But Where in the World Is Nina Garcia?

It's getting very difficult to muddle on without her, but we have nevertheless appointed our judges for the 2010 Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards. They are Horn Book Magazine executive editor Martha V. Parravano, NYT children's books editor Julie Just, and novelist (and long-time-ago Horn Book columnist) Gregory Maguire. Information about the awards and guidelines for submissions can be found on our website.

BGHB Awards, pictures and video

The indefatigable Lolly Robinson and Katrina Hedeen have posted photos and video from the 2009 Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards held last Friday evening. Check it all out. (In this pic l. to r. are Harper editor Anne Hoppe, judge Jonathan Hunt, winner Candace Fleming, judge Ruth Nadelman Lynn, and me.)

I feel like a butler.

We will be posting the video from last Friday's Boston-Globe Horn Book awards before the end of the week, and the speeches will appear in the January/February issue of the Magazine. Thanks to all who came, in person and in spirit.

The 2009 Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards

have been announced.

Show and Tell

The complete Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards ceremony is now up for your viewing and listening pleasure. Many thanks to Lolly Robinson for her persistent and patient digital efforts!

Downtown at the BGHB

That rockin' place the Boston Athenaeum was once again the host for the annual Boston Globe Horn Book Awards, and you can view some highlights and hear the speeches here. Video coming soon.

As Manderley burns . . .

photo by Duncan Todd

Actually, that's not Mrs. Danvers, it's Horn Book publisher Anne Quirk keeping an eagle eye on the Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards this past Friday night. Look for more photos later today.

Cast your vote for the future

over at Nina Lindsay and SLJ's new mock-Newbery blog, "Heavy Medal." Lots of titles are being suggested, including the two BGHB Honor Books Savvy and Shooting the Moon. I'll be meeting authors Ingrid Law and Frances O'Roark Dowell this Friday at the BGHB Awards, held as usual in the swank confines of the Boston Athenaeum. I hope to see some of you there, too.

James Joyce wins BGHB?

You know, I was there and it was nothing like this.

[Update--the link was to a German blog titled "Boston Globe Horn Book Awards" filled with English words and sentences strung together in a way that occasionally made sense but more often were simply madly stream-of-consciousness insanity. Apparently now it takes you to another site. This is the kind of spamming I don't understand. I mean, the gold-farm people want your money but this didn't have anything like that.]

Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards 2008

Here they are, the winners of the 2008 Boston Globe Horn Book Awards.

Nonfiction: The Wall, by Peter Sis, published by Foster/Farrar.
Honor Books: Frogs by Nic Bishop (Scholastic) and What to Do about Alice? by Barbara Kerley, illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham (Scholastic)

Fiction: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, illustrated by Ellen Forney (Little, Brown)
Honor Books: Shooting the Moon by Frances O'Roark Dowell (Atheneum) and Savvy by Ingrid Law (Walden/Dial)

Picture Books: At Night by Jonathan Bean (Farrar)
Honor Books: Fred Stays with Me! by Nancy Coffelt, illustrated by Tricia Tusa (Little, Brown) and A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever by Marla Frazee (Harcourt)

Special Citation, for excellence in graphic storytelling: The Arrival by Shaun Tan (Levine/Scholastic)


Read the press release for complete details.

I guess you didn't have to be there

cuz here's the whole darn Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards for your viewing enjoyment.

Some BGHB reports

From J. L. Bell and Loree Griffin Burns.

Bear footed

Unlike this lucky little guy, who sat the whole thing out, I had to wear my big-boy shoes twice this weekend, first for the Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards on Friday and then again for Dame Kiri's farewell recital last night. Lolly and Kitty will be busy today to bring you more pictures and moments from Friday night's celebration; I'm betting Kiri has her feet up, too.

P.S. The photo is by Richard, whose birthday it is today. Happy birthday sweetheart!

A Small Correction

We misreported the date of the forthcoming Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards: they will be celebrated on October 12, 2007.

Just announced:

The 2007 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award winners.

Place your bets!

The Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards committee is beginning its round of in-person debate tomorrow, and I'll be able to share the names of the winners with you next week. Any guesses? The awards frequently surprise me, as my involvement with the choices ends with selecting the judges and I'm not privy to their discussions. Because the award's year begins on June 1, it straddles the eligibility frames of the calendar year awards such as the Newbery and Caldecott, and can thus both affirm (or not) and predict (or not) what those awards did or will do. Dates aside, the BGHB awards aren't really comparable with the ALA awards, though, because the criteria are markedly different: fiction, nonfiction, and picture books are judged separately (poetry can fall into any and all of these categories); picture books are for both art and text (and illustrator and author); and books originally published in another country and then republished in the States are eligible. Any guesses?

We also had our July/August star meeting today. Those choices will be yours within a couple of days. Let's just say it was lively.