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Caldecott Award
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From: K.T. Horning <khorning>
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 1997 09:19:37 -0600 (CST)
Thanks, Rob, for the pep talk! I think many people are being quiet in our awards discussion because they haven't had a chance to read all the award winners yet. Ginny Kruse and I were up in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, last week speaking to groups of teachers and librarians and the story we heard, over and over again, was that the books had been in short supply, as is often the case after the award announcements are made. Most people were seeing
"Golem," winner of the Caldecott Award, for the first time.
And speaking of "Golem," I think the announcement of this book as the winner took a lot of people by surprise, not because it isn't a fine book but simply because people hadn't been paying much attention to it prior to the awards announcement. That's why we have these committees, after all, who pay attention to EVERYTHING, so that great books don't get missed.
I must confess to being one of the crowd of people who wasn't really familiar with "Golem" when the announcement was made. But since that time, I've had a chance to look at it a lot and speak about it on a few occasions and, I must say, that it is a book that has really been growing on me as I spend more time with it. The cut-paper illustrations by David Wisniewski are extremely powerful, not just for the technique (which is very fine) but also for the way in which they reinforce the theme. They really give you a sense of something made out of an inanimate substance, be it paper or clay, coming to life, as Golem does. These pieces of paper seem almost as though they're going to climb right off the page! And the power sustains itself -I never grow tired of looking at it. Wisniewski's use of earth-tone colors is also very effective.
The Caldecott Committee's selection of "Golem" reminds us that picture books are not just for preschoolers any more. This is a book I'd recommend for children in 3rd grade and up. A couple of the Honor Books this year are also picture books for older children: "Starry Messenger" by Peter Sis and
"Graphic Alphabet" by David Pelletier. The two other Honor Books, "Hush" illustrated by Holly Meade and written by Minfong Ho and "The Paperboy" by Dav Pilkey are both good books for preschoolers.
Kathleen Horning Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education University of Wisconsin-Madison
Received on Mon 17 Mar 1997 09:19:37 AM CST
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 1997 09:19:37 -0600 (CST)
Thanks, Rob, for the pep talk! I think many people are being quiet in our awards discussion because they haven't had a chance to read all the award winners yet. Ginny Kruse and I were up in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, last week speaking to groups of teachers and librarians and the story we heard, over and over again, was that the books had been in short supply, as is often the case after the award announcements are made. Most people were seeing
"Golem," winner of the Caldecott Award, for the first time.
And speaking of "Golem," I think the announcement of this book as the winner took a lot of people by surprise, not because it isn't a fine book but simply because people hadn't been paying much attention to it prior to the awards announcement. That's why we have these committees, after all, who pay attention to EVERYTHING, so that great books don't get missed.
I must confess to being one of the crowd of people who wasn't really familiar with "Golem" when the announcement was made. But since that time, I've had a chance to look at it a lot and speak about it on a few occasions and, I must say, that it is a book that has really been growing on me as I spend more time with it. The cut-paper illustrations by David Wisniewski are extremely powerful, not just for the technique (which is very fine) but also for the way in which they reinforce the theme. They really give you a sense of something made out of an inanimate substance, be it paper or clay, coming to life, as Golem does. These pieces of paper seem almost as though they're going to climb right off the page! And the power sustains itself -I never grow tired of looking at it. Wisniewski's use of earth-tone colors is also very effective.
The Caldecott Committee's selection of "Golem" reminds us that picture books are not just for preschoolers any more. This is a book I'd recommend for children in 3rd grade and up. A couple of the Honor Books this year are also picture books for older children: "Starry Messenger" by Peter Sis and
"Graphic Alphabet" by David Pelletier. The two other Honor Books, "Hush" illustrated by Holly Meade and written by Minfong Ho and "The Paperboy" by Dav Pilkey are both good books for preschoolers.
Kathleen Horning Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education University of Wisconsin-Madison
Received on Mon 17 Mar 1997 09:19:37 AM CST
