Great Reads from Great Places:
Young Readers
Each year Massachusetts selects a special book for young readers to represent our commonwealth in the “Great Reads About Great Places” program. The affiliated centers for the book promote their selections at their booths in the Roadmap to Reading section of National Book Festival. Here are the books we have featured since the program began in 2002. To read more about it and see the books suggested by other centers for the book, visit Great Reads from Great Places at the Library of Congress.
Click each book to learn more and/or to purchase them at the Mass Center for the Book Shop on Bookshop.org and support local, independent bookstores as well as Mass Center for the Book.
2023 Great Reads Selection
Tricia Elam Walker collaborates with her cousin, Massachusetts illustrator Ekua Holmes, on a story of growing up in their Roxbury neighborhood and the celebration of a place where a nuturing community can make anything possible.
More Massachusetts Great Reads
2002
Make Way for Ducklings, by Robert McCloskey
2003
The Cat in the Hat, by Dr. Seuss
2004
The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle
2005
Johnny Tremain, by Esther Forbes
2006
Beneath the Streets of Boston, by Joe McKendry
2007
Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott
2008
One Hen, by Katie Smith Milway
2009
The Disappearing Island, by Corinne Demas
2010
Henry Hikes to Fitchburg, by D.B. Johnson
2011
The Serpent Came to Gloucester,
by M.T. Anderson
2012
My Uncle Emily, by Jane Yolen
2013
Zachary’s Ball, by Matt Tavares
2014
Letting Swift River Go, by Jane Yolen
2015
The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster
2016
Growing Up Pedro, by Matt Tavaras
2017
The First Step, by Susan E. Goodman
2018
Fascinating, by Richard Michelson
2019
Windows, by Julia Denos
2020
The Word Collector, by Peter H. Reynolds
2021
Dario and the Whale, by Cheryl Lawton Malone
2022
Wherever I Go, by Mary Wagley Copp
2023
Dream Street, Tricia Elam Walker & Ekua Holmes