Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards for Children's Books: Fiction Winners

Blink & Caution by Tim Wynne-Jones

Blink is a teenage runaway in Toronto who makes his way by stealing room service leftovers at an elite hotel. His life is changed when he witnesses a kidnapping hoax that soon dominates the media. In a parallel story, the novel follows Caution, a teenager fleeing her abusive and drug dealing boyfriend. Near the middle of the novel, Blink and Caution meet and form an uneasy bond as they both seek redemption.

Canadian author Tim Wynne-Jones has previous experience with the Boston Globe - Horn Book Award. He won the fiction award in 1995 for Some of the Kinder Planets, a collection of short stories. He was also an honoree for Rex Zero and the End of the World in 2007. Among his other notable young adult novels are The Uninvited and A Thief in the House of Memory.

Chime by Franny Billingsley

In Chime, Briony Larkin is a 17-year-old living in Swampsea and hiding two secrets. Not only is she a witch, but she also caused the accident that left her identical twin, Rose, mentally impaired. Things get further complicated when a city engineer named Clayborne arrives with plans to drain the swamp. This upsets the Old Ones and leads Boggy Mun to plague the local children with swamp cough as an act of reprisal. Briony knows she may need to use whatever powers she has to help.

Prior to 2011's Chime, Franny Billingsley published three other well-received books for children. Her first novel, Well Wished, is aimed at middle school students and was an Anne Spencer Lindbergh Prize Honor Book in 1997. The Folk Keeper, a young adult novel, won the 2000 Boston Globe - Horn Book Award for fiction. In 2008, she published Big Bad Bunny, a picture book that was included in Oprah's Book Club's Kids Reading List.

Anna Hibiscus by Atinuke

Anna Hibiscus is the first in a series of chapter books that were first published in England. The book is one of very few English language tales set in modern Africa and featuring a middle-class family. Anna lives with her Canadian mother, African father, twin baby brothers and her extended family. While appropriate for children, Anna Hibiscus dives into complicated subjects, including poverty and class.

Atinuke was born in the southwest Nigerian city of Ibadan. She has published several semi-autobiographical books about Anna Hibiscus, including Anna Hibiscus' Song, Good Luck, Anna Hibiscus and Have Fun, Anna Hibiscus! Her work also includes the No. 1 Car Spotter books.