The Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards recognize and reward excellence in literature for children and young adults. The winning titles must be published in the United States but they may be written or illustrated by citizens of any country.
2016 Winner:
Jazz Day: The Making of a Famous Photograph
by Roxane Orgill, Illustrated by Francis Vallejo
Category: Picture Book
2016 Winner:
The Lie Tree
by Frances Hardinge
Category: Fiction
2016 Winner:
Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War
by Steve Sheinkin
Category: Nonfiction
2015 Winner:
The Farmer and the Clown
by Marla Frazee
Recommended Age: 1
Category: Picture Book
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2015 Winner:
Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms
by Katherine Rundell
Category: Fiction
2015 Winner:
The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia
by Candace Fleming
Category: Nonfiction
2014 Winner:
Mr. Tiger Goes Wild
by Peter Brown
Category: Picture Book
Also: Cybils Award Winners
2014 Winner:
Grasshopper Jungle
by Andrew Smith
Category: Fiction
2014 Winner:
The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights
by Steve Sheinkin
Category: Nonfiction
2013 Winner:
Building Our House
by Jonathan Bean
Category: Picture Book
2013 Winner:
Eleanor & Park
by Rainbow Rowell
Category: Fiction
2013 Winner:
Electric Ben: The Amazing Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin
by Robert Byrd
Category: Nonfiction
2012 Winner:
Extra Yarn
by Mac Barnett
Category: Picture Book
Also: TIME: The 100 Best Children's Books of All Time
2012 Winner:
No Crystal Stair: A Documentary Novel of the Life and Work of Lewis Michaux, Harlem Bookseller
by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie
Category: Fiction
2012 Winner:
Chuck Close: Face Book
by Chuck Close
Category: Nonfiction
2011 Winner:
Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes
by Salley Mavor
Category: Picture Book
2011 Winner:
Blink & Caution
by Tim Wynne-Jones
Category: Fiction
2011 Winner:
The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism, & Treachery
by Steve Sheinkin
Category: Nonfiction
2010 Winner:
I Know Here
by Laurel Croza
Category: Picture Book
Also: Ezra Jack Keats Award Winners
2010 Winner:
When You Reach Me
by Rebecca Stead
Recommended Age: 10
Category: Fiction
Also: Newbery Medal Winners
2010 Winner:
Marching for Freedom: Walk Together, Children, and Don’t You Grow Weary
by Elizabeth Partridge
Category: Nonfiction
2009 Winner:
Bubble Trouble
by Margaret Mahy, illustrated by Polly Dunbar
Category: Picture Book
2009 Winner:
Nation
by Terry Pratchett
Category: Fiction
2009 Winner:
The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary
by Candace Fleming
Category: Nonfiction
2008 Winner:
At Night
by Jonathan Bean
Category: Picture Book
2008 Winner:
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
by Sherman Alexie, illustrated by Ellen Forney
Category: Fiction and Poetry
Also: National Book Award Young People's Literature Winners
2008 Winner:
The Wall
by Eve Bunting
Category: Nonfiction
Also: Picture Books for Minor Holidays
2008 Winner:
The Arrival
by Shaun Tan
Category: Special Citation
2007 Winner:
Dog and Bear: Two Friends, Three Stories
by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
Category: Picture Book
2007 Winner:
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party
by M. T. Anderson
Category: Fiction and Poetry
2007 Winner:
The Strongest Man in the World: Louis Cyr
by Nicolas Debon
Category: Nonfiction
2006 Winner:
Leaf Man
by Lois Ehlert
Category: Picture Book
2006 Winner:
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane
by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline
Category: Fiction and Poetry
2006 Winner:
If You Decide to Go to the Moon
by Faith McNulty, illustrated by Steven Kellogg
Category: Nonfiction
2005 Winner:
The Schwa Was Here
by Neal Shusterman
Category: Fiction and Poetry
2005 Winner:
The Race to Save the Lord God Bird
by Phillip Hoose
Category: Nonfiction
2005 Winner:
Traction Man Is Here!
by Mini Grey
Category: Picture Book
2004 Winner:
The Fire-Eaters
by David Almond
Category: Fiction and Poetry
2004 Winner:
An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793
by Jim Murphy
Category: Nonfiction
2004 Winner:
The Man Who Walked Between the Towers
by Mordicai Gerstein
Recommended Age: 6
Category: Picture Book
Also: Caldecott Medal Winners
Also: New York Public Library’s List of 100 Picture Books Everyone Should Know
2003 Winner:
The Jamie and Angus Stories
by Anne Fine, illustrated by Penny Dale
Category: Fiction and Poetry
2003 Winner:
Fireboat: The Heroic Adventures of the John J. Harvey
by Maira Kalman
Category: Nonfiction
2003 Winner:
Big Momma Makes the World
by Phyllis Root, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury
Category: Picture Book
2002 Winner:
Lord of the Deep
by Graham Salisbury
Category: Fiction and Poetry
2002 Winner:
This Land was Made for You and Me: The Life and Songs of Woody Guthrie
by Elizabeth Partridge
Category: Nonfiction
2002 Winner:
“Let’s Get a Pup!” Said Kate
by Bob Graham
Category: Picture Book
2001 Winner:
Carver: A Life in Poems
by Marilyn Nelson
Category: Fiction and Poetry
2001 Winner:
The Longitude Prize
by Joan Dash, illustrated by Dusan Petricic
Category: Nonfiction
2001 Winner:
Cold Feet
by Cynthia DeFelice, illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker
Category: Picture Book
2000 Winner:
The Folk Keeper
by Franny Billingsley
Category: Fiction and Poetry
2000 Winner:
Sir Walter Ralegh and the Quest for El Dorado
by Marc Aronson
Category: Nonfiction
2000 Winner:
Henry Hikes To Fitchburg
by D.B. Johnson
Recommended Age: 4
Category: Picture Book
Also: Ezra Jack Keats Award Winners
Also: New York Public Library’s List of 100 Picture Books Everyone Should Know
1999 Winner:
Holes
by Louis Sachar
Recommended Age: 9
Category: Fiction
Also: Amazon's 100 Children's Books to Read in a Lifetime
Also: National Book Award Young People's Literature Winners
Also: Newbery Medal Winners
1999 Winner:
The Top of the World: Climbing Mount Everest
by Steve Jenkins
Category: Nonfiction
1999 Winner:
Red-Eyed Tree Frog
by Joy Cowley, illustrated with photographs by Nic Bishop
Category: Picture Book
1999 Winner:
Tibet: Through the Red Box
by Peter Sis
Category: Special Citation
1998 Winner:
The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child
by Francisco Jiménez
Category: Fiction
1998 Winner:
Leon’s Story
by Leon Walter Tillage, illustrated with collage art by Susan L. Roth
Category: Nonfiction
1998 Winner:
And If the Moon Could Talk
by Kate Banks, illustrated by Georg Hallensleben
Category: Picture Book
1997 Winner:
The Friends
by Kazumi Yumoto, translated by Cathy Hirano
Category: Fiction
1997 Winner:
A Drop of Water: A Book of Science and Wonder
by Walter Wick
Category: Nonfiction
Also: Top 20 Science and Nature Books for Young Children
1997 Winner:
The Adventures of Sparrowboy
by Brian Pinkney
Category: Picture Book
1996 Winner:
Poppy
by Avi
Category: Fiction
Also: Moving Beyond the Page Age 7-9
1996 Winner:
Orphan Train Rider: One Boy’s True Story
by Andrea Warren
Category: Nonfiction
1996 Winner:
In the Rain with Baby Duck
by Amy Hest, illustrated by Jill Barton
Category: Picture Book
1995 Winner:
Some of the Kinder Planets
by Tim Wynne-Jones
Category: Fiction
1995 Winner:
Abigail Adams: Witness to a Revolution
by Natalie S. Bober
Category: Nonfiction
1995 Winner:
John Henry
by Lester Julius; illustrated by Jerry Pinkney
Recommended Age: 10
Category: Picture Book
Also: New York Public Library’s List of 100 Picture Books Everyone Should Know
1994 Winner:
Scooter
by Vera Williams
Category: Fiction
1994 Winner:
Eleanor Roosevelt: A Life of Discovery
by Russell Freedman
Category: Nonfiction
1994 Winner:
Grandfather's Journey
by Allen Say
Recommended Age: 4
Category: Picture Book
Also: Caldecott Medal Winners
Also: Five in a Row Book List for Ages 4-8
Also: Mater Amabilis Kindergarten Book List for Ages 5-6
Also: New York Public Library’s List of 100 Picture Books Everyone Should Know
Also: TIME: The 100 Best Children's Books of All Time
Also: What We Read: Japan
1993 Winner:
Ajeemah and His Son
by James Berry
Category: Fiction
1993 Winner:
Sojourner Truth: Ain’t I a Woman?
by Patricia C. and Fredrick McKissack
Category: Nonfiction
1993 Winner:
The Fortune Tellers
by Lloyd Alexander, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman
Category: Picture Book
1992 Winner:
Missing May
by Cynthia Rylant
Recommended Age: 10
Category: Fiction
Also: Newbery Medal Winners
1992 Winner:
Talking with Artists
compiled and edited by Pat Cummings
Category: Nonfiction
1992 Winner:
Seven Blind Mice
by Ed Young
Category: Picture Book
Also: My Father's World Kindergarten Literature Collection
1991 Winner:
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
by Avi
Category: Fiction
1991 Winner:
Appalachia: The Voices of Sleeping Birds
by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Barry Moser
Category: Nonfiction
1991 Winner:
The Tale of the Mandarin Ducks
by Katherine Paterson, illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon
Category: Picture Book
1990 Winner:
Maniac Magee
by Jerry Spinelli
Recommended Age: 11
Category: Fiction
Also: Amazon's 100 Children's Books to Read in a Lifetime
Also: Newbery Medal Winners
1990 Winner:
The Great Little Madison
by Jean Fritz
Category: Nonfiction
1990 Winner:
Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story from China
by Ed Young
Recommended Age: 8
Category: Picture Book
Also: Caldecott Medal Winners
Also: New York Public Library’s List of 100 Picture Books Everyone Should Know
Also: TIME: The 100 Best Children's Books of All Time
Also: What We Read: China
1990 Winner:
Valentine and Orson
by Nancy Ekholm Burkert
Category: Special Citation
1989 Winner:
The Village by the Sea
by Paula Fox
Category: Fiction
1989 Winner:
The Way Things Work
by David Macaulay
Category: Nonfiction
1989 Winner:
Shy Charles
by Rosemary Wells
Category: Picture Book
1988 Winner:
The Friendship
by Mildred D. Taylor
Category: Fiction
Also: Coretta Scott King Book Award Winners
1988 Winner:
Anthony Burns: The Defeat and Triumph of a Fugitive Slave
by Virginia Hamilton
Category: Nonfiction
1988 Winner:
The Boy of the Three-Year Nap
by Dianne Snyder, illustrated by Allen Say
Category: Picture Book
1987 Winner:
Rabble Starkey
by Lois Lowry
Category: Fiction
1987 Winner:
The Pilgrims of Plimoth
by Marcia Sewall
Category: Nonfiction
1987 Winner:
Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale
Retold And Illustrated By John Steptoe
Recommended Age: 5
Category: Picture Book
Also: Mater Amabilis Kindergarten Book List for Ages 5-6
Also: New York Public Library’s List of 100 Picture Books Everyone Should Know
Also: What We Read: Southern Africa
1986 Winner:
In Summer Light
by Zibby Oneal
Category: Fiction
1986 Winner:
Auks, Rocks, and the Odd Dinosaur: Inside Stories from the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History
by Peggy Thomson
Category: Nonfiction
1986 Winner:
The Paper Crane
by Molly Bang
Category: Picture Book
1985 Winner:
The Moves Make the Man
by Bruce Brooks
Category: Fiction
1985 Winner:
Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun
by Rhoda Blumberg
Category: Nonfiction
Also: Former Sonlight Books
1985 Winner:
Anno's Journey
by Mitsumasa Anno
Category: Picture Book
Also: TIME: The 100 Best Children's Books of All Time
1985 Winner:
1,2,3
by Tana Hoban
Category: Special Citation
1984 Winner:
A Little Fear
by Patricia Wrightson
Category: Fiction
1984 Winner:
The Double Life of Pocahontas
by Jean Fritz, illustrated by Ed Young
Category: Nonfiction
1984 Winner:
Jonah and the Great Fish
retold and illustrated by Warwick Hutton
Category: Picture Book
1983 Winner:
Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush
by Virginia Hamilton
Category: Fiction
Also: Coretta Scott King Book Award Winners
1983 Winner:
Behind Barbed Wire: The Imprisonment of Japanese Americans During World War II
by Daniel S. Davis
Category: Nonfiction
1983 Winner:
A Chair for My Mother
by Vera Williams
Recommended Age: 4
Category: Picture Book
Also: New York Public Library’s List of 100 Picture Books Everyone Should Know
Also: Veritas Press 1st Grade Literature
Also: Sonlight Preschool Book List for Ages 3-4 (in 20th Century Children’s Book Treasury)
1982 Winner:
Playing Beatie Bow
by Ruth Park
Category: Fiction
1982 Winner:
Upon the Head of the Goat: A Childhood in Hungary 1939–1944
by Aranka Siegal
Category: Nonfiction
1982 Winner:
A Visit to William Blake's Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers
by Nancy Willard
Recommended Age: 2
Category: Picture Book
Also: Memoria Press 2nd Grade Read-Aloud Program
Also: Newbery Medal Winners
1981 Winner:
The Leaving
by Lynn Hall
Category: Fiction
1981 Winner:
The Weaver’s Gift
by Kathryn Lasky
Category: Nonfiction
1981 Winner:
Outside Over There
by Maurice Sendak
Category: Picture Book
Also: National Book Award Children's Book Winners
1980 Winner:
Conrad’s War
by Andrew Davies
Category: Fiction
1980 Winner:
Building: The Fight Against Gravity
by Mario Salvadori, illustrated by Saralinda Hooker and Christopher Ragus
Category: Nonfiction
1980 Winner:
The Garden of Abdul Gasazi
by Chris Van Allsburg
Category: Picture Book
Also: Mensa for Kids Excellence in Reading Grades K-3
Also: TIME: The 100 Best Children's Books of All Time
1980 Winner:
Graham Oakley’s Magical Changes
by Graham Oakley
Category: Special Citation
1979 Winner:
Humbug Mountain
by Sid Fleischman
Category: Fiction
1979 Winner:
The Road from Home: The Story of an Armenian Girl
by David Kherdian
Category: Nonfiction
1979 Winner:
The Snowman
by Raymond Briggs
Category: Picture Book
1978 Winner:
The Westing Game
by Ellen Raskin
Recommended Age: 12
Category: Fiction
Also: Amazon's 100 Children's Books to Read in a Lifetime
Also: Former Sonlight Books
Also: Newbery Medal Winners
1978 Winner:
Mischling, Second Degree
by Ilse Koehn
Category: Nonfiction
1978 Winner:
Anno's Journey
by Mitsumasa Anno
Category: Picture Book
Also: TIME: The 100 Best Children's Books of All Time
1977 Winner:
Child of the Owl
by Laurence Yep
Category: Fiction
1977 Winner:
Chance, Luck and Destiny
by Peter Dickinson
Category: Nonfiction
1977 Winner:
Granfa’ Grig Had a Pig and Other Rhymes Without Reason from Mother Goose
by Wallace Tripp
Category: Picture Book
1977 Winner:
The Changing City and The Changing Countryside
by Jörg Müller
Category: Special Citation
1976 Winner:
Unleaving
by Jill Paton Walsh
Category: Fiction
1976 Winner:
Voyaging to Cathay: Americans in the China Trade
by Alfred Tamarin and Shirley Glubok
Category: Nonfiction
1976 Winner:
Thirteen
by Remy Charlip and Jerry Joyner
Category: Picture Book
1975 Winner:
Transport 7-41-R
by T. Degens
Category: Fiction
1975 Winner:
Anno’s Alphabet
by Mitsumasa Anno
Category: Picture Book
1974 Winner:
M. C. Higgins, the Great
by Virginia Hamilton
Recommended Age: 12
Category: Fiction
Also: National Book Award Children's Book Winners
Also: Newbery Medal Winners
1974 Winner:
Jambo Means Hello: Swahili Alphabet Book
by Muriel Feelings
Category: Picture Book
Also: Mater Amabilis Kindergarten Book List for Ages 5-6
Also: What We Read: East Africa
1973 Winner:
The Dark is Rising (The Dark is Rising Sequence)
by Susan Cooper
Category: Fiction
Also: Mensa for Kids Excellence in Reading Grades 4-6
1973 Winner:
King Stork
by Howard Pyle, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman
Category: Picture Book
1972 Winner:
Tristan and Iseult
by Rosemary Sutcliff
Category: Fiction
1972 Winner:
Mr. Gumpy's Outing
by John Birmingham
Recommended Age: 3
Category: Picture Book
Also: New York Public Library’s List of 100 Picture Books Everyone Should Know
1971 Winner:
A Room Made of Windows
by Eleanor Cameron
Category: Fiction
1971 Winner:
If I Built a Village . . .
by Kazue Mizumura
Category: Picture Book
1970 Winner:
The Intruder
by John Rowe Townsend
Category: Fiction
1970 Winner:
Hi, Cat!
by Ezra Jack Keats
Category: Picture Book
1969 Winner:
A Wizard of Earthsea
by Ursula K. Le Guin
Category: Fiction
Also: Mensa for Kids Excellence in Reading Grades 7-8
1969 Winner:
The Adventures of Paddy Pork
by John S. Goodall
Category: Picture Book
1968 Winner:
The Spring Rider
by John Lawson
Category: Fiction
1968 Winner:
Tikki Tikki Tembo
by Arlene Mosel
Category: Picture Book
Also: Memoria Press Junior Kindergarten Read-Aloud Program
Also: Mensa for Kids Excellence in Reading Grades K-3
Also: TIME: The 100 Best Children's Books of All Time
Also: What We Read: China
1967 Winner:
The Little Fishes
by Erik Christian Haugaard
Category: Fiction
1967 Winner:
London Bridge Is Falling Down
by Peter Spier
Category: Picture Book