diff --git a/arborist/wallet/sidecar.py b/arborist/wallet/sidecar.py
index 7cb1d40..6a15e40 100644
--- a/arborist/wallet/sidecar.py
+++ b/arborist/wallet/sidecar.py
@@ -420,6 +420,7 @@ class SidecarReader:
         mode: str = "or",  # or | and
         k1: float = 1.5,
         b: float = 0.75,
+        title_boost: float = 8.0,
     ) -> list[SidecarHit]:
         """Tokenize ``query`` (matching tokenize_text), look each term
         up in the dictionary, score with BM25, return top ``limit`` hits.
@@ -481,12 +482,48 @@ class SidecarReader:
                 tf_norm = tf * (k1 + 1.0) / denom if denom > 0 else 0.0
                 scores[did] = scores.get(did, 0.0) + idf * tf_norm
 
+        # Title-token boost: docs whose TITLE contains a query term get
+        # a fixed bonus per overlap. BM25-only ranking penalizes long
+        # main articles ("Homer Simpson" Wikipedia article) vs short
+        # episode articles even when the main article is the right
+        # primary source. The local query.py compensates via a
+        # separate title-LIKE retrieval route; sidecar emulates with
+        # a render-time boost using the title we already store in the
+        # doc table. Stems both sides (possessive + plural collapse —
+        # matches the title-mismatch verifier's _stem helper) so
+        # "simpsons" (query) overlaps "simpson" (title). title_boost=0
+        # disables; default 8 is enough to lift a #3-by-BM25 long-doc
+        # match above #1-by-BM25 short-doc matches on the homer query.
+        if title_boost > 0 and scores:
+            def _t_stem(t: str) -> str:
+                t = t.replace("'", "").replace("’", "")
+                if len(t) > 4 and t.endswith("s") and not t.endswith("ss"):
+                    return t[:-1]
+                return t
+            query_stems = {_t_stem(t) for t in terms}
+            for did in scores:
+                title = self._doc_title(did).lower()
+                title_tokens = {_t_stem(t) for t in _WORD_RE.findall(title)}
+                overlap = len(query_stems & title_tokens)
+                if overlap:
+                    scores[did] += title_boost * overlap
+
         ranked = sorted(scores.items(), key=lambda x: -x[1])
         out: list[SidecarHit] = []
         for did, score in ranked[:limit]:
             out.append(self._doc_record(did, score=score))
         return out
 
+    def _doc_title(self, doc_id: int) -> str:
+        """Read just the title field from the doc table (no allocation
+        of the rest of the doc record)."""
+        off = self.docs_offset + self._doc_offsets[doc_id]
+        off += 32  # document_root
+        (uri_len,) = struct.unpack_from("<H", self._data, off); off += 2
+        off += uri_len
+        (title_len,) = struct.unpack_from("<H", self._data, off); off += 2
+        return self._data[off:off + title_len].decode("utf-8", errors="replace")
+
     def _doc_length(self, doc_id: int) -> int:
         """Read doc_len from the doc table (varint after title)."""
         cached = getattr(self, "_doc_len_cache", None)