Every week, this website posts a review from the latest issue of Horn Book Magazine. Whenever it’s a picture book review, we’ll put link here.

So far this year, there have been two:
Building Our House by Jonathan Bean (reviewed by Betty Carter)
My First Day by Robin Page and Steve Jenkins, illustrated by Steve Jenkins (reviewed by Danielle J. Ford)

Feel free to discuss these books here or in the comments for the actual reviews.

The post January 2013 reviews of the week appeared first on The Horn Book.

Titles and illustrators…
Bluebird (Bob Staake)
Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers’ Strike of 1909 (Melissa Sweet)
Brick by Brick (Floyd Cooper)
Building Our House (Jonathan Bean)
The Dark (Jon Klassen)
Frog Song (Gennady Spirin)
Have You Seen My New Blue Socks? (Sergio Ruzzier)
Light in the Darkness (James E. Ransome)
Lucky Ducklings (Nancy Carpeter)
Nelson Mandela (Kadir Nelson)
Ol’ Mama Squirrel (David Ezra Stein)
On a Beam of Light: A Story of Albert Einstein (Vladimir Radunsky)
Picture a Tree (Barbara Reid)
Red Hat (Lita Judge)
Something to Prove: The Great Satchel Paige (Floyd Cooper)
A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin (Melisa Sweet)

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The Gryphon  award was announced today and two of out favorites are there. This will make Lolly smile.

Feel free to post links to other picture book awards in the comments. Many of us have a little addiction to lists like this.

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First, Robin provided a link to Minh Le’s NY Daily News Page Views blog entry, “This is Not My Hat: Reading (a little) too much into the 2013 Caldecott winner.”

I think Le is spot-on in his analysis of Klassen’s book when he calls it an “irreverent tale of deception and revenge” and says “the reader quickly realizes that their narrator is unreliable, delusional, and ultimately doomed.” He goes on to wonder if this book strikes a particular chord today in the same way some past Caldecott award winners did. For example, The Man Who Walked Between the Towers resonated because of September 11, while A Sick Day for Amos McGee could have something to do with universal health care. Are these fish a sign of our times? And if so, what is that sign?

Klassen’s other book involving food chains and hats, I Want My Hat Back, found Robin and me disagreeing about the fate of the rabbit. I said the bear ate him and Robin said he didn’t. When Robin put up the link to Le’s article, Erin commented that she didn’t think the fish was eaten, either.  The text doesn’t tell in either book, so the reader has to rely on pictures and context to make up his or her own mind. While Klassen later admitted that he thinks the rabbit was eaten, I think there’s an even more interesting dynamic at play here. What does our response to this book say about each of us?

Then there’s Le’s main point. He asks what the book itself might reveal about who we are — not just as readers but perhaps even as a global society in 2013. Are unconventional narrators, irony, and deception skewing for a younger audience these days? Are kids becoming more savvy and growing up too fast? Or do young children simply understand and accept food chains (being low in the power hierarchy themselves) in a way that some adults would rather not (preferring to look on the bright side of classism, racism, and other issues of inequality)?

There’s a lot to think about here and my own response is still in an embryonic state. For example, I think there’s a connection between this book’s breaking the fourth wall (narrator speaking directly to the reader) and other books that play more openly with meta elements. And all the recent meta books have me thinking about how this fascination with stepping outside a format as a way to explore it more deeply might be connected to the whole smart phone connection/disconnection dilemma.

As I said, my own thoughts about this need more work, but I wanted to get something up here ASAP because I really want to hear what this  group of smart blog readers and responders has to say.

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Winner:
This Is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen

Honor Books:
Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds, illustrated by Peter Brown
Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen
Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
One Cool Friend by Toni Buzzeo, illustrated by David Small
Sleep Like a Tiger by Mary Logue, illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski

We covered three of these books early in the fall (links to those posts above). Two others, One Cool Friend and Sleep Like a Tiger were on our list to talk about if we had time. Now it’s time for us to take a look at all six and go on the record with our response.

Before we get there, though, it’s worth taking a look at who these winners are.

The biggest news is that for only the second time in Caldecott history, one artist will get both the win and an honor book. (Thank you, Susan Dalley, for checking this.) I can only imagine what kind of day Jon Klassen had yesterday! And, since I’ve been hearing a lot of people say his name over the past two days, it’s worth noting that we learned at the Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards that he actually pronounces his last name “Klawsen.”

Among the honor book winners, Peter Brown is relatively new to the picture book scene and while he has received quite a bit of attention, this is the first time he’s been honored by the Caldecott committee. Laura Vaccaro Seeger has been making picture books for just over ten years and got a Caldecott honor for First the Egg in 2008. David Small has had the most Caldecott love, with a win in 2001 (So You Want to Be President?) and honor book in 1998 (The Gardener). Pamela Zagarenski has been making picture books for about as long as Peter Brown and received a Caldecott honor in 2010 for Red Sings from the Treetops.

Now it’s time to talk about what think of the committee’s choices. (Robin says she’ll weigh in via the Comments.)

First off, I was amazed that Z Is for Moose didn’t get ANYTHING. It was in my personal top three, but the main reason I’m surprised is because it seemed to rank pretty high on a lot of other Mock Caldecott lists. I was so sure it would at least get an honor. How I would like to know what went on during that discussion. There might have been a strong voice of dissent in the room or a general lack of interest. I don’t think we can say it’s because the book seems too silly because this committee chose Creepy Carrots which is only slightly less silly than Moose, and certainly less thought-provoking. It’s a puzzler for me, and we’ll never know the answer. My consolation is that Paul Zelinsky has created a terrific Moose cover for our March/April Horn Book Magazine special issue on the theme “Different Drummers.” He also figures prominently inside the issue with an appreciation by Barbara Bader.

Another thing that strikes me about this list is that most of these books have what you might call a limited palette. Or at least a subdued palette. While they are all printed in four colors (CMYK), Green is kind of sort of more-or-less a one-color book; Creepy Carrots is predominantly black and orange; and One Cool Friend leans heavily toward a retro color separation look with its use of flat light blue. Jon Klassen’s books use lots of colors, but they are tempered by the amount of white space (in Extra Yarn) and black space (in This Is Not My Hat). I think Klassen’s choice to use a fairly limited palette for the backgrounds in Extra Yarn was a smart one since it allows the multicolored yarn to take center stage. I have a lot of respect for all four of these books. Caldecott Committee, I approve.

So that leaves Sleep Like a Tiger. This is a book I looked at early on, found to be mysterious and fascinating, and kept meaning to come back to. I’m really sorry I didn’t find the time because I would have made certain to write a post about it. If you don’t know this book yet, it’s a bedtime book about a girl who insists that she is not sleepy. Not exactly a new idea. The text is quite lovely and her parents seem to know just how to handle the situation.

But the art — wow! We learn much more about the characters through the art than we do in the text, but at the same time Zagarenski’s imagery brings up as many questions as it answers. Why are they wearing crowns? Are they royal? Why is the mother holding The Little Prince? What is the significance of whales (a white whale, no less), and why does it have wheels? A visit to Pamela Zagarenski’s website doesn’t give many answers, and if you know her other books then you are aware that crowns and wheels show up willy nilly throughout her art. There’s a lot of thinking going on behind these images, and also plenty of emotion. It just works. I could go on and on, but just one more thing: notice how much detail there is in the earlier pictures before the little girl starts to give in to sleep, then watch as the images become less and less busy. They’re still rich and mysterious but there’s more breathing room. Just like falling asleep at last.

So there you go. That’s my take on these books.

Your turn!

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Every year we aim to put our response to the award announcements on the website by mid-afternoon, so the late start puts a bit more pressure on us. When the press conference finishes, designated people swing into action figuring out where we reviewed each book (or even IF we reviewed a book), grabbing and formatting the review text, tracking down book cover images, formatting the pages, and checking titles and author names before uploading. The bulk of this work is done by Katie, but the rest of us pitch in as we can.

At the same time, we’re also trying to get the winter Nonfiction Notes from the Horn Book, March/April Horn Book Magazine, and Spring Horn Book Guide out on time. The Horn Book has a staff of nine, but Roger and Martha are in Seattle, Kitty works at home on Mondays, Elissa is on maternity leave, Shara is still out recovering from a car accident… You get the idea.

Despite the skeleton crew, there’s always an atmosphere of excitement on Youth Media Awards morning. Each of us has personal favorites we’re rooting for and we know which books the others are hoping to see honored. After all, we’ve been discussing these titles all year, whether formally in star meetings or informally while waiting to use the microwave at lunchtime.

Just before the press conference begins, Katie (front on laptop) prepares to grab text from the Twitter feed, Jen (filling in for Elissa) reads a text from Martha in Seattle, and Cindy sets up the webcast.

While Katie, Jen, and Cindy gathered together in the magazine area, I was listening in from my own workstation, attempting to get caught up on the March Magazine after being out sick for the past week. Of course, as soon as the announcements began I got sucked into the drama. I could hear the crowd reaction in Seattle as well as the editors outside my door. And even though I told myself I didn’t need to pay close attention until the Caldecott announcement at the end, I also had my own favorites in each of the earlier categories.

Elsewhere in the office, Katrina and Meredith (filling in for Shara) work on the Spring 2013 Horn Book Guide.

As the award announcements near the end, Katie is preparing pages for our website including reviews of the winning books while Cindy writes up the award announcements for the March Horn Book’s Impromptu section.

Robin flew home this afternoon and once she’s recovered from her very busy weekend, she’ll post something about experiencing the awards announcements in person.

And what about all of you? How did you handle the excitement of the announcements?

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This Is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen won the medal and the (5!) honor books were

Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds, illustrated by Peter Brown; Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen; Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger; One Cool Friend by Toni Buzzeo, illustrated by David Small; Sleep Like a Tiger by Mary Logue, illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski.

Kudos to Jon Klassen for getting the medal AND and an honor book award!

Were some of you there in the room for the announcement? Did the rest of you watch online or follow the twitter feed? Robin is in Seattle and will probably call me sometime today. I was here at work listening in but now I need to head home. (Still ailing, but the announcement is like a shot of adrenaline!)

We’ll post an official response to the announcement later, but for now I wanted to spread the word and give you all a place to discuss this.

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I am having some issues with these silly pictures…so I will just caption them and hope for the best!

I visited the Horn Book booth for a bit.

I ran into two of my favorite guys. One is Roger Sutton. The other is my husband, Dean Schneider, fresh off his book committee work.

The Notables Committee members have a LOT of books to consider…and they cannot have a list of four hundred books…

Here they are, talking about Notable books.

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This time, the toughest losses for me are Little Dog Lost, Ocean Sunlight, and Mom, It’s My First Day of Kindergarten! I need to remind myself that the real committee is likely to go in a completely different direction. Last year, our list was weirdly close to the committee’s, but my gut says that was a coincidence and is unlikely to happen again this year. As others have said in the comments here, the 2012 picture book year seems pretty wide open.

The best books this year feel so spread out to me. There’s really strong nonfiction like Step Gently Out, Island, and Life in the Ocean. There are books with gorgeous distinguished (a.k.a. serious) art like I Have a Dream, Green, and Each Kindness. There are funny books like Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs and The Obstinate Pen. And of course the committee will also be talking about lots of books that we never even mentioned here.

I’d love to know which books you are still rooting for.

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First, I have been looking at books for 2013. I just want to prove to Lolly and Roger that I am always working! Though I have seen many, many books that show promise, this one really blew me away. It’s coming out in April and is called On a Beam of Light. Here is the link. I read it at the booth and am working in sleep deprivation mode, but, even with compromised judgment, I think this is one to watch. I was excited to see that Vladimir Radunsky is a naturalized US citizen now.

Second, there were some familiar books displayed…sometimes together. I never notice who publishes what, but apparently these two are from the same house.

Third, my book enabler (Deb Taylor) and I have held back on grabbing books, but we still have been hauling things like pack mules.

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