Boston Globe – Horn Book Awards Announced
The winners of the 45th Horn Book – Boston Globe Awards were announced at the BEA yesterday. Horn Book’s editor in chief Roger Sutton said that the winners are “frequently unusual or under-the-radar choices. Because of the small judging panel, there’s always an excellent chance for surprise. Each year, the judges uncover some amazing treasures that I think will delight adult readers as much as the intended audience of children and young adults.”
PICTURE BOOK AWARD WINNER
Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen (HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray)
“When young Annabelle finds a small box containing a never-ending supply of yarn of every color, she does what any self-respecting knitter would do: she knits herself a sweater. Then she knits a sweater for her dog. She continues to knit colorful garments for everyone and everything in her snowy, sooty, colorless town—until an archduke gets greedy.”
PICTURE BOOK HONOR WINNERS
And Then It’s Spring by Julie Fogliano, illustrated by Erin E. Stead (Macmillan/Roaring Brook Press)
And the Soldiers Sang by J. Patrick Lewis, illustrated by Gary Kelley (Creative Editions)
FICTION AWARD WINNER
No Crystal Stair: A Documentary Novel of the Life and Work of Lewis Michaux, Harlem Bookseller by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie (Lerner/Carolrhoda Lab)
“Lewis Michaux opened the National Memorial African Bookstore in Harlem at the end of the Great Depression with an inventory of five books and a strong faith that black people were hungry for knowledge. For the next thirty-five years, his store became a central gathering place for African American writers, artists, intellectuals, political figures and ordinary citizens. In a daring combination of fiction and nonfiction and word and image, thirty-six narrative voices are interwoven with articles from the New York Amsterdam News, excerpts from Michaux’s FBI file and family papers and photographs.”
FICTION HONOR WINNERS
Life: An Exploded Diagram by Mal Peet (Candlewick Press)
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (Disney/Hyperion)
NONFICTION WINNER
Chuck Close: Face Book, written and illustrated by Chuck Close (Abrams Books for Young Readers)
“Chuck Close’s art is easy to describe and especially attractive to children because he creates only portraits—in almost every possible medium with an intriguing trompe l’oeil effect. This book explores how his life story and so-called disabilities relate directly to his style. In this Q&A–style narrative, Close himself answers with a clear voice without a hint of famous-artist self-aggrandizement or angst.”
NONFICTION HONOR WINNERS
Georgia in Hawaii: When Georgia O’Keeffe Painted What She Pleased by Amy Novesky, illustrated by Yuyi Morales (HMH/Harcourt Children’s Books)
The Elephant Scientist by Caitlin O’Connell & Donna M. Jackson, photographs by Caitlin O’Connell and Timothy Rodwell (Houghton Mifflin Books for Children)