The Boston Globe-Horn Book awards have been given annually since 1967. Unlike many other awards, the eligibility period runs from June 1 to May 31 of the following year. As a result books from both years are considered. This year’s awards were announced on Wednesday by Kwame Alexander and Horn Book Magazine editor Roger Sutton at SLJ’s Day of Dialog (where I moderated a fabulous YA panel) and I was completely thrilled with them. Congratulations to the creators, editors, judges, and everyone involved!
The Fiction & Poetry winner was Angie Thomas for The Hate U Give. I’ve not written about the book here, but it is blow-out-of-the-water outstanding and due for many more awards this year, I suspect. The honors went to Nikki Grimes for One Last Word: Wisdom from the Harlem Renaissance (which now has gone to the top of my TBR pile), and Richard Peck for The Best Man (which I very much liked).
The Nonfiction winner was Deborah Heligman for Vincent & Theo which has me chuffed as it is one of my favorite books of 2017. I wrote the Horn Book Magazine’s starred review and have placed it on my goodreads Newbery list. The honors went to Steve Sheinkin’s very fine Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team and Melissa Sweet’s fabulous Some Writer!: The Story of E. B. White—a favorite of mine from last year. You can read my Nerdy Book Club review here. (I’ve just ordered a class set to use with my E. B. White author study this fall.)
The Picture Book winner was Ashley Bryan for Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life which absolutely delighted me. The book also rightly received a Caldecott honor. I have a long history with Ashley and so this was wonderful to see. (You can read my homage to him here.) Honors were received by Matthew Cordell for the lovelyWolf in the Snow and Joanne Schwartz and Sydney Smith’s luminous Town Is by the Sea.
Congratulations to all involved!
educating alice 