The Massachusetts Center for the Book, an affiliate of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, has chosen Moonpie and Ivy as the winner of the Massachusetts Book Award in Children's Literature for 2002.

Honors went to Nancy Hope Wilson for her middle-grade novel, Mountain Pose and to Carol Otis Hurst for her picture book, Rocks in His Head.

These books will be featured at the Massachusetts table in the Pavilion of the States at the National Book Festival on the White House lawn in October.

The MassBooks ceremony was held October 3 in the new Worcester Public Library in Worcester, Massachusetts.

The ceremony included awards in adult fiction, nonfiction and poetry, as well as in children's literature.

The award was presented to Barbara by Susan Bloom, Program Director for the Center for the Study of Children's Literature at Simmons College, Boston, Massachusetts. The following is Ms. Bloom's presentation speech: