The Mark Twain Readers Award
Missouri students in grades 4-6 who read at least 4 nominees qualify to vote. The author of the
book that receives the most votes statewide is awarded the Mark Twain Readers Award.
2013-2014 Mark Twain Award Nominees
Close to Famous by Joan Bauer
Twelve-year-old Foster McFee and her mother escape from her
mother's abusive boyfriend and end up in the small town of
Culpepper, West Virginia, where they use their strengths and
challenge themselves to build a new life, with the help of the
friends they make there.
Wonderstruck : a novel in words and pictures by
Brian Selznick
Having lost his mother and his hearing in a short time, twelveyear-old Ben leaves his Minnesota home in 1977 to seek the father
he never knew in New York City, and meets there Rose, who is
also longing for something missing from her life. Ben's story is told
in words; Rose's in pictures.
In Front of God and Everybody by K.D. McCrite
In the summer of 1986, eleven-year-old April Grace, who lives on
a rural Arkansas farm with her family, across a field from her
grandmother, has her sense of Christian charity tested when a
snooty couple from San Francisco moves into a dilapidated house
down the road and her grandmother takes up with a loud,
obnoxious, and suspicious-acting Texan.
The Underdogs by Mike Lupica
Small but fast twelve-year-old Will Tyler, an avid football player in
the down-and-out town of Forbes, Pennsylvania, takes matters
into his own hands to try and finance the city's football team,
giving the whole community hope in the process.
Missing on Superstition Mountain by Elise Broach
When brothers Simon, Henry, and Jack move with their parents to
Arizona, they are irresistably drawn to explore the aptly named
Superstition Mountain, in spite of warnings that it is not safe.
Will at the Battle of Gettysburg by Laurie Calkhoven
In 1863, twelve-year-old Will, who longs to be a drummer in the
Union army, is stuck in his sleepy hometown of Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania, but when the Union and Confederate armies meet
right there in his town, he and his family are caught up in the
fight. Includes historical notes, glossary, and a timeline of events.
Barn Boot Blues by Catherine Friend
When her parents swap urban life in Minneapolis for rural life on a
farm 100 miles away, twelve-year-old Taylor feels as if she is
living on another planet.
13 Gifts by Wendy Mass
Shortly before her thirteenth birthday, shy and withdrawn Tara is
sent to stay with her aunt, uncle, and cousin in her parents'
hometown of Willow Falls, where she makes friends and becomes
involved with an elderly buyer and seller of collectibles, who seems
to be trying to give Tara some kind of mysterious message.
The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann
In a society that purges thirteen-year-olds who are creative,
identical twins Aaron and Alex are separated, one to attend
University while the other, supposedly Eliminated, finds himself in
a wondrous place where youths hone their abilities and learn
magic.
Sparrow Road by Sheila O'Connor
Twelve-year-old Raine spends the summer at a mysterious artists
colony and discovers a secret about her past.
Pie by Sarah Weeks
After the death of Polly Portman, whose award-winning pies put
the town of Ipswitch, Pennsylvania, on the map in the 1950s, her
devoted niece Alice and Alice's friend Charlie investigate who is
going to extremes to find Aunt Polly's secret pie crust recipe.
Includes fourteen pie recipes.
Hidden by Helen Frost
Years after Darra Monson's father stole a minivan with Wren Abbott
hiding in the back, the girls come face to face at summer camp and
together they try to work through what happened to them and the
impact it had on their lives.
Past Mark Twain Award Winners
2013 - Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper
Considered by many to be mentally retarded, a brilliant, impatient
fifth-grader with cerebral palsy discovers a technological device
that will allow her to speak for the first time.
2012 - Runaway Twin by Peg Kehret
Thirteen-year-old Sunny, accompanied by a stray dog, takes
advantage of a windfall to travel from her Nebraska foster home to
Enumclaw, Washington, to find the twin sister from whom she was
separated at age three.
2011 - Stolen Children by Peg Kehret
Fourteen-year-old Amy's excitement over her first babysitting job
ends when she and her three-year-old charge are kidnapped, but a
daily videorecording sent to little Kendra's parents allows Amy to
send clues, in hopes of being rescued before the kidnappers decide
they no longer need her.