of School Librarians.

2009 Mark Twain Award Winner
	The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
	Demi-god Percy Jackson and his friends must journey into the Sea of Monsters to save their camp. But first Percy will discover a secret that makes him wonder whether being claimed as Poseidon's son is an honor or a cruel joke.

2009 - 2010 Mark Twain Award Nominees
	The Story of Jonas by Maureen F. Wahlberg
	In the mid-1800s, a slave boy dreams of escaping to freedom while on a journey from Missouri to the gold fields of Kansas Territory with his master's n'er-do-well son.

	Bravo Zulu, Samantha! by Kathleen Benner Duble
	Twelve-year-old Samantha likes to memorize fun and weird facts. She's constantly spouting quotes from her fact books, such as the size of the largest bubble-gum bubble blown through the nose or how jelly gets into a donut. But Sam does not like the fact that she has to spend a month of her summer vacation at her grandparents' place while her parents are away! It's obvious her grandfather, the Colonel is hiding a big secret, and Sam is eager to solve the mystery. Reluctantly, she accepts help from Billy Burnham, a classmate she can't decide if she likes or hates. Together, they discover the Colonel's secret. Will Sam let the cat out of the bag and ruin her grandfather's plans? Or will her grandfather relent and let his granddaughter help him finish what he's started?

	Garden of Eve by K.L. Going
	Eve gave up her belief in stories and magic after her mother's death, but a mysterious seed given her as an eleventh-birthday gift by someone she has never met takes her and a boy who claims to be a ghost on a strange journey, to where their supposedly cursed town of Beaumont, New York, flourishes.

	Deep and Dark and Dangerous by Mary Downing Hahn
	When thirteen-year-old Ali spends the summer with her aunt and cousin at the family's vacation home, she stumbles upon a secret that her mother and aunt have been hiding for over thirty years.

	Blown Away! by Joan Hiatt Harlow
	In 1935 on the Florida Key of Matacumbe, thirteen-year-old Jake makes new friends during an idyllic summer, only to have everything change when a hurricane threatens the island.

	Gabriel's Horses by Alison Hart
	In Kentucky, during the Civil War, the twelve-year-old slave Gabriel, contends with a cruel new horse trainer and skirmishes with Confederate soldiers as he pursues his dream of becoming a jockey.

	Friendship for Today by Patricia McKissack
	In 1954, when desegregation comes to Kirkland, Missouri, ten-year-old Rosemary faces many changes and challenges at school and at home as her parents separate.

	The Big One-Oh by Dean Pitchford
	Determined not to be weird all his life like his neighbor, Charley Maplewood decides to throw himself a tenth birthday party, complete with a "house of horrors" theme, but first he will have to make some friends to invite.

	Paint the Wind by Pam Munoz Ryan
	After her overprotective grandmother has a stroke, Maya, an orphan, leaves her extremely restricted life in California to stay with her mother's family on a remote Wyoming ranch, where she discovers a love of horses and encounters a wild mare that her mother once rode.

	Night of the Howling Dogs by Graham Salisbury
	In 1975, eleven Boy Scouts, their leaders, and some new friends camping at Halape, Hawaii, find their survival skills put to the test when a massive earthquake strikes, followed by a tsunami.

	Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
	When twelve-year-old Hugo, an orphan living and repairing clocks within the walls of a Paris train station in 1931, meets a mysterious toyseller and his goddaughter, his undercover life and his biggest secret are jeopardized.

	Way Down Deep by Ruth White
	In the West Virginia town of Way Down Deep in the 1950s, a foundling called Ruby June is happily living with Miss Arbutus at the local boarding house when suddenly, after the arrival of a family of outsiders, the mystery of Ruby's past begins to unravel.
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Past Mark Twain Award Winners
2008 - The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson learns he is a demigod, the son of a mortal woman and Poseidon, god of the sea. His mother sends him to a summer camp for demigods where he and his new friends set out on a quest to prevent a war between the gods.

2007 - Abduction! by Peg Kehret
Thirteen-year-old Bonnie has a feeling of foreboding on the very day that her six-year-old brother Matt and their dog Pookie are abducted, and she becomes involved in a major search effort as well as a frightening adventure.

2006 - The City of Ember by Jeanne Duprau
In the year 241, twelve-year-old Lina trades jobs on Assignment Day to be a Messenger to run to new places in her decaying but beloved city, perhaps even to glimpse Unknown Regions.

2005 - Wenny Has Wings by Janet Lee Carey
Having had a near-death experience in the accident that killed his younger sister, eleven-year-old Will tries to cope with the situation by writing her letters.

2004 - Zach's Lie by Roland Smith
When Jack Osborne is befriended by his school's custodian and a Basque girl, he begins to adjust to his family's sudden move to Elko, Nevada, after entering the Witness Security Program, but the drug cartel against which his father will testify is determined to track them down.

2003 - Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
Ten-year-old India Opal Buloni describes her first summer in the town of Naomi, Florida, and all the good things that happen to her because of her big ugly dog Winn-Dixie.

2002 - Dork in Disguise by Carol Gorman
Starting middle school in a new town, brainy Jerry Flack changes his image from “dork” to “cool kid,” only to discover that he’d rather be himself.

2001 - Holes by Louis Sachar
As further evidence of his family’s bad fortune which they attribute to a curse on a distant relative, Stanley Yelnats is sent to a hellish correctional camp in the Texas desert where he finds his first real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of himself.

2000 - Saving Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Sixth-grader Marty and his family try to help their rough neighbor, Judd Travers, change his mean ways, even though their West Virginia community continues to expect the worst of him.

1999 - Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio by Peg Kehret
The author describes her battle against polio when she was thirteen and her efforts to overcome its debilitating effects.

1998 - Titanic Crossing by Barbara Williams
In 1912, thirteen-year-old Albert considers his younger sister a pest, but things change when they travel with their mother and uncle aboard the Titanic and are caught up in its tragic sinking.

1997 - A Time For Andrew by Mary Downing Hahn
When he goes to spend the summer with his great-aunt in the family’s old house, eleven-year-old Drew is drawn eighty years into the past to trade places with his great-great-uncle who is dying of diphtheria.

1996 - The Ghosts of Mercy Manor by Betty Ren Wright
Twelve-year-old Gwen, an orphan who comes to live with the Mercy family, discovers that the house is haunted by the ghost of a sad-looking young girl and is determined to solve the mystery behind her appearances.

1995 - The Man Who Loved Clowns by June Rae Wood
Thirteen-year-old Delrita, whose unhappy life has caused her to hide from the world, loves her uncle Punky but sometimes feels ashamed of his behavior because he has Down’s syndrome.

1994 - Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
When he finds a lost beagle in the hills behind his West Virginia home, Marty tries to hide it from his family and the dog’s real owner, a mean-spirited man known to shoot deer out of season and to mistreat his dogs.

1993 - Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
After his parents die, Jeffrey Lionel Magee’s life becomes legendary, as he accomplishes athletic and other feats which awe his contemporaries.

1992 - The Doll in the Garden by Mary Downing Hahn
Ater Ashley and Kristi find an antique doll buried in old Miss Cooper’s garden, they discover that they can enter a ghostly turn-of-the-century world by going through a hole in the hedge.

1991 - All About Sam by Lois Lowry
The adventures of Sam, Anastasia Krupnik’s younger brother, from his first day as a newborn through his mischievous times as a toddler.

1990 - There's a Boy in the Girls’ Bathroom by Lewis Sachar
An unmanageable, but lovable, eleven-year-old misfit learns to believe in himself when he gets to know the new school counselor, who is a sort of misfit too.

1989 - Sixth-Grade Sleepover by Eve Bunting
Janey worries that the sixth grade Rabbit Reading Club’s all-night sleepover will expose her fear of the dark, but it turns out that she is not the only member with a secret.

1988 - Baby-sitting is a Dangerous Job by Willo Davis Roberts
A baby sitter and her three willful charges make a formidable team to outwit their surprised kidnappers.

1987 - The War With Grandpa by Robert K. Smith
Upset that he has to give up the room he loves to his grandfather, Pete decides to declare war in an attempt to get it back.

1986 - The Dollhouse Murders by Betty Ren Wright
A dollhouse filled with a ghostly light in the middle of the night and dolls that have moved from where she last left them lead Amy and her retarded sister to unravel the mystery surrounding grisly murders that took place years ago.

1985 - A Bundle of Sticks by Pat Rhoads Mauser
At the mercy of the class bully, a fifth grader is sent to a martial arts school where he learns techniques to defend himself as well as a philosophy that allows him not to fight.

1984 - Secret Life of the Underwear Champ by Betty Miles
Ten-year-old Larry is “discovered” on the street and asked to appear in a television commercial. Only later does he find out what he is advertising.

1983 - The Girl With the Silver Eyes by Willo Davis Roberts
A 10-year-old girl, who has always looked different from other children, discovers that she not only has unusual powers but that there are others like her.

1982 - The Boy Who Saw Bigfoot by Marian T. Place
A ten-year-old boy, placed once again with new foster parents, becomes involved in a search for Bigfoot.

1981 - Soup for President by Robert Newton Peck
Rob manages Soup’s campaign for class president in their small Vermont town.

1980 - The Pinballs by Betsy Byars
Three lonely foster children learn to care about themselves and each other.

1979 - The Champion of Merrimack County by Roger Drury
The discovery of a bike-riding mouse in the bathtub is just the beginning of a series of humorous communications for the Berryfield family.

1978 - Ramona the Brave by Beverly Cleary
Six-year-old Ramona tries to cope with an unsympathetic first-grade teacher.

1977 - The Ghost on Saturday Night by Sid Fleischman
A thick tule fog and a ghost-raising lead to more excitement and reward than Opie had counted on.

1976 - The Home Run Trick by Scott Corbett
The Panthers try desperately to convincingly lose a baseball game when they find out the winners must play a girls’ team.

1975 - How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
Two boys set out to prove that worms can make a delicious meal.

1974 - It’s a Mile From Here to Glory by Robert C. Lee
A shy undersized sixteen-year-old finds himself suddenly popular when he becomes star of the track team.

1973 - Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien
Having no one to help her with her problems, a widowed mouse visits the rats whose former imprisonment in a laboratory made them wise and long lived.

1972 - Sounder by William H. Armstrong
Angry and humiliated when his sharecropper father is jailed for stealing food for his family, a young black boy grows in courage and understanding by learning to read and with the help of the devoted dog Sounder.
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