Massachusetts Children’s Book Award nominees 2013-14

Peter Nimble and his Fantastic Eyes, by Jonathan Auxier Raised to be a thief, blind orphan Peter Nimble, age ten, steals from a mysterious stranger three pairs of magical eyes, that lead him to a hidden island where he must decide to become a hero or resume his life of crime.

Tango: The Tale of an Island Dog, by Eileen Beha Lost at sea while sailing with his wealthy owners, a Yorkshire terrier washes up, nearly dead, in a village on Prince Edward Island. He is nursed back to health by a lonely widow and is befriended by a fox and an abandoned waif who is also struggling to find a home for herself somewhere.

The Red Blazer Girls: The Vanishing Violin, by Michael Beil Seventh-graders Sophie, Margaret, Rebecca, and Leigh Ann follow a trail of cryptic clues to locate a rare violin, catch the person sneaking into St. Veronica's School for late-night cleaning and redecorating, and outsmart a conniving classmate.

Perfect Game, by Fred Bowen Isaac is a perfectionist, especially when it comes to baseball. He is unable to cope when things go wrong until his coach asks him to help out with a Unified Sports basketball team on which intellectually-disabled and other children play together.

World Cup, by Matt Christopher This non-fiction book describes World Cup games played since 1930, discussing significant moments and players and includes details on the Women's World Cup since 1991.

We the Children, by Andrew Clements Ben and his friend Jill find themselves in danger when they discover the secret history of their Massachusetts school and set out to derail a developer's plan to level the building to make way for an amusement park.

The Lost Children, by Carolyn Cohagan When twelve-year-old Josephine falls through a wormhole in her garden shed into another time and place, she realizes the troubles she has at home are minor compared to what she has to tackle in the world where she has landed.

The Trouble with Chickens, by Doreen Cronin A hard-bitten former search-and-rescue dog helps solve a complicated missing chicken case.

The Mighty Miss Malone, by Christopher Paul Curtis Deza Malone, the smartest girl in her class in Gary, Indiana, accompanies her mother and older brother on a trip to find her father, an African American man who left to find work after the Great Depression hit. They end up in a Hooverville outside of Flint, Michigan, and her brother attempts to be a performer while Deza and her mother search for a home.

The Total Tragedy of a Girl Named Hamlet, by Erin Dionne Hamlet's attempts to be a "normal" eighth grader become increasingly difficult when her genius seven-year-old sister and her eccentric Shakespeare scholar parents both begin to attend her school.

Out of my Mind, by Sharon Draper Considered by many to be mentally challenged, a brilliant, impatient fifth-grader with cerebral palsy discovers a technological device that will allow her to speak for the first time.

by Enrique Flores-Galbis 90 Miles to Havana, by Enrique Flores-Galbis Julian's parents, hoping to protect him from the dangers of the turmoil in Cuba, send him to the United States in 1961 as part of Operation Pedro Pan, not realizing that life in a Miami refugee camp holds its own perils.

The Other Half of my Heart, by Sundee Frazier Twin daughters of interracial parents, eleven-year-olds Keira and Minni have very different skin tones and personalities. It is not until their African American grandmother enters them in the Miss Black Pearl Pre-Teen competition in North Carolina that red-haired and pale-skinned Minni realizes what life in their small town in the Pacific Northwest has been like for her more outgoing, darker-skinned sister.

Chomp, by Carl Hiaasen The difficult star of the reality television show, "Expedition Survival," disappears on location in the Florida Everglades, where they were filming animals from the wildlife refuge run by Wahoo Crane's family. Wahoo and classmate Tuna Gordon set out to find him, but they must avoid Tuna's gun-happy father.

Small as an Elephant, by Jennifer Jacobson Abandoned by his mother in an Acadia National Park campground, Jack tries to make his way back to Boston before anyone figures out what is going on, with only a small toy elephant for company.

Inside Out & Back Again, by Thanhha Lai Through a series of poems, a young girl chronicles the life-changing year of 1975, when she, her mother, and her brothers leave Vietnam and resettle in Alabama.

Hero, by Mike Lupica Fourteen-year-old Zach learns he has the same special abilities as his father, who was the president's globe-trotting troubleshooter until "the Bads" killed him. Now Zach must decide whether to use his powers in the same way at the risk of his own life.

The Unwanteds, by Lisa McMann In a society that purges thirteen-year-olds who are creative, identical twins Aaron and Alex are separated. One goes to attend University while the other, supposedly Eliminated, finds himself in a wondrous place where youths hone their abilities and learn magic.

Summer of the Gypsy Moths, by Sara Pennypacker A foster child named Angel and twelve-year-old Stella are living with Stella's great-aunt Louise at the Linger Longer Cottage Colony on Cape Cod. When Louise unexpectedly dies, the girls are afraid of being returned to the foster care system so they secretly assume responsibility for the vacation rentals

The Yggyssey, by Daniel Pinkwater In the mid-1950s, Yggdrasil Birnbaum and her friends, Seamus and Neddie, journey to Old New Hackensack, which is on another plane, to try to learn why ghosts are disappearing from the Birnbaum's hotel and other Hollywood, California, locations.

The Lost Hero, by Rick Riordan Jason, Piper, and Leo, three students from a school for "bad kids," find themselves at Camp Half-Blood. There they learn that they are demigods and begin a quest to free Hera, who has been imprisoned by Mother Earth herself.

Emma on Thin Icing, by Coco Simon The girls in the Cupcake Club are ecstatic when Mia asks them to be junior bridesmaids in her mother's wedding and they find the perfect dress. While trying to pay for the dress without the help of her parents, Emma must balance babysitting her brother, a dog-walking business, flute practice, and baking for the Cupcake Club.

Jake and Lily, by Jerry Spinelli Twins Jake and Lily have a very close relationship, but when they turn eleven, their parents give them separate bedrooms and Jake begins to spend time with a group of neighborhood boys. Lily is devastated as she struggles to make friends, and Jake is faced with a bully.

I Survived: Hurricane Katrina, 2005, by Lauren Tarshis Barry's family prepares to evacuate before Hurricane Katrina hits, but when his little sister gets very sick, they are forced to stay home and face the floodwater that sweeps Barry away.

Dragonbreath, by Ursula Vernon Danny Dragonbreath and his friend Wendell get an up-close underwater tour of the Sargasso Sea from Danny's sea-serpent cousin. They encounter a giant squid and mako sharks--and learn about standing up to bullies in the process.

Sources Used Cover photos courtesy of Titlewave.com and Goodreads.com Blurbs adapted from card catalog description provided by the publisher.