Maryland Blue Crab Young Reader Award
About the Award
The Maryland Blue Crab Young Reader Award is a literature award created to recognize high quality books for beginning and transitional readers in kindergarten through fourth grade. It is granted annually by the Maryland Library Association Children's Services Division (CSD). The Children's Services Division initiated the award in 2004 as a means of identifying and promoting the best fiction and nonfiction books for beginning readers.
The further intention in granting the Award is to provide teachers, librarians, and caregivers with a resource list of excellent books for beginning readers, and to encourage publishers, authors and illustrators to create high quality, interesting and beautiful books that will entice young readers.
The Award is decided by a committee made up of public librarians and school media specialists who examine qualifying literature published within the calendar year. The committee considers criteria such as legibility, vocabulary, visual and literary appeal, support matter (i.e. glossaries or pronunciation keys) and appropriateness to the needs of beginning readers.
The committee selects one title each to receive the award in each of the following categories:
- Beginning Fiction
- Beginning Nonfiction
- Transitional Fiction
- Transitional Nonfiction
In addition, the committee generates an honor list of approximately 3-4 titles for each reading level the award covers. Books that the committee feels are especially appropriate for reluctant older readers are indicated.
Anyone working in a Maryland public library, and members of the Maryland Library Association (MLA), the Maryland Association of School Librarians (MASL) or the Maryland State Education Association (MSEA) may nominate titles for the award. Eligibility guidelines and nomination forms are listed on the Blue Crab page of the Maryland Library Association website.
Winners are announced with at the annual CSD “mini-conference,” Kids Are Customers, Too, held in a central Maryland county every October. The committee often invites a winner author to speak at the Maryland Library Association Conference in the spring of the following year.
Blue Crab Book Award Winners
| Year | Beginning Fiction | Beginning Nonfiction | Transitional Fiction | Transitional Nonfiction | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 |
Good Dog, Aggie |
My People by Langston Hughes and Charles R. Smith, Jr. |
How Oliver Olson Changed the World by Claudia Mills |
Never Smile at a Monkey: and 17 Other Important Things to Remember written and illustrated by Steve Jenkins
| |
| 2009 | Annie and Simon by Catharine O'Neill |
Wolfsnail: A Backyard Predator by Sarah C. Campbell |
Keena Ford and the Second-Grade Mix-Up by Melissa Thomson |
Our Three Bears by Ron Hirschi | |
| 2008 | My Friend is Sad by Mo Willems |
Best Friends: The True Story of Owen and Mzee by Roberta Edwards |
Abracadabra! Magic with Mouse and Mole by Wong Herbert Yee |
Who Likes the Rain? by Etta Kaner
| |
| 2007 | Dirk Bones And The Mystery of The Haunted House by Doug Cushman |
Emperor Penguins by Patricia Trattles |
Pirate Mom by Deborah Underwood |
Time for Kids: Butterflies! by David Bjerklie
| |
| 2006 | Hi! Fly Guy! by Tedd Arnold |
Chameleon, Chameleon by Joy Cowley |
The Next-Door Dogs by Colby Rodowsky |
Turtle Tide: The Way of Sea Turtles by Stephen Swinburne | |
| 2005 | Baa-Choo! by Sarah Weeks |
Platypus! by Ginjer Clarke |
Down Girl and Sit: Smarter than Squirrels by Lucy Nolan |
Choppers! by Susan E.Goodman and Michael Doolittle | |
| 2004 | See Pip Point by David Milgrim |
Hunting Sharks by Kristin Nelson |
Stuart Goes to School |
Gretchen the Bicycle Dog by Anita Heyman |