2006 Boston Globe- Horn Book Awards

Today the winners of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards were announced. Here are the winners, all names that are very familiar:
Fiction and Poetry: The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo
Picture Book: Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert
Nonfiction: If You Decide to Go to the Moon by Faith McNulty
As an aside, I am very happy with Leaf Man and Moon winning, but I am still baffled by the appeal of Edward Tulane. Ah well, I must be missing something.
Two honor books were also selected in each category:
Fiction and Poetry:
Yellow Elephant: A Bright Bestiary by Julie Larios.
Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy.
Picture Book:
Mama: A True Story in Which a Baby Hippo Loses His Mama… by Jeanette Winter
Sky Boys: How They Built the Empire State Building by Deborah Hopkinson.
Nonfiction:
A Mother’s Journey by Sandra Markle.
Wildfire by Taylor Morrison.

Specials


Specials by Scott Westerfeld.  
This is the final book in the Uglies Trilogy.  If you have missed this trilogy or don’t have it in your library for the teens in your community, RUN out and get it.  It is a great series that offers a unique society where people of a certain age are surgically turned into Pretties.  Tally Youngblood finds herself caught in yet another web of lies and control where she has to think her way past her latest surgery.  I really don’t want to give much away, especially if you haven’t had the pleasure of reading the first two books in the series.  Let me just say that the final book in the trilogy is filled with as much adventure, amazement, detailed world building, and pure reading fun as the first two.  I enjoy Westerfeld’s sly humor and the not-so-subtle parallels with today’s society that ring very true.  
This is a great trilogy.  The only bad thing about it is that it is now finished.  But having read Westerfeld and loved his other books too, we will just have to wait to see what amazing teen novel he puts out next.  These are a must-purchase!  Recommend them to kids who enjoy science fiction.  They will be enjoyed by both boys and girls alike.  

Monsters

Publisher’s Weekly offers an article: A Monster of a Debut on the hot new book Monster Blood Tattoo by D. M. Cornish. It is interesting to read how such a unique and inventive world was discovered. I am about half way through the book right now, so look for a review in the next week or so. It is definitely worth reading!