Travis Jonker
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The Old Truck
I’m worried. My task here is to review The Old Truck by brothers Jarrett and Jerome Pumphrey. But the book contains such a breathtaking amount of Caldecott-worthy elements, I’m concerned that I might not give each one its due before my time and space run out. Here goes . ....
Field Trip to the Moon
Look, I could beat around the bush, but I’m just going to tell you straight: nothing gets the attention of the Caldecott committee like a wordless book. Wordless is Caldecott catnip. “Yeah, yeah, Travis, what do you know?” Well, I know that my 2014 committee gave Honors to not one but...
2017 in Review: The Year in Pictures
Travis: I feel like we should begin with a great quote about children’s book illustration. Got one handy?Jules: Well, it’s not about illustration, but given this year’s Caldecott winner, I choose: “Hooooooooowwlll!”On that note, Travis, what are some of the things that stood out for you about the 2018 ALA...
Life
“Life cereal. That’s a ballsy name, I always thought. LIFE.‘What are we going to call this?’‘How about Oaties? Squaries?’‘No! This is much bigger than that. This is LIFE, I TELL YOU!’”—Jerry SeinfeldForget cereal. I’d argue Life is a pretty ballsy name for a picture book. But Cynthia Rylant has officially...
Prepare to Be Amazed!
If you love picture books (and we assume you do, since you’re here), then you most likely are familiar with 100 Scope Notes, the blog of school librarian Travis Jonker. Over the years, Travis has written a series of posts about various aspects of Caldecott history. Today we take a break from discussing 2017...
Lucy
Were I on the Caldecott committee this year (I propose a rule change: please allow me to be on the committee every year), I would be eager to discuss Lucy by Randy Cecil.Why is this book so discussion-worthy? So many things set it apart from other modern picture books. The...