Children's Books discussion

In November/December (2017), we completed our journey through the Caldecott winners/honors. Some of you were along for the whole ride, others have joined in along the way. (For those new to the discussions, I'd like to invite you to look back in the Picture Book Club threads and begin at the beginning and revive "old" threads.)

I wanted to create a thread where we could discuss our thoughts on the winners/honors as a whole. What are your favorite Caldecott winners/honors? Did any of them really surprise you? Which gave you the biggest culture shock? Which were the most enriching? The most entertaining? Were there any honor books you felt ought to have won instead of the winner for a given year? Which of the books from the past do you feel would still be enjoyed by children today? Is what's still in print a good reflection of that? Are any that are now hard-to-find worthy of bringing back into print? Share your thoughts here! :-)

Exploring almost eighty years of picture books was quite a rewarding experience for me--it was interesting from a social and cultural perspective as well as an artistic perspective. I felt my horizons expanded by reading books I never would have looked at otherwise and I felt I have a deeper appreciation for picture books as a whole. Do they reflect culture or help to shape it? I think maybe it's a little of both. Even where the Caldecott committee sought to be progressive in some of their more "multi-cultural" selections early on, reading them now we can see the biases of the day coming into play in many cases. Yet I also appreciate what they were trying to do in terms of not only promoting quality art but something that would broaden children's horizons.

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"With a shiny seal stamped on its front cover, the winning book carries with it incredible recognition and cultural influence. “It has tremendous cultural capital and cultural clout,” explains Dr. Cathryn Mercier, director of the Children’s Literature Program and Center for the Study of Children’s Literature at Simmons College. “Basically every library that has a budget will buy the Newbery and Caldecott awards.”

"And, of course, parents buy them, too. “Because parents look for things that have been approved by professionals when they are making decisions on what books to bring into their households, those books shout, ‘I have the gold medal seal of approval by a group of people who’ve been elected for their expertise in this arena, so you can’t go wrong with me,’” says Mercier." -- Jessica Williams MotherMag.com

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It was also interesting to see which illustrators were highly favored by the committees:

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Marcia Brown, a writer and illustrator of more than 30 children's books, won three Caldecott Medals during her lifetime:

Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper, 1955
Once a Mouse, 1962
Shadow, 1983

Additionally, Brown received the Caldecott Honors for five of her other works.

David Wiesner, best known for his picture books that tell stories without words, has won three Caldecott Medals:

Tuesday, 1992
The Three Pigs, 2002
Flotsam , 2007

Barbara Cooney, who wrote and illustrated more than 200 children's books over the course of sixty years, won two Caldecott Medals:

Chanticleer and the Fox, 1959
The Ox-Cart Man, 1980

Jon Klassen, a Canadian-born New York Times bestselling author who moved to Los Angeles after his graduation from Sheridan College in 2005, is also a unique success story in that he was the first person to ever win both the Caldecott Medal as well as the British Kate Greenaway Medal, also for children's book illustration, for the same book — This is Not My Hat, which he wrote as well as illustrated. That same year, Extra Yarn, written by Mac Barnett and illustrated by Klassen, was named a Caldecott Honor book. The artist is also well-known for his animation work on the feature films King Fu Panda and Coraline.

Maurice Sendak won the Caldecott Medal in 1964 for his beloved picture book Where the Wild Things Are, which has sold over 20 million copies worldwide. The book has also been adapted into an opera as well as a feature film. Additionally, Sendak received seven Caldecott Honors throughout his lifetime.
--RaymondGeddes.com
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Please feel free to join in!

Tidied up.

A link to the folder for all the Caldecott discussions: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group.... Yes, it's titled 'archive, but more comments are always very welcome!

A link to the group bookshelf for the Caldecott books (which needs work): https://www.goodreads.com/group/books...

And a link to the ALA's list, all the way from 1938: http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/...

(If anyone knows of a truly simple list, without publisher or committee members' names but just year/title/author/illustrator, please post link.)

The biggest surprise for me was realizing that these books are not necessarily picture storybooks for the very young. Way back in 1942 the science book Paddle-to-the-Sea, by Holling Clancy Holling, revealed the open-mindedness of the committee, and This One Summer, from 2015, isn't for young children at all.

Cheryl wrote: "The biggest surprise for me was realizing that these books are not necessarily picture storybooks for the very young. Way back in 1942 the science book Paddle-to-the-Sea, by H..."</i>

[book:The Invention of Hugo Cabretis another notable (recent) example of a winner that is not a picture book.

I also wanted to mention that many of the winners' acceptance speeches are online. I am hoping to read some of them. I know the more recent winners are fairly easy to find online but I'm not sure how far back they are recorded or easily accessible.

http://www.ala.org/tools/newbery-and-...

I want to share more of my reactions; I hope to get a chance to soon.

Thanks, Cheryl! It was such an enriching experience for me but I haven't articulated much yet either.