Annal:2003 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Picture Book

Big Momma Makes the World

Phyllis Root, Helen Oxenbury

• 2003 Horn Book-picture winner
• Score: 10.53

With infectious rhythms and down-home language, this utterly original creation myth tells how Big Momma makes the world—even with a baby on her hip and the laundry piled up—and celebrates the beauty of her creation.

Dahlia

Barbara McClintock

• 2003 Horn Book-picture honor
• Score: 6.53

Looks can be deceiving!

When Charlotte gets a delicate doll from her aunt Edme, she is not too happy. She tells the doll that she and Bruno, her bear, “like digging in dirt and climbing trees. No tea parties, no being pushed around in frilly prams. You’ll just have to get used to the way we do things.” Much to Charlotte and Bruno’s surprise, Dahlia seems to like getting dirty while making mud cakes and racing wagons. But at the end of the day, Charlotte’s aunt arrives for a visit and wants to see how Dahlia’s doing…and Charlotte is in for another surprise.

Charming, detailed illustrations accompany this sweet story about making room for a new friend.

Blues Journey

Walter Dean Myers, Christopher Myers

• 2003 Horn Book-picture honor
• Score: 6.53

Blues, blues, blues, blues, what you mean to me? Blues, blues, blues, blues, what you mean to me? Are you my pain and misery, or my sweet, sweet company? Renowned author Walter Dean Myers celebrates the African experience in America with a soulful, affecting blues poem that details the long journey from the Middle Passage to life today. Accompanied by Christopher Myers’s bold and powerful paintings, Blues Journey creates its own resonant music. Includes a time line, blues glossary, and author’s note.