Boston Globe Horn Book Nonfiction

First presented in 1967 and customarily announced in June, the Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards are among the most prestigious honors in the field of children’s and young adult literature.

Winners are selected in three categories: Picture Book, Fiction and Poetry, and Nonfiction. Two Honor Books may be named in each category.

The winning titles must be published in the United States but they may be written or illustrated by citizens of any country. The awards are chosen by an independent panel of three judges who are annually appointed by the Editor of the Horn Book.

Fiction | Nonfiction | Picture Book

Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers

Author: Joaane Schwartz

2017 Boston Globe Horn Book -- Nonfiction - Winner

From the author of National Book Award finalist Charles and Emma comes an incredible story of brotherly love.

The deep and enduring friendship between Vincent and Theo Van Gogh shaped both brothers' lives. Confidant, champion, sympathizer, friend--Theo supported Vincent as he struggled to find his path in life. They shared everything, swapping stories of lovers and friends, successes and disappointments, dreams and ambitions. Meticulously researched, drawing on the 658 letters Vincent wrote to Theo during his lifetime, Deborah Heiligman weaves a tale of two lives intertwined and the extraordinary love of the Van Gogh brothers

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Some Writer!: The Story of E. B. White

Author: Melissa Sweet

2017 Boston Globe Horn Book -- Nonfiction - Honor

Presents an account of E.B. White's life and career through personal letters, photographs, family ephemera, and original artwork, while offering glimpses into the origins of his iconic works.

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Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team

Author: Steve Sheinkin

2017 Boston Globe Horn Book -- Nonfiction - Honor

A great American sport and Native American history come together in this true story of how Jim Thorpe and Pop Warner created the legendary Carlisle Indians football team

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Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War

Author: Steve Sheinkin

2016 Boston Globe Horn Book -- Nonfiction - Winner

This captivating nonfiction investigation of the Pentagon Papers has captured widespread critical acclaim, including features in "The Washington Post "and on NPR, selection as a 2015 National Book Award finalist, and selection as a finalist for the 2016 YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award.

Author Steve Sheinkin has written "a tense, narrative nonfiction account of what the Times deemed "the greatest story of the century": how whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg transformed from obscure government analyst into "the most dangerous man in America," and risked everything to expose years of government lies during the Nixon / Cold War era.

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Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad

Author: M.T. Anderson

2016 Boston Globe Horn Book -- Nonfiction - Honor

National Book Award winner M. T. Anderson delivers a brilliant and riveting account of the Siege of Leningrad and the role played by Russian composer Shostakovich and his Leningrad Symphony.

In September 1941, Adolf Hitler's Wehrmacht surrounded Leningrad in what was to become one of the longest and most destructive sieges in Western history almost three years of bombardment and starvation that culminated in the harsh winter of 1943 1944. More than a million citizens perished. Survivors recall corpses littering the frozen streets, their relatives having neither the means nor the strength to bury them. Trapped between the Nazi invading force and the Soviet government itself was composer Dmitri Shostakovich, who would write a symphony that roused, rallied, eulogized, and commemorated his fellow citizens the "Leningrad" Symphony, which came to occupy a surprising place of prominence in the eventual Allied victory.

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Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement

Author: Carole Boston Weatherford

2016 Boston Globe Horn Book -- Nonfiction - Honor

Presents a collage-illustrated treasury of poems and spirituals inspired by the life and work of civil rights advocate Fannie Lou Hamer.

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The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and  the Fall of Imperial Russia

Author: Candace Fleming

2015 Boston Globe Horn Book -- Nonfiction - Winner

The award-winning author of The Lincolns traces the story of the Russian Revolution, the lives of the Romanov family and the story of their tragic deaths, in an account that draws on primary source materials and includes period photography.

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Brown Girl Dreaming

Author: Jacqueline Woodson

2015 Boston Globe Horn Book -- Nonfiction - Honor

In vivid poems that reflect the joy of finding her voice through writing stories, an award-winning author shares what it was like to grow up in the 1960s and 1970s in both the North and the South.

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The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Pedersen and the Churchill Club

Author: Phillip Hoose

2015 Boston Globe Horn Book -- Nonfiction - Honor

At the outset of World War II, Denmark did not resist German occupation. Deeply ashamed of his nation's leaders, fifteen-year-old Knud Pedersen resolved with his brother and a handful of schoolmates to take action against the Nazis if the adults would not. Naming their secret club after the fiery British leader, the young patriots in the Churchill Club committed countless acts of sabotage, infuriating the Germans, who eventually had the boys tracked down and arrested. But their efforts were not in vain: the boys' exploits and eventual imprisonment helped spark a full-blown Danish resistance. Interweaving his own narrative with the recollections of Knud himself, here is Phillip Hoose's inspiring story of these young war heroes.

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The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights

Author: Steve Sheinkin

2014 Boston Globe Horn Book -- Nonfiction - Winner

Presents an account of the 1944 civil rights protest involving hundreds of African-American Navy servicemen who were unjustly charged with mutiny for refusing to work in unsafe conditions after the deadly Port Chicago explosion.

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The animal book : a collection of the fastest, fiercest, toughest, cleverest, shyest--and most surprising--animals on earth

Author: Steve Jenkins

2014 Boston Globe Horn Book -- Nonfiction - Honor

Shares facts on over three hundred animals and offers a brief overview of the history of life on Earth. Dance with a blue-footed booby, or stare down an eyelash viper. But mind your step-- in the animal world, the name of the game is survival.

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Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker

Author: Patricia Hruby Powell

2014 Boston Globe Horn Book -- Nonfiction - Honor

A portrait of the passionate performer and civil rights advocate Josephine Baker, the woman who worked her way from the slums of St. Louis to the grandest stages in the world. Meticulously researched by both author and artist, Josephine's powerful story of struggle and triumph is an inspiration and a spectacle, just like the legend herself.

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