November was Picture Book Month at the Horn Book and two exceptional articles in that section of the blog are "Over and Over," an emotional tribute to Charlotte Zolotow written by her daughter, Crescent Dragonwagon; and Patricia Gauch's article "The Picture Book as an Act of Mischief."
Moving on to the reviews of possible Caldecott Medal candidates, here are a few of the books they've featured:
Bear Has a Story to Tell written by Philip Stead, illustrated by Erin Stead. A Home for Bird written and illustrated by Philip Stead and And Then It's Spring by Julie Fogliano, illus by Erin Stead. Could this be another "Stead" year?
Goldilocks and The Three Dinosaurs by Mo Willems. Could the committee go for a fractured fairy tale? Maybe an Honor book?
Penny and Her Song. Kevin Henkes. For the Geisel committee instead?
And my favorite:
Z is For Moose by Kelly Bingham and Paul Zelinsky. A wacky romp through the alphabet. Amazing to me that Paul Zelinsky, of the rich, traditional oil paintings, illustrated this with such freedom and verve. You can read Roger Sutton's interview with him on the Horn Book website.
Do you have a favorite Caldecott candidate?
Gale, I loved Goldilocks and The Three Dinosaurs- it made me laugh out loud! I'm looking forward to checking out all of the books listed. Thanks for the link.
ReplyDeleteDoes it have everything necessary to be a medal winner? Doubt it, but yes, it's a hoot and deserves to be popular with young readers.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the great suggestions, Gale! I've got to get to reading these wonderful picture books! One picture book I loved this year is Little Dog Lost: The True Story of a Brave Dog Named Baltic by Monica Carnesi. Monica's illustrations are so very beautiful!
ReplyDeleteBrianna,
ReplyDeleteActually, on the Caldecott Calling blog Little Dog Lost was listed as a contender for the medal - I didn't have room to list all the titles they reviewed favorably. I agree about the stunning illustrations!
Ooooh - I've got a lot of picture books to catch up on -- fast!
ReplyDeleteJ.A.,
ReplyDeleteOne of the reasons I linked to the Calling Caldecott blog is that their reviews are so thorough you almost feel as though you've read the book - a sort of "cheat sheet" way to learn a lot fast.