WinnerSaturdayOge MoraAva and her mother reserve Saturdays for time together because her mother works the other six days. Their plans include library story time, salon visits, a picnic, and a puppet show. This particular day brings cancellations, ruined hairdos, a noisy concert, and forgotten tickets. Ava’s mother helps her manage several disappointments, and later Ava reassures her mother that being together is what matters most.Picture BookLexile Text Measure 329LATOS Book Level 2.4View book detailsBoston Globe–Horn Book Awards 2020
The 2020 Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards include three winners and six Honor Books. Oge Mora's Saturday receives the picture book award, Kacen Callender's King and the Dragonflies wins for fiction and poetry, and Ashley Bryan's Infinite Hope takes the nonfiction award. The remaining selections include Birdsong, Pokko and the Drum, Clap When You Land, When You Trap a Tiger, Ordinary Hazards, and It Began with a Page.
2020 Boston Globe–Horn Book AwardsSee the original list
Selections9
Published byThe Horn Book
Sections3 sections
Browse sections3 sections
Picture Book
3 selections
WinnerSaturdayOge MoraAva and her mother reserve Saturdays for time together because her mother works the other six days. Their plans include library story time, salon visits, a picnic, and a puppet show. This particular day brings cancellations, ruined hairdos, a noisy concert, and forgotten tickets. Ava’s mother helps her manage several disappointments, and later Ava reassures her mother that being together is what matters most.Picture BookLexile Text Measure 329LATOS Book Level 2.4View book details
HonorBirdsongJulie Flett, illustrated by Julie FlettAfter moving from a home by the sea to the country with her mother, young Cree girl Katherena gets to know Agnes, an older neighbor. Katherena draws while Agnes works with clay, and they share an interest in birds, nature, and the changing seasons. As Agnes needs more help and later becomes too weak to leave bed, Katherena fills her room with bird drawings. Cree words appear with a glossary and pronunciation guide.Picture BookLexile Text Measure 560LATOS Book Level 2.9View book details
HonorPokko and the DrumMatthew ForsythePokko is a frog whose parents give her a drum, then send her outdoors when its noise becomes too much. In the woods, her playing attracts a raccoon with a banjo, a rabbit carrying a trumpet, and a wolf who marches behind them. When the wolf eats the rabbit, Pokko tells him he cannot remain in the band if he keeps eating its members. He apologizes, and more animals join the growing musical procession through the woods. Pokko’s parents are eventually swept into the parade.Picture BookLexile Text Measure AD520LATOS Book Level 2.7View book detailsFiction and Poetry
3 selections
WinnerKing and the DragonfliesKacen CallenderKing is a Black twelve-year-old living in Louisiana’s bayou country with his parents and memories of his older brother, Khalid, who has died. He once ended his friendship with Sandy, a white classmate rumored to be gay, and later revealed Sandy’s sexuality to others. When Sandy runs away from his abusive, racist father, King hides him and brings him food. As King’s feelings for Sandy deepen beyond friendship, he also wrestles with grief, with Khalid’s hurtful advice, and with the possibility that his brother might return as a dragonfly.Fiction and PoetryLexile Text Measure 830LATOS Book Level 4.9View book details
HonorClap When You LandElizabeth AcevedoYahaira Ríos lives in New York City, while Camino Ríos is in Sosúa, Dominican Republic. When a plane crashes on its flight from the Dominican Republic to New York City, the two teenagers are drawn together. The disaster leads them to learn that they have the same father, who has died. Told through both girls’ viewpoints, the novel links their lives across the two places.Fiction and PoetryView book details
HonorWhen You Trap a TigerTae KellerLily moves with her family to the home of her Korean grandmother, whose health is failing. There, a tiger connected to the stories of Lily’s family proposes a risky deal. Lily must confront the tiger while looking into a concealed part of her family’s past. As she learns more about her heritage, she faces choices involving her grandmother and searches for the courage to act.Fiction and PoetryLexile Text Measure 590LATOS Book Level 3.8View book detailsNonfiction
3 selections
WinnerInfinite Hope: A Black Artist’s Journey from World War II to PeaceAshley BryanAshley Bryan recounts his World War II service as a Black soldier in the segregated U.S. Army. Assigned to a service unit, he worked as a stevedore in Boston before being sent overseas. During the invasion of Normandy and the movement across France, he and other Black soldiers cleared beach mines and unloaded supplies. At the war’s end, he was responsible for bringing his unit home amid continuing segregation on transport ships. Bryan carried art supplies in his gas mask and drew whenever possible as he endured war and racism.NonfictionView book details
HonorOrdinary Hazards: A MemoirNikki GrimesIn this poetry memoir, Nikki Grimes recounts an unstable childhood and adolescence while tracing her growing connection to writing. Neglect and her mother’s schizophrenia led to foster care and separation from her older sister. After finding belonging with a foster family, she was returned to her mother and later experienced sexual assault by her stepfather. Her father offered support, a home, and exposure to Black cultural life. With help from her sister and an English teacher, Grimes learned to rely on herself and continued filling notebooks with words.NonfictionView book details
HonorIt Began with a Page: How Gyo Fujikawa Drew the WayKyo MaclearThis picture-book biography introduces the life and work of American illustrator and writer Gyo Fujikawa. Raised among women who encouraged her to stand up for her beliefs, Fujikawa’s story also considers racial diversity in America. The book follows her as an artist and presents her illustrations and writing as part of her life’s work.NonfictionView book details