Annal:2003 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Nonfiction

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Results of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award in the year 2003. For a ranked list of books, try an honor roll:

Fireboat: The Heroic Adventures of the John J. Harvey

Maira Kalman

This is the inspiring true story of the John J. Harvey-a retired New York City fireboat reinstated on September 11, 2001. Originally launched in 1931, the Harvey was the most powerful fireboat of her time. After the September 11 attacks, with fire hydrants at Ground Zero inoperable and the Hudson River’s water supply critical to fighting the blaze, the fire department called on the Harvey for help. There were adjustments-forcing water into hoses by jamming soda bottles and wood into nozzles with a sledgehammer-and then the fireboat’s volunteer crew pumped…

 

To Fly: The Story of the Wright Brothers

Wendie Old, Robert Andrew Parker

Orville and Wilbur Wright were a fascinating pair. Not only did they invent, build, and fly the first airplane, they were also idiosyncratic individuals who had a unique relationship, sharing a home, a bank account, and a business throughout their lives. Their story is portrayed here in brief, accessible chapters, beginning with their childhood fascination with flight and love of problem solving, then detailing their early experiments and dangerous trial runs in North Carolina, and ending with their successful flights of 1903. This well-researched and personable…

 

Revenge of the Whale: The True Story of the Whalesip Essex

Nathaniel Philbrick

On November 20, 1820, the whaleship Essex was rammed and sunk by an angry whale. Within minutes, the twenty-one-man crew, including the fourteen-year-old cabin boy Thomas Nickerson, found themselves stranded in three leaky boats in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with barely any supplies and little hope. Three months later, two of the boats were rescued 4,500 miles away, off the coast of South America. Of the twenty-one castaways, only eight survived, including young Thomas.

Based on his New York Times best-seller In the Heart of the Sea,…

 
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