New England Book Festival Honors Children’s Classic ‘Horatio in the Wind’

The story of a boy who kidnaps Death in order to give everlasting life to his people is the top book in the 2024 New England Book Festival, which honors the best of the holiday season.

Author José Oldenburg and illustrator Robert Nailon’s Horatio in the Wind – Book 1 in The Leunam Tales (self-published) tells the unique story of a young prince who struggles to protect his family from death. To achieve that, he captures Death in a sack, but soon learns that the joy of living is inextricably bound with dying, and so has to release Death in order to rediscover the beauty and meaning of life.

An unusual tale for the category and lavishly illustrated, Horatio in the Wind was written as a way for the author to cope with an early fear of dying. Through this story, he hopes to help others to grieve, move on, and enjoy life to the fullest, and is well worthy of top honors in the festival.