The Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards 2013

The Horn Book’s editor in chief Roger Sutton and
author Rebecca Stead announced the
2013 Boston Globe–Horn Book Award winners.

Celebrating its 47th year, the Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards are among the most prestigious honors in the field of children’s and young adult literature. Winners and two Honor Books are selected in each of three categories: Picture Book, Fiction and Poetry, and Nonfiction.

PICTURE BOOK AWARD WINNER:

Building Our House written and illustrated by Jonathan Bean (Farrar Straus and Giroux, an imprint of Macmillan) 

Drawing on childhood memories from his own family’s house construction, Bean creates an engaging story as well as a glimpse into a warm family setting. A little girl narrates, and her childlike voice provides an immediacy that removes any hint of nostalgia. She relates her contributions not as they are but as she perceives them in all their exaggerated glory; illustrations tell a different tale.

  

Jonathan Bean

Jonathan Bean grew up in Pennsylvania where he enjoyed, among many things, hiking, bird watching, and drawing the landscape. After receiving his undergraduate degree from Messiah College he moved to New York City in 2003 to attend graduate school at the School of Visual Arts. He received his first job illustrating for children's literature when hired by Cricket Magazine in 2004. Since then, he's worked for numerous publishers and his illustrations and writing have received widespread recognition. Jonathan currently lives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

PICTURE BOOK HONOR WINNERS:

Open This Little Book by Jesse Klausmeier, illustrated by Suzy Lee (Chronicle Books)

Suzy Lee

authors Robert Byrd and Jesse Klausmeier

Black Dog written and illustrated by Levi Pinfold (Templar Books, an imprint of Candlewick Press)

FICTION AWARD WINNER: 

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell (St. Martin’s Griffin, an imprint of Macmillan)

It’s the start of a new school year in 1986 Omaha when sophomores Eleanor and Park meet for the first time on the bus. They are an unusual pair: she’s the new girl in town, an ostracized, bullied “big girl” with bright red curly hair, freckles, and an odd wardrobe; he’s a skinny half-Korean townie who mostly wears black and tries to stay out of the spotlight. But as they sit together on the school bus every day, an intimacy gradually develops between them.

Rainbow Rowell writes books.

Sometimes she writes about adults (Attachments and Landline).

Sometimes she writes about teenagers (Eleanor & Park and Fangirl).

But she always writes about people who talk a lot. And people who feel like they’re screwing up. And people who fall in love.

When she’s not writing, Rainbow is reading comic books, planning Disney World trips and arguing about things that don’t really matter in the big scheme of things.

She lives in Nebraska with her husband and two sons.

FICTION HONOR WINNERS:

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman (Random House Books for Young Readers)

A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty (Arthur A. Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.)

NONFICTION WINNER:

Electric Ben: The Amazing Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin written and illustrated by Robert Byrd (Dial Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Penguin Group)

With a jacket showing Benjamin Franklin as a cross between a mad scientist and a superhero standing amid wild lightning bolts and surrounded by all manner of electrical devices, this book shimmers with excitement, begging to be read. Byrd divides Franklin’s life into seventeen often whimsically labeled double-page spreads, highlighting his scientific, literary, and political endeavors in a fresh new way.

Mr. Byrd is a successful commercial artist and children's book illustrator whose award-winning picture books include The Bear and the Bird King, and Leonardo, Beautiful Dreamer. Robert Byrd lives in Haddonfield, New Jersey.

NONFICTION HONOR WINNERS:

Dreaming Up: A Celebration of Building written and illustrated by Christy Hale (Lee & Low Books)

Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America by Andrea Davis Pinkney and illustrated by Brian Pinkney (Disney/Jump at the Sun Books, an imprint of Disney Book Group)

Brian and Andrea Davis Pinkney

The winning titles must be published in the United States, but they may be written or illustrated by citizens of any country.