Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards 2024

The 2024 Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards feature four winners and five Honor Books. Sydney Smith's Do You Remember? wins for picture books, Jacqueline Woodson's Remember Us for fiction, and The Mona Lisa Vanishes by Nicholas Day, illustrated by Brett Helquist, for nonfiction. A separate Poetry Award goes to Kin: Rooted in Hope by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Jeffery Boston Weatherford. The Honor Books are I'm From, Ode to a Bad Day, The Blood Years, Rez Ball, and Fungi Grow.

2024 Boston Globe–Horn Book AwardsSee the original list
About this book list
Selections9
Published byThe Horn Book
Sections4 sections

Picture Book

3 selections

Cover of Do You Remember?Do You Remember?Sydney SmithA boy and his mother lie together and revisit moments from their family life: a berry-filled picnic, a bicycle attempt that ends in a haypile, and a rainstorm blackout lit by an old oil lamp. His father appears in these recollections, including the day the family’s belongings are loaded into a truck and the boy and his mother leave. In their new home, surrounded by boxes waiting to be opened, mother and son begin to imagine the first morning there as a future shared memory.Picture BookLexile Text Measure 261LATOS Book Level 2.1View book details
Cover of I’m FromI’m FromGary R. Gray, Jr.This poetic portrait follows a young Black boy through the ordinary details of his days. Morning wakeups, homemade pancakes, bus rides, schoolyard play, family games, and bedtime rituals shape the world he knows. The people, places, and small moments around him help him understand his connection to family and community. As the boy reflects on where he comes from, he affirms his own place within that world.Picture BookLexile Text Measure 281LATOS Book Level 2.2View book details
Cover of Ode to a Bad DayOde to a Bad DayChelsea Lin Wallace, illustrated by Hyewon YumSmall frustrations accumulate into an apparently terrible day in this rhyming picture book. A child responds to everyday annoyances with a succession of dramatic odes, giving ordinary disappointments the grandeur of formal poetry. The exaggerated complaints find humor in feelings that can seem overwhelming, while the story leaves room for compassion and the possibility of a better tomorrow. The book also introduces the ode as a poetic form and offers information to help readers create an ode of their own.Picture BookLexile Text Measure AD500LATOS Book Level 3.3View book details

Fiction

3 selections

Cover of Remember UsRemember UsJacqueline WoodsonSage’s world seems to be burning during the summer before she enters seventh grade. A fire affects her neighborhood, while her friendships are changing. The story considers time, memory, and what people carry forward into the future. As Sage confronts the fire and shifting relationships around her, memories help point toward what comes next. The book centers a summer of upheaval in which a neighborhood fire and changes in friendship shape Sage’s experience.FictionLexile Text Measure 669LATOS Book Level 4.3View book details
Cover of The Blood YearsThe Blood YearsElana K. ArnoldSet in late-1930s Czernowitz, this novel follows Frederieke, called Rieke, as war transforms life for her Romanian Jewish family. She lives with her mother, older sister Astra, and protective grandfather, while tensions and secrets shape family life. Soviet occupation brings strict food controls and neighbors who spy on one another. After the Nazis take control, Rieke’s family is forced into a crowded ghetto. Marcel’s medical work offers them temporary protection from deportation.FictionLexile Text Measure 829LATOS Book Level 5.3View book details
Cover of Rez BallRez BallByron GravesTre Brun begins his second year of high school on Minnesota’s Red Lake Ojibwe reservation hoping to earn a place on the varsity basketball squad. His older brother Jaxon, once a standout on the team, died in a car crash earlier that year. While Tre and his parents mourn, he wants his own play to commemorate Jaxon. Over the school year, Tre and his Native teammates develop into a competitive team pursuing the state championship.FictionLexile Text Measure 681LATOS Book Level 4.4View book details

Nonfiction

2 selections

Poetry

1 selection