The 2024 Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards ceremony was held at the Boston Public Library on November 25.
Elissa Gershowitz '00MA, Editor in Chief of The Horn Book, noted that this was a unique year in many respects, marking 50 years of Children’s Literature at Simmons, and the 100 year anniversary of The Horn Book Magazine — which was established by another Simmons alumna, Bertha Mahony Miller, who graduated from Simmons School of Secretarial Studies in 1906.
In past years, the Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards have been given to exemplary titles in picturebook, fiction, and nonfiction, with one winner and two honor books in each category.
“Poetry tends to jump around,” said Gershowitz.
However, this year an award was granted for poetry, specifically, as well as a special citation, intended for books that “demonstrate exceptional quality and creative excellence.”
As Gershowitz said, “It’s not the first time we’ve given a special citation, but it doesn’t happen often.”
The three judges of this year’s awards have strong ties with Simmons University: Cathryn Mercier ’84MA ’93MP, Professor and Graduate Program Director of Children's Literature, and Rodney Fierce ’12MA, along with Katrina Hedeen Eftekhari, a former editor at The Horn Book and children's librarian at the Medfield Public Library in Medfield, Massachusetts.
“This event tonight places us at a nexus,” Mercier said. “We celebrate 100 years of The Horn Book Magazine, which was founded by a Simmons alumna, Class of 1906. We celebrate the quasquicentennial 125th anniversary of Simmons and we are celebrating 50 years of the serious academic study of children's literature with the founding of the Center for the Study of Children's Literature at Simmons.”
In addition, this event was the first in-person ceremony since 2019, and 13 of the honored authors and illustrators were present to receive their awards.
Globe–Horn Book Award Winners Announced
Picture Book Award Winner
- Do You Remember? by Sydney Smith (Neal Porter Books, an imprint of Holiday House)
Picture Book Honor Books
- I’m From by Gary R. Gray, Jr.; illustrated by Oge Mora (Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers)
- Ode to a Bad Day by Chelsea Lin Wallace; illustrated by Hyewon Yum (Chronicle Books)
Fiction Award Winner
- Remember Us by Jacqueline Woodson (Nancy Paulsen Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House)
Fiction Honor Books
- The Blood Years by Elana K. Arnold (Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers)
- Rez Ball by Byron Graves (Heartdrum, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers)
Nonfiction Award Winner
- The Mona Lisa Vanishes: A Legendary Painter, a Shocking Heist, and the Birth of a Global Celebrity by Nicholas Day; illustrated by Brett Helquist (Random House Studio, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House)
Nonfiction and Poetry Honor Book
- Fungi Grow by Maria Gianferrari; illustrated by Diana Sudyka (Beach Lane Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division)
Poetry Award Winner
- Kin: Rooted in Hope by Carole Boston Weatherford; illustrated by Jeffery Boston Weatherford (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division)
Special Citation
- The New Brownies’ Book: A Love Letter to Black Families by Karida L. Brown and Charly Palmer (Chronicle Books)