A Little Clarification and a Plea

Oh no you di-int!

I interrupt my neurotic checking of the voting progress for a little clarification and a plea. FIRST,  the clarification. Over the past few days I have read or heard the phrase “list of Caldecott contenders” more times that I care to admit. Often people are referring to our puny list as THE list of Caldecott [...]

Fifty Cents and A Dream: Young Booker T. Washington

Fifty Cents and a Dream

Booker T. Washington is best known for founding Tuskegee Institute and  writing Up from Slavery. Some children might know him as the little boy with a thirst for learning in More than Anything Else. Older readers might be aware of the differences between the philosophies of W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington during their time. [...]

Abe Lincoln’s Dream

Abe Lincoln's Dream

First, an aside: I meant to talk about this one in November, but forgot. I forgot because a certain second grade picture book hoarder (she knows who she is) absconded with this and about eight other newish books. So, true to form, I am Down To The Wire on this one. Our second of three [...]

Baby Bear Sees Blue

Baby Bear Sees Blue

Well, it’s getting down to the wire here. It won’t be long before Lolly and I put together the ballot for you to vote on. In the meantime, I am going to briefly talk about a few books that are still on my personal stack. I need to make up time if I am going [...]

Each Kindness

Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson

Darn you, Charlotte Zolotow committee! You beat me to the punch, awarding this fine book your award last week! The CCBC website explains, “The Charlotte Zolotow Award is given annually to the author of the best picture book text published in the United States in the preceding year….The award is administered by the Cooperative Children’s Book [...]

Island: A Story of the Galápagos

Island

So, enough people have mentioned Island: A Story of the Galápagos that I thought I would do a little exercise with you. Many people wonder how the real committee members look at all the books they have to consider. I have no idea how others deal with this, but I have a little procedure. First, I just [...]

Unspoken: A Story from the Underground Railroad

Unspoken by Henry Cole

Wordless picture books have a special place in Caldecott history. None of those pesky words get in the way and there is no worry about designing the page for text boxes, either. One vision is on the page–the vision of the illustrator. The only words in this book are a question on the back cover [...]

Chloe and the Lion

Chloe and the Lion jacket

Once in a while, I see a book that makes me think, “I sure would like to hear the committee discuss this one!” This is one of those books. I think the committee will appreciate the sly meta-picture book details–the direct address of the narrator, the comic schtick when author Mac fires illustrator Adam, the [...]

Review of Bailey at the Museum

bailey at the museum

Bailey at the Museum by Harry Bliss; illus. by the author Primary    Scholastic    32 pp. 9/12    978-0-545-23345-3    $16.99 In his second adventure, the irrepressible titular hound from Bailey (rev. 11/11) — the only dog in Mrs. Smith’s class — is excited about the field trip to the Museum of Natural History. Though his classmates are [...]

Chloe

chloe

I do love me the cute little bunnies. Peter McCarty has a knack for drawing them and drawing the reader into their lives. Maybe because I am a middle child (though not in a family of 21 children!), I identify with Chloe. I also really like bubble wrap and spending time with my own family. [...]