The 2008 Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards honor, as the sponsors put it, "tales of restless spirits--a fledgling artist behind the Iron Curtain, a teen on a Spokane Indian reservation, a little girl on a big-city night, and a stranger in the strangest land."

Established in 1967, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards are customarily given in three categories: fiction and poetry, picture book and nonfiction. This year the judges also awarded a special citation.
 
The 2008 winners:

• Nonfiction: The Wall by Peter Sís (FSG/Foster)
• Fiction and Poetry: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, illustrated by Ellen Forney (Little, Brown)
• Picture Book: At Night by Jonathan Bean (FSG)
• Special Citation: The Arrival by Shaun Tan (Scholastic/Levine)

 The judges selected two honor books in each category:

• Nonfiction: Frogs by Nic Bishop (Scholastic) and What to Do About Alice? by Barbara Kerley, illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham (Scholastic)
• Fiction and Poetry: Shooting the Moon by Frances O'Roark Dowell (S&S/Atheneum) and Savvy by Ingrid Law (Walden/Dial)
• Picture Book: Fred Stays with Me! by Nancy Coffelt, illustrated by Tricia Tusa (Little, Brown) and A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever by Marla Frazee (Harcourt)