For many in the children’s literature world, the highlight of BookExpo America occurred in SLJ‘s librarian’s lounge at 1 PM on Saturday, May 31, when Horn Book editor in chief Roger Sutton announced the 2014 Boston Globe–Horn Book Award winners in three categories: Picture Book, Fiction and Poetry, and Nonfiction.
“This year’s judges did a splendid job,” said Sutton. “It’s always great when their choices inspire one to feel confirmed, challenged, and surprised all at the same time.”
The winners are as follows, along with SLJ’s review of these titles, several starred. See SLJ “100 Scope Notes” blogger Travis Jonker’s reaction to the awards here.
PICTURE BOOK AWARD WINNER
Mr. Tiger Goes Wild written and illustrated by Peter Brown (Little, Brown)
K-Gr 2–Mr. Tiger lives in a perfectly fine world of prim and proper ladies and gentlemen. One day, the stiff suits, dainty teas, and Victorian manners begin to bore him… and he has a very wild idea. This “it’s okay to be different” story stands out from other picture books on the topic thanks to Brown’s delightfully clever illustrations and masterful compositions. From the tiger-striped cover that begs to be petted to the ingenious pops of bright orange (Brown’s new signature color?) amid muted browns and grays, the award-winning illustrator does not disappoint. Children will appreciate Mr. Tiger’s transformation and the way his friends eventually accept his (and their own) uniqueness. Several wordless spreads encourage audience participation while subtle visual clues gently build his character. A full spread featuring the newly liberated Mr. Tiger au naturel is delivered with pitch-perfect comedic timing and is guaranteed to inspire wild giggles. Sure to be an instant read-aloud classic in classrooms and libraries.–Kiera Parrott, reviews editor, SLJ (August 1, 2013)
PICTURE BOOK HONOR BOOKS
Rules of Summer written and illustrated by Shaun Tan (Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic)Gr 1–4—Right from the endpapers featuring an ominously shadowed street on which two boys stand in silhouette—one clearly older whispering into the younger child’s ear—readers are clued into a familiar sibling dynamic: big brother sets the rules; little brother is always one step behind, doing his best to follow along. It’s too bad for little brother that the rules are nearly impossible to anticipate: “Never leave a red sock on the clothesline” is accompanied by the image of the terrified boys hiding from a house-sized red rabbit on the hunt for the crimson article. Some rules seem designed to teach (“Never eat the last olive at a party”), while others simply reinforce the power dynamic (“Never ask for a reason”). Tan’s oil paintings, with their masterful layering of color and impressionistic plays on light and shadow, toy with the ordinary and the surreal. At its heart, this is a story about sibling relationships, and Tan artfully captures the frustration, sadness, and joy of what it means to be brothers. The sophistication of the visual narrative paired with the simplicity of the text invites multiple readings and opportunities for discussion. Sumptuous and sincere—this title is a winner.—Kiera Parrott, reviews editor, SLJ (May 1, 2014)
Knock Knock: My Dad’s Dream for Me written by Daniel Beaty and illustrated by Bryan Collier (Little, Brown)
K-Gr 3-Beaty tells a poignant, heart-wrenching tale of love, loss, and hope. A boy narrates how every morning he and his father play the Knock Knock game. He feigns sleep while his father raps on the door until the boy jumps into his dad’s arms for a hug and an “I love you.” One day, there is no knock. Left with his mother, the child deeply misses his papa and writes to him for advice, receiving a moving letter in return. Collier’s watercolor and collage illustrations enhance the nuanced sentiment of the text. Following the protagonist’s journey from a grief-stricken child to an accomplished strong adult, the lifelike images intermingle urban and domestic backgrounds with the symbolic innerscape of the narrator. As the boy writes the letter and tosses paper airplanes out the window, he glides out on a life-size paper plane expressing his plea, “Papa, come home, ’cause there are things I don’t know, and when I get older I thought you could teach me.” Author’s and illustrator’s notes at the end of the book elaborate on the personal meaning of this eloquent story that speaks especially to children who are growing up in single-parent homes.-Yelena Alekseyeva-Popova, formerly at Chappaqua Library, NY (October 1, 2013)
FICTION AWARD WINNER
Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith (Dutton)
Gr 10 Up—It used to be that the only interesting events to occur in crumbling Ealing, Iowa happened between the pages of 16-year-old Austin Szerba’s “history” journals. Austin’s journals are elaborate and uncensored records about sex; his love for his girlfriend, Shann; his growing attraction for his best friend, Robby; his unique Polish ancestors; even Ealing’s decrepit mini-mall where he and Robby hang out. Shann tells Austin, “I love how, whenever you tell a story, you go backwards and forwards and tell me everything else that could possibly be happening in every direction, like an explosion.” And that’s exactly how Austin narrates the end of the world when a twist of fate sparks the birth of mutant, people-eating praying mantises. Austin not only records the hilarious and bizarre tale of giant, copulating bugs but his own sexual confusion and his fear about hurting the people he loves. Award-winning author Smith has cleverly used a B movie science fiction plot to explore the intricacies of teenage sexuality, love, and friendship. Austin’s desires might garner buzz and controversy among adults but not among the teenage boys who can identify with his internal struggles. This novel is proof that when an author creates solely for himself-as Smith notes in the acknowledgments section-the result is an original, honest, and extraordinary work that speaks directly to teens as it pushes the boundaries of young adult literature.—Kimberly Garnick Giarratano, Rockaway Township Public Library, NJ (February 1, 2014)
FICTION HONOR BOOKS
Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein (Hyperion)
Gr 8 Up—This companion novel to Wein’s Code Name Verity (Hyperion, 2012) tells a very different World War II story, with a different pilot. Rose Justice, an American, has grown up flying, and when she is given the opportunity to ferry planes to support the war effort in England in 1944, she jumps at the chance. It is during one of her missions that she purposefully knocks an unmanned V-1 flying bomb out of the sky and is captured by Nazi airmen. Once on the ground, she is taken to the infamous women’s concentration camp, Ravensbrück. She is first treated as a “skilled” worker, but once she realizes that her job will be to put together fuses for flying bombs, she refuses to do it, is brutally beaten, and is then sent to live with the political prisoners. Once she’s taken under the wing of the Polish “Rabbits”-young women who suffered horrible medical “experiments” by Nazi doctors-she faces a constant struggle to survive. After a daring escape, she recounts her experience in a journal that was given to her by her friend, Maddie, the pilot from Code Name Verity, weaving together a story of unimaginable suffering, loss, but, eventually, hope. Throughout her experience, Rose writes and recites poetry, and it is through these poems, some heartbreaking, some defiant, that she finds her voice and is able to “tell the world” her story and those of the Rabbits. While this book is more introspective than its predecessor, it is no less harrowing and emotional. Readers will connect with Rose and be moved by her struggle to go forward, find her wings again, and fly.—Necia Blundy, formerly at Marlborough Public Library, MA (October 1, 2013)
Boxers & Saints by Gene Luen Yang (First Second)
Gr 9 Up—Acclaimed graphic novelist Yang brings his talents to historical fiction in these paired novels set during China’s Boxer Rebellion (1899–1900). In Boxers, life in Little Bao’s peaceful rural village is disrupted when “foreign devils”-a priest and his phalanx of soldiers-arrive. The foreigners behave with astonishing arrogance, smashing the village god, appropriating property, and administering vicious beatings for no reason. Little Bao and his older brothers train in kung fu and swordplay in order to defend against them, and when Little Bao learns how to tap into the power of the Chinese gods, he becomes the leader of a peasant army, eventually marching to Beijing. Saints follows a lonely girl from a neighboring village. Unwanted by her family, Four-Girl isn’t even given a proper name until she converts to Catholicism and is baptized-by the very same priest who bullies Little Bao’s village. Four-Girl, now known as Vibiana, leaves home and finds fulfillment in service to the Church, while Little Bao roams the countryside committing acts of increasing violence as his army grows. Mysticism plays a part in both stories, and Yang’s spare, clean drawing style makes it clear that Vibiana’s visits from Joan of Arc and Bao’s invocation of the powerful Chinese gods are very real to these characters. The juxtaposition of these opposing points of view, both of them sympathetic, makes for powerful, thought-provoking storytelling about a historical period that is not well known in the West.—Paula Willey, Baltimore County Public Library, Towson, MD (July 1, 2013)
NONFICTION WINNER
The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights by Steve Sheinkin (Roaring Book)
Gr 7 Up—In the summer of 1944, 50 sailors, all of them African American, were tried and convicted of mutiny by the U.S. Navy. They had refused to follow a direct order of loading dangerous rockets and munitions on ships bound for battle in the Pacific after an enormous explosion had killed more than 300 of their fellow sailors and other civilians working on the dock. At the heart of this story is the rampant racism that permeated the military at all levels, leaving minority sailors and soldiers to do the drudge work almost exclusively while their white counterparts served on the front lines. Through extensive research, Sheinkin effectively re-creates both the tense atmosphere at Port Chicago before and after the disaster as well as the events that led to the men’s refusal of this one particular order that they felt put them directly in harm’s way. Much of the tension in this account stems from the growing frustration that readers are meant to feel as bigotry and discrimination are encountered at every turn and at every level of the military. There is a wealth of primary-source material here, including interviews with the convicted sailors, court records, photographs, and other documents, all of which come together to tell a story that clearly had a huge impact on race relations in the military. This is a story that remains largely unknown to many Americans, and is one of the many from World War II about segregation and race that is important to explore with students. Abundant black-and-white photos, extensive source notes, and a thorough bibliography are included.—Jody Kopple, Shady Hill School, Cambridge, MA (February 1, 2014)
NONFICTION HONOR BOOKS
The Animal Book: A Collection of the Fastest, Fiercest, Toughest, Cleverest, Shyest—and Most Surprising—Animals on Earth by Steve Jenkins (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Gr 2–6—Jenkins draws from his earlier books to craft this richly detailed work with handsome cut- and torn-paper illustrations. Numerous animal facts are organized into seven topical chapters. A few extinct animals are included. Chapters offer information about animal families, senses, predators, defenses, and extremes, and about life from an evolutionary perspective. Material within each chapter is presented in segments that average two pages in length and consist of a descriptive paragraph, several colorful illustrations that vary in size, and detailed captions. Each chapter concludes with a related chart or graph. Some text in the “Timeline of animal life” is lost in the book’s gutter, and the “How many eyes do animals have?” chart notes that wasps have five eyes but the corresponding illustration only shows four. Jenkins’s artwork is recognizable from earlier works; for example, the giant squid eye and Siberian tiger spreads found in Actual Size (Houghton Harcourt, 2004) are replicated here. A lengthy alphabetically arranged, appended section includes even more animal details paired with tiny artwork. The book has a useful table of contents. Tucked between the glossary and bibliography, which includes materials published between 1951 and 2010, is a welcome section on Jenkins’s bookmaking process. The closing page showcases the works from which material included here has been taken. With so much to look at, this attractive browsing book will fascinate children thirsty for animals facts. Students doing reports on a specific animal will need to consult other resources.—Lynn Vanca, Freelance Librarian, Akron, OH (October 1, 2013)
Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker written by Patricia Hruby Powell and illustrated by Christian Robinson (Chronicle)
Gr 5–8—This charming biography invites readers to step inside the vibrant and spirited world of performer and civil rights advocate, Josephine Baker. Robinson’s paintings are as colorful and rich as Josephine Baker’s story, offering page after page of captivating and animated illustrations and rhythmic text, which is written in blank verse. In a few short and well-organized parts, readers learn the story of one of the world’s most well known female performers who danced and sang her way from the poor and segregated streets of St. Louis to the dazzling stages of Paris all the way to Carnegie Hall. Text and illustrations work in tandem to accurately document Josephine’s extraordinary life and the era in which she lived. Clear and lively descriptions of Josephine’s story play out creatively in the text, introducing readers to basic principles of poetic structure in storytelling and offering an accurate portrait of a woman who fought for racial equality and civil rights through her life’s passion: performance. Reluctant readers of nonfiction and poetry lovers alike will be drawn to this book’s musical, theatrical nature, making for a fun, enriching, and holistic reading experience. This unique and creative work is a first purchase.—Natalie Braham, Denver Public Library (February 1, 2014)
Four 2014 awardees have previously been honored, including Steve Jenkins (1999, Nonfiction winner), Steve Sheinkin (2011, Nonfiction winner), Shaun Tan (2008, Special Citation), and Elizabeth Wein (2012, Fiction honor). More information, including a complete list of BGHB winners and honors since 1967, can be found by visiting the awards website.
The awards were chosen by an independent panel of three judges appointed by Sutton, including chair Nina Lindsay, Horn Book reviewer and supervising librarian for children’s services at the Oakland (CA) Public Library; Claire E. Gross, former associate editor of The Horn Book Magazine and current children’s librarian at the Egleston Square Branch of the Boston Public Library; and Amy Pattee, associate professor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Simmons College in Boston, MA.
The winning titles must be published in the United States, but they may be written or illustrated by citizens of any country. The awards will be presented on October 10 at the Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards Ceremony at Simmons College in Boston, MA.