Not only is Island Storm, written by Brian Floca and illustrated by Sydney Smith, my favorite picture book of the year, it’s one of my all-time favorite picture books. This is the book I would be an advocate for if I were on the actual Caldecott committee this year, except that it wouldn’t be on the table; it’s not eligible. Sydney Smith is Canadian. So, it’s one of those CaldeNott books — worthy of the big prize, but it won’t get the sticker. This should remind us that only one book gets the gold medal and only three or four get the silver, but many other superb books are worthy of our love.

That’s why I’m so happy that we can make Island Storm the ninth winner of the Robin Smith Picture Book Prize, which honors the legacy of my wife and her work in the world of children’s literature. Robin was a second-grade teacher for twenty-four years, a longtime contributor to The Horn Book Magazine, cofounder of Calling Caldecott, and a regular on children’s book award committees, including the 2011 committee that selected A Sick Day for Amos McGee, another of my all-time favorite picture books. Robin was my wife, and she died of cancer in 2017 at age fifty-seven.  

Winners of the Robin Smith Picture Book Prize are books Robin would have loved — beautifully written and illustrated and perfect for her enthusiastic readings from her now-iconic classroom rocking chair. It’s an award for both writing and illustrations, for books that are great read-alouds, in the classroom or at home. The gorgeous sticker — the prettiest of all award stickers, I think — was created by my daughter Julie and her designer friend Cristina Gomez.  

I was the Horn Book reviewer of Island Storm and loved it from the start. Floca wrote the story on Peaks Island in Maine but didn’t see his own artistic style as right for it, so his long-time friend Sydney Smith agreed to take it on. The result is a book so poetically written and so gorgeously illustrated that it makes me proud to be part of this world of children’s literature. It’s a classic quest story, as two young children venture outside to watch for a coming storm (“Now take my hand / and we’ll go see / the sea before the storm”) and then get caught in the storm and have to race to get home: “Home! / Home to relief, and to love.” It’s a story of surviving storms while caring for each other: “You pull on me, I pull on you, and we decide to go on.” As I wrote in my review, “Smith’s expressionistic watercolor and gouache illustrations are utterly gorgeous; and themes of adventure and home, sibling closeness, and the majesty of nature are expertly conveyed. Picture-book making at its best.” I read the book aloud to several first- and second-grade classes and it read beautifully. I wondered at first if the double-page spreads with four horizontal panels and smaller images would be seen well by children in the back of the circle in the classsroom, but no problem; they actually proved to be an innovative way to pack more into the story. And the language of the story! Not too much, not too little. (I’m not a fan of picture books with minimalist text, or too much.) Walking through their town where everyone has gone home, the narrator says, “Our town is eerie and empty — a stage without its show.” Funny, as I write this at home in my office, a storm is booming, rain is falling, and “thunder rolls and rumbles, / it tumbles across the sky.” (Actually, not so funny; I see we’re under a tornado watch for the rest of the evening!) 

I am thrilled to add Island Storm to the shelves of the two narrow bookcases a friend built for me just for the Robin Smith Picture Book Prize books, one book per shelf, face out. In order, the shelves contain The Wolf, the Duck & the Mouse by Mac Barnett and illustrated by Jon Klassen; Hello Lighthouse by Sophie Blackall; River by Elisha Cooper; The Blue House by Phoebe Wahl; The Ramble Shamble Children by Christina Soontornvat and illustrated by Lauren Castillo; The World Belonged to Us by Jacqueline Woodson and illustrated by Leo Espinosa; Evergreen by Matthew Cordell; and Knight Owl and Early Bird by Christopher Denise. My hope for this growing group of picture books is that it will be a well-curated set of books for teachers and parents to read aloud and to give away as gifts. I love having my collection of books that daily remind me of Robin’s legacy, but even better is giving them away for others to further that legacy. 

Readers interested in learning more about this prize and the previous winning books can read Dean's article in the July/August 2024 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.