Winning a Caldecott Medal is the career pinnacle for a children’s book illustrator. Awarded annually by the American Library Association to the best-illustrated children’s book, the Caldecott Medal brings fame and fortune to the winner.
But the artists don’t stop creating books after winning
the award. Here’s a look at new books by some Caldecott medalists:
Kevin Henkes, who won the 2005 Caldecott Medal for “Kitten’s First Full Moon,” is a picture-book genius. In his newest book, “Little White Rabbit” (for ages 2 to 5, $16.99), Henkes pays quiet but powerful homage to previous picture-book masters such as Margaret Wise Brown and William Steig as he tells the story of a curious bunny.
Like any young child, the little white rabbit wonders about the world around him. As he hops through tall grass, for example, he wonders what it’s like to be green. Wandering through fir trees, the little white rabbit speculates on what it might be like to be tall. And so it goes, until Henkes concludes the book with a statement that shows how much he knows about — and empathizes with — his young readers: “Soon little white rabbit was home. He still wondered about many things, but he didn’t wonder who loved him.”
Henkes’ artwork, done with colored pencil and acrylic paint, conveys the cozy joy of his story. Clearly, readers don’t have to understand Henkes’ homage to past picture-book masters to enjoy “Little White Rabbit.” But readers with some knowledge of classic picture books will marvel at the way Henkes riffs on Brown’s “Goodnight Moon” and “The Runaway Bunny.”
Author/artist Chris Raschka takes a few simple elements — two dogs, a ball and a couple of kids — and creates an unforgettable wordless tale in “A Ball for Daisy” (for ages 3 to 6 $16.99).
Raschka, who won the 2006 Caldecott Medal for “The Hello, Goodbye Window,” uses his trademark loose-lined illustration style to tell the story of Daisy, a dog who is enamored of her red ball, to the point that she sleeps with it on her green-striped couch. So Daisy is stunned when she takes the red ball to a park one day and another dog plays too hard with it and it pops.
Grief-stricken, Daisy heads home — head down, body dragging — with her young owner. At home, she lies alone in her green-striped couch, clearly bereft. Then one day, Daisy’s owner brings her back to the park, where the owner of the other dog hands Daisy a new — blue — ball.
Young readers will love the story for the way it mirrors the daily joys and woes of their own lives.
In “Monkey” (for ages 4 to 8 $16.99), author/artist Gerald McDermott offers an entertaining end to his set of six trickster tales from around the world. Inspired by a story from India, McDermott shows how the quick-witted and high-spirited Monkey outsmarts hungry Crocodile.
Young readers will revel in Monkey’s tricks, and they’ll love the brilliantly colored artwork created by McDermott, who won the 1975 Caldecott Medal for “Arrow to the Sun.”
Don’t forget to check out McDermott’s other trickster tales: “Zomo,” “Jabuti,” “Coyote,” “Raven” and “Pig-Boy.”
Ashley Ramsden retells an intriguing Norwegian tale in “Seven Fathers” (for ages 5 to 10, $16.99). But it’s Ed Young’s spectacular artwork that really carries readers through the pages of this picture book. Young, who won a Caldecott Medal in 1990 for “Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story from China,” uses collage and paint on brown-paper backgrounds to create illustrations that are both beautiful and provide helpful clues to understanding the story.
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