2014 Caldecott Awards

The American Library Association (ALA) announced its winners today of the 2014 Randolph Caldecott Medal for "the most distinguished American picture book for children."  Congratulations to all of this year's winners!  Now to get my hands on these books...

Winner:  Locomotive, illustrated and written by Brian Floca

Honor Books:

Journey, illustrated and written by Aaron Becker

Flora and the Flamingo, illustrated and written by Molly Idle

Mr. Wuffles, illustrated and written by David Weisner

For a complete list of other award winners, including the Newbery, Coretta Scott King, Printz, and Theodore Seuss Geisel Awards, visit the ALA's website here.

Day 217: Extra Yarn

I first discovered Extra Yarn a few weeks ago when I spent my heavenly solo afternoon browsing children's books in a local bookshop.  It was one of several books that I read through that day and added to my "library list" as a must find to bring home and read with my kids.  What I really wanted to do was buy my own copy right then and there, but I already had three other books in my purchase pile that would use up my gift card so I had to cut myself off somewhere.  Fortunately, my local library had it when we went last week, and my children and I have loved reading it (multiple times) every day since.

Extra Yarn is a charming, fairy tale-ish story of a young girl, Annabelle, and her magical box of yarn. The beauty of Mac Barnett's words and the brilliance of Jon Klassen's illustrations is obvious from the very first page:

"On a cold afternoon, in a cold little town, where everywhere you looked was either the white of snow or the black of soot from chimneys, Annabelle found a box filled with yarn of every color." She knits herself a sweater, and when she still has yarn left over, makes one for her dog, too.  But even then, she has extra yarn.  Annabelle proceeds to knit sweaters for everyone and everything in town -- even things that don't wear sweaters, like mailboxes, houses, and birds! -- and soon, she and her magic box of yarn have completely transformed the town.  News of Annabelle and her yarn spreads far and wide, and one day, a fashion-loving archduke arrives wanting only one thing:  the magical box of yarn.  He offers her millions of dollars in exchange, but Annabelle always politely refuses.  Furious, he steals her box of yarn and sails back to his castle, only to discover the magic box of yarn empty!   In one last act of magic, Annabelle's box of yarn makes it way across the sea and back to her.

I love the classic feel of this tale and the way the story and the illustrations bring the magic to life on each page, but for a long time, I couldn't quite describe just why I love this book so much.  There is something more to it than simply the fabulous illustrations -- which are truly unique and lovely -- and the wonderful story, itself.  I've since come to realize that what I also love about this book is the warm feeling of optimism that I get when I read it; the idea that one young person and her sweet, quiet determination has the wondrous power to bring happiness and color to an otherwise cold place.  Yes, this book is truly something special.

When I looked up this book so that I could add its picture to this post, I saw that I wasn't the only one who thinks it is really great.  Turns out it is a 2013 Caldecott Honor Book, the winner of the 2013 E.B. White Read-Aloud Award, and the winner of the 2012 Boston Globe - Horn Book Award for Picture Books.  So there you go!  (My local library must have gotten their copy before the awards were given, for no Caldecott sticker graces its cover.)  Needless to say, Extra Yarn quickly moved from our "library list" to our "must own" list.  Now my daughter is asking me to read it to her -- for the third time today -- which I am always more than happy to do.  Enjoy!

Day 205: Green

Spring has finally sprung, and we've reached that magical time of year when the leaves are popping open on trees throughout town.  (Yes!  Finally!)  When I saw this stunning book on the "New Arrivals" shelf at our local library, I just had to bring it home.  Featuring only two words per page, Green seems extremely simple at first glance, but really, it is a work of beautiful complexity from beginning to end.

The simple language of the book is remarkable.  With each turn of the page, we are introduced to another shade of green:  "Forest green, sea green, lime green, pea green" and so much more.  As described on the book's jacket cover, "there's the lush green of a forest on a late spring day, the fresh, juicy green of a just-cut lime, the incandescent green of a firefly, and the vivid aquamarine of a tropical sea." I absolutely love the way the whole story encourages children to delve into the wonderfully descriptive world of language, showing them how something as simple as a color can be described in so many different and unique ways.  The verse is lyrically written, too, though we never manage to read it quickly enough to notice the rhyme scheme as we read aloud.  In fact, I don't think I even realized that the lines rhymed until the fourth or fifth time we read it, since we were always too busy studying the illustrations.

And oh, the artwork!  The texture of Seeger's acrylic paintings is simply gorgeous, and every time I read this book, I just want to reach into the pages and touch the illustrations.  Her use of die-cuts is brilliant, as well, perfectly placed on each page in a way that never fails to delight and surprise us.  My children and I just love flipping the pages back and forth after we peek through the cut outs, eager to see just what those colors were on the page before.  Seeger's creativity and designs are simply incredible!  They make me want to try our own die-cut artwork and see what we can come up with.  Hmm...  Perhaps I know what our art activity will be this afternoon...

Green is a 2013 Caldecott Honor book, and deservedly so.  It also is a Kirkus Reviews Best Children's Book of 2012.  Creative, engaging, and positively lovely, Green is one book that's not to be missed.

Day 184: See Me Run

We looked for this book at our local library after seeing it was a Theodore Seuss Geisel honoree winner for 2012.  If you've never heard of the Geisel award, it is given annually to the author and illustrator of the "most distinguished American book for beginning readers published in English" (according to the
ALA's website.)  It is no surprise that the best early reader books would be honored in the name of the great Dr. Seuss, and we have a few other previous winners on our bookshelves that we absolutely love:  Mo Willems' Are You Ready to Play Outside (2009) and There is a Bird on Your Head! (2008), and Cynthia Rylant's Henry and Mudge and the Great Grandpas (2006.)  Now, some people probably won't be impressed with this book because at a quick glance, it might not seem like anything special.  There are only a few words on each page with some silly pictures of dogs.  But let me assure you:  if you have a child who is just learning to read, this is the perfect book!

See Me Run is an "I Like to Read" book, published by Holiday House and written by Paul Meisel.  The award winning books I mentioned above are all considered "Early Readers," though I have learned that there is a great deal of variety when it comes to this genre.  For example, "I Like to Read" books are different from "I Can Read!" books, such as those in the Frog and Toad, Little Critter, and Amelia Bedelia series. I'll have to do a little research on this to find out more about specific reading levels within the broad category called "Early Readers," but from what I can tell about the "I Like to Read" books by Holiday House, they are a great starting point for beginning -- and I mean just beginning -- readers.  (To learn more about the "I Like to Read" series, visit the Holiday House brochure about them here.)

As soon as we got this book home, my son took it out and we sat down to read it together.  I started to read it to him, but he immediately stopped me and said, "No, no, I can read it myself!"  And he did.  Pretty effortlessly.  I watched his face as he read, and with each turn of the page, his smile got a little bigger. Part of this was due to the silly story itself, but a lot of it had to do with the fact that this was a story he could easily and comfortably read all by himself.  For a beginning reader, this is a powerful thing.  This is what I think makes this book so great.  We love the Frog and Toad and Henry and Mudge series, and those are considered "Early Readers," too, but they are several steps and reading levels above See Me Run.  I am extremely lucky in that reading appears to be something that has come quite easily to my son, but I would imagine that this book will provide many struggling or emerging readers with the boost of confidence they need to feel successful and good about reading.  The text is short, there are familiar sight words, and there is just the right amount of repetition to make kids' reading become more fluid as they go along.  I even caught my 2 year old daughter "reading" this book by herself this morning, which made her quite proud.  ("I can read it all by myselfs!")  Plus, the pictures of the dogs are cute and fun, and the ending is even sillier.  If your child is just starting to read or you are having trouble finding a good, true "Early Reader," we highly recommend this book.

2012 Picture Book Award Winners

Need some inspiration the next time you visit the library?  Check out some of last year's notable award winners, along with a few of our personal favorites that were published in 2012:

2012 Caldecott Medal Winner:

A Ball for Daisy, by Chris Raschka

2012 Caldecott Honor Winners:

Blackout, by John Rocco

Grandpa Green, by Lane Smith

Me.... Jane, by Patrick McDonald


2012 Theodor Seuss Geisel Award (given to the most distinguished contribution to beginning reader book genre):

Tales for Very Picky Eaters, by Josh Schneider

2012 Theodor Seuss Geisel Honors Books:

I Broke My Trunk, by Mo Willems

I Want My Hat Back, by Jon Klassen

See Me Run, by Paul Meisel


2012 E.B. White Read-Aloud Award Winner:

I Want My Hat Back, by Jon Klassen


2012 Picture Book Hall of Fame Inductees:

Curious George, by H.A. Rey
The Little Engine that Could, by Watty Piper
Miss Rumphius, by Barbara Cooney (one of my favorite picture books of all time!!)


Some of our personal favorites published in 2012:

The Duckling Gets a Cookie?!  (Mo Willems)
Let's Go for a Drive!  (Mo Willems)
Listen to My Trumpet!  (Mo Willems)
Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons (Eric Litwin, James Dean)

A Leaf Can Be (Laura Purdie Salas, Violeta Dabija)


Z Is for Moose (Kelly Bingham, Paul Zelinsky)


And Then It's Spring (Julie Fogliano, Erin Stead)





Which books would be on your "Best of 2012" list?