How Does Your Garden Grow?
To instill or nurture an interest in gardening, five Caldecott Honor books feature the wonders that gardens hold as places providing sustenance, restoration, and a sense of mystery.
Heidi Hammond
Black and White
Why do artists continue to illustrate picture books in black and white when color printing is an option? Black and white has many benefits.
The Global Ocean
Picture books can foster a deeper appreciation for the “Earth’s beating heart,” our global ocean. From ocean shores to the depths of the sea, these five Caldecott award books transport readers to this extraordinary environment.
Flight
Four Caldecott Award books celebrate the exhilaration of flight, with two journeys inspired by history and two by imagination.
Get Out the Vote!
A close and fascinating look at the illustrations in three Caldecott books about political figures ... and how those books have been updated over the years.
Nursery Rhymes
While no nursery rhyme books have won Caldecott Awards in the last 60 years, from 1938 to 1964 there were a number of fine books bestowed with awards.
Freshwater Pearls
This column dives into four Caldecott picture books that feature freshwater resources, precious and limited assets that sustain terrestrial life.
Artificial Intelligence: Food for Thought
Following up on Gail Nordstrom and Heidi Hammond’s Caldecott Lines of Connection article, “Food for Thought,” Gail decided to give artificial intelligence a challenge to write an article on the same topic. Here’s how it went down.
Food for Thought
Sean Sherman, “In an epiphany, I tasted how food weaves people together, connects families through generations, is a life force of identity and social structure.” These formidable themes are central to recent Caldecott Award books.
Scary Stories
According to multiple sources, being scared and overcoming our fear is good for us, and this is especially true when reading or listening to scary stories.
Bible Stories
This month, we look at Bible stories which have been awarded recognition by the Caldecott committees, beginning in 1938.
Connecting with Nature
While experiences in the natural world are beneficial to both children and adults, they are especially crucial for young people. This selection of Caldecott Honor books invites readers to explore and appreciate the natural world.
Let It Snow!
In the far reaches of the northern hemisphere, snow graces the winter landscape and shapes the activities of the season. Picture books set in winter typically feature snowy backdrops. This column takes a look at five Caldecott Award-winning snow stories.
Abecedaria, Part 2
Not all alphabet books are for the purpose of early literacy, nor do they meet the criteria for traditional alphabet books ... Still others are thematically connected, as are the following Caldecott Honor ABC books.
Abecedaria, Part 1
Traditionally, alphabet books, or abecedaria, serve as beginning literacy instruction for babies and young children to promote letter, sound, and word development. But, greater potential than instruction exists in this form of picture books.
Transportation, Part II: Riding the Rails
In the second part of our Transportation series, we look at Caldecott Award books that consider trains from different vantage points, from the outside or inside, from a real or fantastical world. Climb aboard!
Transportation, Part I: Hitting the Road
From an early age, children are captivated by “things that go,” from climbing on trucks in a Big Rig library event to racing bicycles along a park path. This article offers a line-up of Caldecott Award books that feature various modes of land transportation.
Picture Book Illustration
In picture books, the illustrations often carry half, or more than half, of the narrative. Increased understanding of illustration techniques can enhance your appreciation and pleasure when reading and sharing picture books.
Geography, Part 2
In Part 2 of Geography, we take a look at Caldecott winning and honored books with settings in Europe. Recognizable landmarks are among the illustrations in these books, giving a strong connection to location.
Geography, Part 1
Many picture books have anonymous settings, but some include authentic landmarks identifying locations that can be pinpointed on a map. Traveling from west coast to east coast, several Caldecott Award books feature settings in the United States, and we can become armchair travelers through the illustrations.
Visual Artists, Part 2
When considering picture book biographies of visual artists, one cannot overlook the three illustrators who have garnered Caldecott Honors for their autobiographical works: Bill Peet, Uri Shulevitz, and Peter Sis.
Visual Artists, Part 1
With declining funding for arts education in schools1,2 and limited opportunities for school-sponsored class visits to art museums, Caldecott Award-winning picture books invite children to explore various media and styles of art deemed “distinguished.”3 Indeed, as professor of English and children’s literature specialist Philip Nel observes, “Good picture books are portable art galleries.”4
A number of Caldecott award books extend the art enrichment experience by introducing children to the lives and works of visual artists.
Fairy Tales, Part 2
Trina Schart Hyman’s retelling of “Little Red Riding Hood” is a familiar one. This was Hyman’s favorite fairy tale, and as a child, she spent a whole year wearing the red cape her mother made for her. On the verso of the title page, Little Red is reading her own story featuring the cover of Hyman’s book, sucking her thumb, just as Hyman did in childhood.
Fairy Tales, Part 1
The universal appeal of fairy tales is documented by the similarities of stories across countries, cultures and centuries. The “Cinderella” story alone is over 1000 years old with over 1000 varients. What makes an individual picture book version of a fairy tale unique? The illustrations. Jane Yolen (2004) states, “Many of the picture-book retellings of folktales are more about the art than the story” (p.
Grandparents, Part 2
Fictional Caldecott grandparents reveal interesting and surprising personalities. While the stories are imaginary, some of the characters are inspired by admired grandparents and mentors.
Grandparents, Part 1
The typical post-World War II nuclear family was sidelined during the political and societal turmoil of the 1960s. Due to divorce, remarriage, and blended families, the 21st century has seen an increasing number of grandparents involved in their grandchildren’s lives. To celebrate Grandparents Day in September, this article examines the portrayal of grandparents and great-grandparents in selected Caldecott Medal and Honor books.
Dogs and Cats, Part 2
Peter McCarty doesn’t just include his dog, but also his cat in Hondo and Fabian, a 2003 Caldecott Honor book. This story describes a day in the life of his pets. Hondo goes to the beach while Fabian stays home, but both have a good time. The soft pencil illustrations of the yellow Labrador retriever and the gray tabby on the front jacket cover are matched with photographs of the real Hondo and Fabian on the back jacket flap.… more
Dogs and Cats, Part 1
It is almost guaranteed that children will respond favorably to animal stories, especially stories with dogs and cats. Two-thirds of American households own dogs or cats. Nineteenth century British illustrator Randolph Caldecott seemed to understand the natural affinity between children and animals. Before science documented the importance of pets in children’s lives, he included animals in most of his illustrations, and they added to the frolicking fun that animated his scenes.… more
Skinny Dip with Heidi Hammond
For this interview, we visit with Heidi Hammond, associate professor at St. Catherine University in the MLIS program, long-time school librarian, and author of Reading the Art in Caldecott Award Books: a Guide to the Illustrations, along with co-author Gail D. Nordstrom.
Which celebrity, living or not, do you wish would invite you to a coffee shop?… more