Each year students across New Hampshire, in fourth through sixth grade, vote for the winner of The Great Stone Face Book Award. 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 encourage children to value the importance of recreational reading and to promote a life-long love of reading."
Nomination Criteria
- Only titles published within 3 years of the current school year are eligible
- Titles shall be appropriate for grades 4 to 6
- An author may be a resident of any country
- More than one title by the same author can be nominated
- A title in a series must stand alone
- Newbery Award and other award winners can be nominated for the list
- Non-fiction titles (informational, biographical, and poetry) can be nominated
- A title originally published outside of the United States can be nominated based on its US publication date
Selection Criteria
The GSF Committee prepares a list of twenty-five (25) books that represents the diverse reading abilities and interests of children in grades 4 to 6 for their recreational reading. The final list of books is presented at the Great Stone Face Tea program that is held during the annual New Hampshire Library Association (NHLA) conference.
The two major criteria used are:
- Child appeal (i.e., will the child be interested in reading the book, and would the child find the book satisfying)
- Quality of writing (i.e., has the author written a story that has a well-developed plot, interesting characters, and a good theme or concept)
The 2012-2013 Great Stone Face Book Award nominees
- 'Benjamin Franklinstein Lives' by Matthew McElligott
- 'Bigger Than a Breadbox' by Laurel Snyder
- 'Cheesie Mack Is Not a Genius or Anything' by Steve Cotler
- 'Dragon Castle' by Joseph Bruchac
- 'Flyaway' by Lucy Christopher
- 'Hothead' by Cal Ripken
- 'Liesl and Po' by Lauren Oliver
- 'Me and Jack' by Danielle Haworth
- 'The One and Only Ivan' by Katherine Applegate
- 'Peter Nimble and his Fantastic Eyes' by Jonathan Auxier
- 'Pie' by Sarah Weeks
- 'Saving Armpit' by Natalie Hyde
- 'The Silver Bowl' by Diane Stanley
- 'Small as an Elephant' by Jennifer Jacobsen
- 'Take Me to the River' by Will Hobbs
- 'Tuesdays at the Castle' by Jessica Day George
- 'The Unwanteds' by Lisa McMann
- 'Wereworld: Rise of the Wolf' by Curtis Jobling
- 'Wild Life' by Cynthia DeFelice
- 'Wild Wings' by Gill Lewis
- 'With a Name Like Love' by Tess Hilmo
- 'Wolf Storm' by Dee Garretson
- 'Wonder' by R.J. Palacio
- 'Wonderstruck' by Brian Selznick
- 'Zita the Spacegirl' by Ben Hatke
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