Picture Book Honor Awards
2007 Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards

Joëlle Jolivet & Jean-Luc Fromental | Emily Gravett

365 Penguins written by Jean-Luc Fromental, illustrated by Joëlle Jolivet,
published by Harry N. Abrams, Inc.

Although we cannot be with you in the flesh for this distinguished ceremony — but at least consoled that we have saved the cost in CO2 of our coming from France — we would like to thank you deeply for the great honor and distinction (and attention) your award has brought to our modest (if oversized) book.

An award with the word globe in its name for a book about global warming seems fairly appropriate. However, it came as a great surprise and elation to us to learn we had actually won one. Both penguins and counting are international, of course, and the book received a warm welcome in a number of countries, but that an American jury should choose to distinguish a French book, full of that sarcastic and, to some, irritating brand of Gallic humor, went straight to our hearts.

So please accept a tip of the ice-cap from two French penguins, and many thanks for the honor and pleasure.

Penguins of the world, unite!

— Joëlle Jolivet & Jean-Luc Fromental
(comments read by Maggie Lehrmann, Abrams)

Wolves written and illustrated by Emily Gravett, published by Simon & Schuster

As you can probably tell, I couldn’t be there tonight, for which I am very sorry, but I have watched the past ceremonies on the Internet, so I’m doing my best to imagine that I am actually there, and I will stay up (even if it is very late here in England) and raise a glass in thanks for the privilege of Wolves being named a Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor Book.

Wolves started off life as a final-year university project. It was the first book that I got published, so it really gives me an enormous kick that something I wrote when the whole business of becoming an author/illustrator still seemed like an unobtainable fantasy is being read not only to children I’m not actually related to but to children in other countries as well! Amazing!

I would especially like to thank the judges for noticing Wolves amongst so many of the fantastic books that are published each year. Also my editors at Simon & Schuster in the US and Macmillan Children’s books in the UK for publishing it, and doing such a great job at reproducing so faithfully my original vision.

Lastly I would like to thank David [Gale] for reading this.

Thanks!

— Emily Gravett
(comments read by David Gale, Simon & Schuster)

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