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Kristin Levine’s book The Lions of Little Rock has been announced as the winner of the 2015 Massachusetts Children’s Book Award (MCBA) by Dr. Michelle Pierce of ´ºÃÎÖ±²¥. Honor awards were given to Rick Riordan’s Heroes of Olympus: The Son of Neptune, Lauren Tarshis and Scott Dawson’s I Survived the Shark Attacks of 1916, Vicki Myron and Bret Witter’s Dewey the Library Cat, and Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson’s The Familiars.

Now in its 39th year, the MCBA award program encourages a love of reading among children in grades 4, 5 and 6 across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The program was founded by Salem State’s Dr. Helen Constant in 1975 after she noticed a loss of interest in reading among intermediate grade levels. Since then, students have voted on an annual basis through schools and libraries for their favorite book published within the previous five years. The requirement is they read at least five selections from the master list of nominated titles. This year more than 200 schools and libraries took part in voting and each one will receive a certificate of participation. The author of the winning book will receive a plaque to commemorate the award.

Salem State’s School of Education has been a proud sponsor of the MCBA since its creation in 1975.