The Boston Globe—Horn Book Awards have been around since 1967, and “are among the most prestigious honors in the field of children’s and young adult literature. Winners are selected in three categories: Picture Book, Fiction and Poetry, and Nonfiction.” This year’s awards recognize books published in the US between June 2008 and May 2009. The award ceremony will be 2 October 2009 at the Boston Athenaeum in Boston, Massachusetts.
This year’s winners, by category, are:
Fiction and Poetry: Nation by Terry Pratchett
Nonfiction: The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary by Candace Fleming
Picture Book: Bubble Trouble by Margaret Mahy, illustrated by Polly Dunbar
In addition, the judges named two “honor books” in each category:
Fiction and Poetry: The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves by M.T. Anderson
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Nonfiction: The Way We Work by David Macaulay with Richard Walker
Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream by Tanya Lee Stone
Picture Book: Old Bear by Kevin Henkes
Higher! Higher! by Leslie Patricelli
This year’s judges were: Elissa Gershowitz (managing editor of The Horn Book Guide); Jonathan Hunt (librarian and reviewer); and Ruth Nadelman Lynn (librarian and author of Fantasy Literature for Children and Young Adults).