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wins the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award for Substantial and Lasting Contributions to Children's Literature. Substantial, and lasting, and AWESOME. Check out all my dePaola reviews here.
won a Siebert award for illustrated non-fiction.
did not win the Caldecott, but it did win the T. S. Giesel Award for most distinguished book for beginning readers. Named after the real Dr. Seuss, this awards text heavy picture books for 1st and 2nd graders. A fun and worthy choice.
the first edition!)
)
)
would win last year, and many predicted All the World
, but I didn't see Red Sings from the Tree Tops
on anyone's list. Remember, the Caldecott honors the highest achievement in illustration--not necessarily story--in picture books of the previous year (2010).
by Mo Willems and illustrated by Jon J. Muth has been the critics and school children's darling favorite since it was released this June. It left me completely unfazed, but if the kids love it...The illustrations were wonderful.
by Jonah Winter might just break the unspoken photographs-don't-count-as-illustrations rule. Critics are putting it on their lists, and I confess, I can see why. The amazing 3d sculptures made out of polymer clay, assorted trash, and lots of plastic bags, created by Red Nose Studio, are completely remarkable. It seems to me that we should consider photography as simply the medium--like scanning collages or making lithographs--and nothing more. (Check out this fascinating video about the making of these sculptures.)
by David Wiesner is another favorite of both critics and school kids. It seems a little to inaccessible to me, though with an art focus it has a leg up in the competition. Should he win, it would be his fourth Caldecott--a record!
by Bill Thompson is a wordless picture book that has been getting a lot of attention. I have not read it, so I don't even know what it is about...except, clearly, it's about a dinosaur.
by Kate diCamillo and Alison McGhee, and illustrated by Tony Fucile. I loved Fucile's first picture book Let's Do Nothing!
and I like seeing the Caldecott's have a sense of humor, so his playful illustrations would be a refreshing change, but I really didn't think they were that amazing. In fact, I completely forgot I had read this book earlier this year.
by Jeanne Birdsall, which I haven't found yet (sad face) was predicted as an honor book by Travis of 100 Scope Notes, and the comments seem to agree, but I haven't seen it mentioned elsewhere.
is also being talked about; it is not revolutionary, but it is good, solid, lovely. by Philip and Erin Stead. As I said in First Things, this is a genuine new classic: the illustrations and the charming storyline are in perfect harmony, already firmly planted in my own imagination. I don't see how it can't win.
by Jan Greenberg, Sandra Jordan and illustrated by Brian Floca. As far as I am concerned, I think Floca was cheated out of a Caldecott last year--his glorious Moonshot was most deserving. This subject (the making of the ballet Appalachian Spring) is less appealing, but the text is graceful, and the illustrations are magnificent. It will almost surely win the non-fiction Siebert Award. But give him a Caldecott already!
by clicking here.
Margaret Perry is an avid reader and collector of children's literature. When she was young, at the Children's Library, she would start at "A" and work her way through the alphabet, 15 books at a time. Now she does the same thing in bookshops.
Her favorite children's books are: Peter Pan and Wendy
She started Little Lamb Books in January, 2009, in honor of her grandmother, to promote children's books that contain exceptional beauty in both narrative and illustration, a sense of wonder, and hopefully a touch of whimsy and silliness.
You can email Margaret at: littlelambbooks[at]gmail.com
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