The Horn Book is steeped in tradition. Since 1924, we've reviewed and discussed the finest in children's literature. And since 2014, we've brought home the win at Children's Books Boston's Wicked Boston Children's Book Trivia Challenge.

This was the second year that Boston's librarians, booksellers, editors, students, and other children's lit nerds piled into M. J. O'Connor's Back Bay. And this year, there were enough Horn Bookers involved that we formed two teams, rounding them out with a few fellow children's lit aficionados. Elissa, Katrina, and Siân joined forces with Vicky and Jennifer to form Goodnight, Moonshine; Katie, Lolly, Kazia, Molly, Grace, and I formed Goldilocks and the Free Beers. (The latter name was resurrected from last year, and credit for both names goes to Horn Book alum Shara Hardeson.) Cleverly named teams formed all around us — The Notorious BFG was a crowd favorite, as were Mild Things and Wild Things.



The always-amusing Jack Gantos (wait until you see our September issue, folks) was back as master of ceremonies, this time with signed copies of Rotten Ralph’s Rotten Romance in hand. And once again, anything and everything in children's and young adult literature was fair game. Who's the main character of Blubber? (Jill Brenner. I know that now.) Who are Ender's siblings? (No, neither one is named Starter.) What character refers to her teacher just as Mrs.? (Junie B. Jones. I said Clementine. May Sara Pennypacker and the late Barbara Park forgive me.) There were illustrations and first lines to identify. There were page counts and bestseller list runs to estimate (the Harry Potter series and Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site, respectively. High numbers in both cases.)

In the end, it was down to Goodnight, Moonshine and Goldilocks and the Free Beers, with Stranger/Friends in a respectable third place. But Goldilocks and the Free Beers took home the prize:





In conclusion, The Horn Book and friends are not dorky. We're cool. Shut up.

And, we hope, see you at the next CBB gathering. (Join our mailing list and Facebook group to stay in the loop about upcoming events!)