About the Maud Hart Lovelace Award

We’re gearing up for this school year’s Maud Hart Lovelace Award. At the end of March, those students who have read at least three of the twelve nominated books get to vote for their favorite one. They join students across Minnesota who are involved in this excellent reading promotion. Every year the number of students who participate at my school has increased. Even though they only have to read three, many of the fourth and fifth grade students read more and some finish all twelve each year! Right away in the fall I try to have at least four copies of each title, one hardcover and the rest paperbacks. In the past I always created a PowerPoint book-talk that highlights the titles and present it to all of my fourth and fifth grade students. Last year I used a web page I created as my presentation piece for the students and this year I used props to represent some aspect of each book. It was fun to try a new approach.  After the presentation, students sign up on a sheet for three or more titles they are interested in reading. We then have a drawing to determine a fair order for everyone to receive the books over six months. Students track their progress on class lists that are posted in the media center. We finally decided on simple stars under the titles they read. It looks tidier than having them check it off themselves so, we're sticking with this idea.  I often invite the staff of the school to participate. They have their own star chart and the students will often check it to see which books their teacher or a para in their room have read. Depending on resources, we usually reward students who read all twelve books with a book or poster.

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