WinnerNavigating NightJulie Leung, illustrated by Angie KangA girl accompanies her father on evening deliveries from their family's Chinese restaurant, reading the map and giving him directions in Cantonese. She resents the work and the ways her family seems different from other families. As her father shares memories of arriving alone in the United States as a teenager, she begins to understand the experiences behind their nightly routine. This picture book explores immigration, family responsibilities, and the growing understanding between a parent and child.Picture BookLexile Text Measure 630LATOS Book Level 4.1View book detailsBoston Globe–Horn Book Awards 2026
The 2026 Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards recognize three winners and six Honor Books. Navigating Night by Julie Leung, illustrated by Angie Kang, wins for picture books, Lisa Graff's A Scar Like a River for fiction, and A World Without Summer by Nicholas Day, illustrated by Yas Imamura, for nonfiction. Each category includes two Honor Books, with selections such as The Great Frog, The Second Life of Snap, and When Beavers Move In.
2026 Boston Globe–Horn Book AwardsSee the original list
Selections9
Published byThe Horn Book
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Picture Book
3 selections
WinnerNavigating NightJulie Leung, illustrated by Angie KangA girl accompanies her father on evening deliveries from their family's Chinese restaurant, reading the map and giving him directions in Cantonese. She resents the work and the ways her family seems different from other families. As her father shares memories of arriving alone in the United States as a teenager, she begins to understand the experiences behind their nightly routine. This picture book explores immigration, family responsibilities, and the growing understanding between a parent and child.Picture BookLexile Text Measure 630LATOS Book Level 4.1View book details
HonorThe Great FrogKatie Palazzola, illustrated by Katie PalazzolaWhen her little brother Peedie worries about frog eggs beside a pond, Kit invents a powerful protector called the Great Frog. His questions inspire an increasingly elaborate imaginary world, until Kit must admit that she made the creature up. Peedie's response leads the siblings to consider what stories can mean even when they are invented. Katie Palazzola's picture book connects sibling affection, care for vulnerable animals, and the imaginative explanations children create for the world around them.Picture BookLexile Text Measure 520LATOS Book Level 3.4View book details
HonorWhile We’re HereAnne Wynter, illustrated by Micha ArcherA mother and daughter hurry through a busy city, focused on where they need to be. When their plans change, they discover that slowing down can make room for a different kind of day. Anne Wynter's picture book follows the pair as they notice small pleasures and enjoy being together. Micha Archer's cut-paper illustrations accompany a story about adapting to disappointment, paying attention to one's surroundings, and finding happiness in ordinary family moments.Picture BookLexile Text Measure 160LATOS Book Level 1.5View book detailsFiction
3 selections
WinnerA Scar Like a RiverLisa GraffThirteen-year-old Fallon Little prefers to focus on her role in the school play and time with her friends rather than explain the scar across her face. Only one person knows what happened when she was injured. After her uncle dies, changes at home and tensions within her friendship group make those private memories harder to contain. As further family secrets emerge, Fallon must decide how to face a past she has tried to keep hidden. Lisa Graff's coming-of-age novel examines friendship, family relationships, and the difficult process of healing after trauma.FictionLexile Text Measure 800LATOS Book Level 5.1View book details
HonorThe Second Life of SnapErin Entrada KellyTwelve-year-old Zuzu Santos lives with her father in Bright Valley, a dusty community where a corporation controls essential resources. When her father loses his job, his severance includes an outdated guardian robot but no working charger. Zuzu names the robot Snap, and the machine becomes part of her circle of friends. As its remaining battery power declines, she searches for a way to keep it alive. Erin Entrada Kelly's middle-grade science-fiction novel follows an unexpected friendship through questions of survival, loyalty, and what people owe one another in an unequal society.FictionLexile Text Measure 700LATOS Book Level 4.5View book details
HonorAs I Dream of YouJennifer Lee, illustrated by LeUyen PhamFranny and Sam have grown up expecting love to bring disappointment, but their own relationship changes how they see the world. When loss threatens that connection, they try to hold on to each other through experiences that blur dreams and waking life. Their determination to remain together brings increasingly unsettling consequences. Written by Jennifer Lee and illustrated by LeUyen Pham, this young-adult graphic novel combines a teenage romance with supernatural elements. Its story explores first love, grief, and the tension between preserving a cherished relationship and accepting a painful change.FictionLexile Text Measure 730LATOS Book Level 4.7View book detailsNonfiction
3 selections
WinnerA World Without Summer: A Volcano Erupts, a Creature Awakens, and the Sun Goes OutNicholas Day, illustrated by Yas ImamuraThis nonfiction book links two events from 1815 and 1816: the eruption of Indonesia’s Mount Tambora and Mary Shelley’s creation of Frankenstein. One of history’s largest volcanic eruptions altered climate and weather for years. People in Indonesia knew what had happened, but the climate disruptions spreading around the world were widely misunderstood. The book chronicles the eruption’s physical, social, and geographic effects, including famine and poverty in Europe, along with ash-filled skies and persistent rain. It also explores the setting in which Shelley wrote Frankenstein.NonfictionLexile Text Measure 780LFountas & Pinnell Text Level ZView book details
HonorHow to Say Goodbye in CubanDaniel Miyares, illustrated by Daniel MiyaresSet in Cuba in 1956, this graphic memoir draws on the childhood of Carlos, the author’s father. Carlos begins on a sugarcane farm in Ceiba Mocha before his family moves to the city after his father wins the lottery. He faces a new school, misses his grandfather, and watches unrest spread as Fidel Castro takes power. When his father’s business closes, neighbors grow suspicious of one another, and Carlos’s parents withhold much of what is happening. Then his father disappears, beginning Carlos’s escape from Cuba.NonfictionLexile Text Measure 370LFountas & Pinnell Text Level XView book details
HonorWhen Beavers Move InAlison Pearce Stevens, illustrated by Natasha DonovanBeavers reshape their surroundings by felling trees and building dams, but those changes can bring flooding to places where people live. This nonfiction picture book follows the work of Tulalip Tribes biologists in the Puget Sound region as they move beavers to more suitable habitats. Alison Pearce Stevens's text and Natasha Donovan's illustrations introduce a practical response to conflict between wildlife and human neighborhoods, connecting animal behavior with conservation and care for shared environments.NonfictionLexile Text Measure AD560LATOS Book Level 3.7View book details