2020-2021 MASL Readers Awards Preliminary Nominees
The preliminary nominees for MASL’s 2020-2021 Readers Awards are listed below.
Congratulations to all authors, illustrators and publishers!
These titles will be narrowed into a Final List of nominees that will be released in January 2020.
The Final List will then be voted upon by students in March of 2021; the recipients of the awards will be announced at the 2021 MASL Spring Conference.
Gateway (Grades 9-12)
| Title | Author | Publisher |
| A Blade So Black | L. L. McKinney | Imprint Make Your Mark |
| A Heart in a Body in the World | Deb Caletti | Simon Pulse |
| After The Shot Drops | Randy Ribay | Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |
| Between The Lines | Nikki Grimes, | Penguin Random House |
| Broken Beautiful Hearts | Kami Garcia | Imprint Make Your Mark |
| Camp Valor | Scott McEwen and Hof Williams | St. Martin’s Press |
| Dread Nation | Justina Ireland | Balzer + Bray |
| Dry | Neal Shusterman & Jarrod Shusterman | Simon & Schuster |
| Flight Season | Marie Marquart | Wednesday Books |
| Here To Stay | Sara Farizan | Algonquin Young Readers |
| Hey, Kiddo | Jarrett Krosoczka | Graphix |
| Little White Lies | Jennifer Lynn Barnes | Freeform |
| Love Songs And Other Lies | Jessica Pennington | TOR Teen |
| Monday’s Not Coming | Tiffany Jackson | Katherine Tegen Books |
| My Whole Truth | Mischa Thrace | Flux |
| Neanderthal Opens The Door To The Universe | Preston Norton | Hyperion |
| Seafire | Natalie C. Parker | Razorbill |
| Someone I Used to Know | Patty Blount | Sourcebooks Fire |
| That Night | Amy Giles | HarperTeen |
| The Book Of Essie | Meghan MacLean Weir | Alfred A. Knopf |
| The Cruel Prince | Holly Black | Little Brown Books |
| The Poet X | Elizabeth Acevedo | HarperTeen |
| The Price Of Duty | Todd Strasser | Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers |
| The Unfortunates | Kim Liggett | Tor Teen |
| We’ll Fly Away | Bryan Bliss | Greenwillow Books |
Truman (Grades 6-8)
| Title | Author | Publisher |
| City of Ghosts | Victoria Schwab | Scholastic, Inc. |
| Deep Water | Watt Key | FSG Books for Young Readers |
| Drum Roll, Please | Lisa Jenn Bigelow | HarperCollins |
| Fire & Heist | Sarah Beth Durst | Random House Children’s Books |
| Game Changer | Tommy Greenwald | Amulet/Abrams |
| Ghost Boys | Jewell Parker Rhodes | Little, Brown Books for Young Readers |
| I am Still Alive | Kate Alice Marshall | Viking Books for Young Readers |
| Impostors | Scott Westerfeld | Scholastic, Inc. |
| Lifeboat 12 | Susan Hood | Simon & Shuster Books for Young Readers |
| Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish | Pablo Cartaya | Viking Children’s Books |
| Mascot | Antony John | HarperCollins |
| Nightbooks | J. A. White | Katherine Tegen Books |
| Not If I Save You First | Ally Carter, | Scholastic Press |
| Skyward | Brandon Sanderson | Delacorte Press |
| Squint | Chad Morris & Shelly Brown | Shadow Mountain Publishing |
| The Agony House | Cherie Priest | Scholastic, Inc. |
| The Benefits of Being an Octopus | Ann Braden | Sky Pony |
| The Colors of the Rain | R. L. Toalson | Yellow Jacket |
| The Darkdeep | Ally Condie & Brendan Reichs | Bloomsbury Children’s Books |
| The Length of a String | Elissa Brent Weissman | Dial Books |
| The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl | Stacy McAnulty | Random House Books for Young Readers |
| Until Tomorrow, Mr. Marsworth | Sheila O’Connor | Penguin Young Reader Group |
Mark Twain (Grades 4-6)
| Title | Author | Publisher |
| 24 Hours in Nowhere | Dusti Bowling | Sterling |
| Amal Unbound | Aisha Saeed | Nancy Paulsen Books |
| Blended | Sharon M Draper | Atheneum |
| Captain Superlative! | J.S. Puller | Disney |
| Front Desk | Kelly Yang | Arthur A. Levine |
| Hope in the Holler | Lisa Lewis Tyre | Nancy Paulsen Books |
| Lifeboat 12 | Susan Hood | Simon & Schuster |
| Me, Frida, and the Secret of the Peacock Ring | Angela Cervantes | Scholastic |
| Merci Suarez Changes Gears | Meg Medina | Candlewick |
| Squint | Chad Morris and Shelly Brown | Shadow Mountain |
| Takedown | Laura Shovan | Wendy Lamb |
| The Ambrose Deception | Emily Ecton, | Disney |
| The Doughnut FIx | Jessie Janowitz | Sourcebooks |
| The Memory of Forgotten Things | Kat Zhang, | Aladdin |
| The Night Diary | Veera Hiranandani | Dial Books |
| The Ostrich and Other Lost Things | Beth Hautala | Philomel |
| The Reckless Club | Beth Vrabel | Running Press Kids |
| The Rhino in Right Field | Stacy Dekeyser | McElderry Books |
| The Science of Breakable Things | Tae Keller | Random House |
| The Three Rules of Everyday Magic | Amanda Rawson Hill | Boyds Mills Press |
| The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle | Leslie Connor, | Katherine Tegan Books |
| The Unforgettable Guinevere St. Clair | Amy Makechnie | Atheneum |
| Where the Watermelons Grow | Cindy Baldwin | Harper |
| You Go First | Erin Entrada Kelly | Greenwillow |
Show Me (Grades 1-3)
| Title | Author | Illustrator | Publisher |
| A Place For Pluto | Stef Wade | Melanie Demmer | Capstone |
| Carmela Full of Wishes | Matt De La Penna | Christian Robinson | Penguin RH |
| Crash, Splash or Moo! | Bob Shea | Bob Shea | Little, Brown & Co |
| Does Frankenstein Get Hungry? | John Soliminer | John Soliminer | Penguin RH |
| DOLL-E 1.0 | Shanda McCloskey | Shanda McCloskey | Little, Brown & Co |
| Ebenezer Has a Word for Everything | Chelsea H. Rowe | Frank Dormer | Peachtree |
| Friends Stick Together | Hannah E. Harrison | Hannah E. Harrison | Penguin RH |
| Giraffe Problems | Jory John | Lane Smith | Random House Children’s |
| Hedge Hog! | Ashlyn Anstee | Ashlyn Anstee | Penguin RH |
| Hedgehog Needs A Hug | Jen Betton | Jen Betton | Penguin RH |
| How Could a BEAR Sleep Here? | Julie Gonzalez | Stephanie Laberis | Holiday House |
| Little Brown | Marla Frazee | Marla Frazee | Simon & Schuster |
| Lorraine: The GIRL who SANG the STORM AWAY | Ketch Secor | Higgins Bond | Sourcebooks |
| Love, Z | Jessie Sima | Jessie Sima | Simon & Schuster |
| Max Explains Everything: Grocery Store Expert | Stacy McAnulty | Deborah Hooking | Penguin RH |
| Natsumi! | Susan Lendroth | Priscilla Burris | Penguin RH |
| Poe Won’t Go | Kelly Dipucchio | Zachariah Ohora | Disney |
| Pterodactyl Show and Tell | Thad Krasnesky | Tanya Leonello | Flashlight Press |
| Sisters & Champions: The True Story of Venus and Serena Williams | Howard Bryant | Floyd Cooper | Penguin RH |
| Sleepy, the Goodnight Buddy | Drew Daywalt | Scott Campbell | Disney |
| Take Your Octopus To School Day | Audrey Vernick | Diana Schoenbrun | Random House Children’s |
| The Epic Adventures of Huggie & Stick | Drew Daywalt | David Spencer | Penguin RH |
| The Remember Balloons | Jessie Oliveros | Dana Wulfekotte | Simon & Schuster |
| We Don’t Eat Our Classmates | Ryan T. Higgins | Ryan T. Higgins | Disney |
| What Can A Citizen Do? | Dave Eggers | Shawn Harris | Chronicle Books |
Downloadable list of all the 2020-2021 MASL Preliminary Nominees