PRESENTED TO MARTHA V. PARRAVANO "Keeper of the Horn Book Flame" On May 5, 2023, Martha retired from her position as book review editor after a decades-long career at the Horn Book. We are honored to present her with the first (and only) MVP Award for her expertise in...
Board books don’t tend to win major awards. True, a handful have been named ALA Notable Children’s Books, including one of my all-time favorites, Global Babies by the Global Fund for Children. Many a Caldecott winner has later been republished in board book format, and some work well, notably Kevin...
From Deborah Stevenson, chair of the O'Dell Award committee: Champaign, IL (January 10, 2022) — The 2022 Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction goes to Ophie’s Ghosts by Justina Ireland, published by Balzer + Bray. Ophie is twelve when she sees a ghost for the first time: her father’s spirit warns her...
From the BCCB's Deborah Stevenson, chair of the O'Dell Award committee: Champaign, IL (January 18, 2019)—The 2019 Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction goes to Finding Langston, by Lesa Cline-Ransome, published by Holiday House. Chicago brings culture shock for eleven-year-old Langston, who moves there from Alabama with his father in 1946 after his mother...
from O'Dell committee chair Deborah Stevenson:The 2018 Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction goes to Beyond the Bright Sea, by Lauren Wolk, published by Dutton Books for Young readers, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers.The isolated world of the Elizabeth Islands off of mainland Massachusetts in 1925 comes to life...
The 2017 Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction goes to Full of Beans, by Jennifer L. Holm, published by Random House Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Random House Children's Books. Narrator Beans Curry immerses middle-grade readers in his kid world of Depression-era Key West, where he and his...
The winner of the 2016 National Book Award for Young People's Literature is March: Book Three by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin; illus. by Nate Powell.Read The Horn Book's reviews of the March trilogy here:March: Book OneMarch: Book TwoMarch: Book ThreeAnd you can read our Five Questions interview with the...
The 2016 Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction goes to The Hired Girl, by Laura Amy Schlitz, published by Candlewick Press.When Joan’s father burns her beloved books as an undeserved punishment for shirking her housework, the put-upon fourteen-year-old makes a reckless gambit for freedom, running away to Baltimore in search...
Teachers often ask how to keep up with the best new books. Good intentions are one thing, and real life (long days, class prep, paper grading) is another.For those with limited time, I recommend going online near the end of the year when children's book review journals post their "best...