WinnerThey Say BlueJillian TamakiA young girl spends time outdoors as the seasons shift, considering the gap between what people tell her and what she notices for herself. The sea may be called blue, yet water in her hands appears clear; she also thinks about colors inside her body and inside an egg. Her flowing inner narration follows her observations, questions, and imagination as she experiences the natural world.Picture BookLexile Text Measure 281LATOS Book Level 2.2View book detailsBoston Globe–Horn Book Awards 2018
Jillian Tamaki's They Say Blue, Elizabeth Acevedo's The Poet X, and Photographic by Isabel Quintero, illustrated by Zeke Peña, lead the 2018 Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards. The nine selections span picture books, fiction and poetry, and nonfiction. Each category includes one winner and two Honor Books, ranging from When's My Birthday? and A Different Pond to The Parker Inheritance and The 57 Bus.
2018 Boston Globe–Horn Book AwardsSee the original list
Selections9
Published byThe Horn Book
Sections3 sections
Browse sections3 sections
Picture Book
3 selections
WinnerThey Say BlueJillian TamakiA young girl spends time outdoors as the seasons shift, considering the gap between what people tell her and what she notices for herself. The sea may be called blue, yet water in her hands appears clear; she also thinks about colors inside her body and inside an egg. Her flowing inner narration follows her observations, questions, and imagination as she experiences the natural world.Picture BookLexile Text Measure 281LATOS Book Level 2.2View book details
HonorWhen’s My Birthday?Julie FoglianoChildren eagerly talk through the details of birthdays that are still to come. An excited narrator imagines the parts of an upcoming celebration and lists what would make it feel just right. The story stays with the anticipation of a birthday, giving attention to the narrator’s enthusiasm and to the many details children discuss as they wait for their special day.Picture BookView book details
HonorA Different PondBao PhiA boy and his father rise early to fish at a small pond before the father’s long workday. They are fishing to provide food for their family, not for recreation. Between casts, the father tells his son about a pond in Vietnam, their homeland. The story centers on their time together beside the water and connects the family’s present life with memories of another place.Picture BookView book detailsFiction and Poetry
3 selections
WinnerThe Poet XElizabeth AcevedoFifteen-year-old Xiomara Batista, known as X or Xio, lives in Harlem and feels unheard. As her body changes, she has learned to answer the attention around her with fists and fierceness. Xiomara turns to poetry as she works through conflict and tension within her family. Her experiences address sexism, patriarchy, and the objectification of young women as she tries to find her voice amid silence and tradition.Fiction and PoetryLexile Text Measure HL800LATOS Book Level 5.2View book details
HonorThe Parker InheritanceVarian JohnsonCandice Miller spends the summer at her late grandmother’s home in Lambert, South Carolina. A letter there points toward a treasure that her grandmother once sought, a search that cost her the city-manager job. Candice, who enjoys puzzles, joins her new neighbor Brandon to investigate the clues, clear her grandmother’s name, and uncover a wrong done to a Black family in the town’s past. Their search is interwoven with Lambert’s earlier history and the story of Siobhan, the tennis coach’s determined daughter.Fiction and PoetryLexile Text Measure 610LATOS Book Level 4.2View book details
HonorThe First Rule of PunkCelia C. PérezMaría Luisa O’Neill-Morales, who prefers the name Malú, moves from New York to Chicago with her Mexican-American mother and begins seventh grade. Missing her father and his support for her interest in punk, Malú expresses herself with makeup and clothing that violate school rules. She learns about Mexican American punk musicians and recruits Joe and two other students to form a band for the school talent show.Fiction and PoetryLexile Text Measure 670LATOS Book Level 4.5View book detailsNonfiction
3 selections
WinnerPhotographic: The Life of Graciela IturbideIsabel Quintero, illustrated by Zeke PeñaThis graphic biography follows Mexican photographer Graciela Iturbide. Born in Mexico City in 1942 and the eldest of thirteen children, she turned to photography after tragedy struck when she was a young mother. A poet narrator and graphic artist trace how her eye produced black-and-white photographs of cultures and places, presenting her life and photographic work.NonfictionView book details
HonorA Hundred Billion Trillion StarsSeth Fishman, illustrated by Isabel GreenbergUsing enormous quantities drawn from the natural world and outer space, the book considers how numbers can change continually. It compares examples such as trees, ants, people, rabbits, and stars, including figures in the trillions and quadrillions. The scale moves from an immense number of stars in space to one individual person, inviting readers to picture quantities that are otherwise difficult to grasp.NonfictionLexile Text Measure AD650LATOS Book Level 4.2View book details
HonorThe 57 BusDashka SlaterThis nonfiction account follows Richard and Sasha, two Oakland teenagers whose lives intersect during a bus trip home on November 4, 2013. Richard, grieving a friend lost to gun violence, is working to improve his grades and finish high school. Sasha is agender and attends private school. After Richard sets fire to Sasha’s skirt, the book examines the resulting court process, Sasha’s recovery, Richard’s sentencing, and both teens’ backgrounds, including Sasha’s understanding of their gender identity.NonfictionLexile Text Measure 930LATOS Book Level 6.5View book details