CHARLY PALMER: We want to start by thanking the committee for this incredible honor. We are truly surprised, humbled, and so grateful to be standing here today, receiving this special citation. It’s a rare acknowledgment — given only seven times in the entire history of the Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards...

This piece depicts and is dedicated to Darryl George, a young man in Texas who was given in-school suspension for the 2023–24 school year because of the way he wore his hair. All but one of his claims of discrimination were denied by a U.S. District Court judge, but his...