From: Nina Lindsay <linds_na>
Date: Wed, 7 Mar 2001 13:59:43 -0800 (PST)

A couple of people have wondered directly if/how the committee considered picture book non-fiction. Although we cannot talk the particular discussions that took place at at our meetings, I can mention that I did look myself at picture book non-fiction for the award. It was hard to compare to the longer stuff, primarily because you really had to look at illustration at one of the main conveyances of the information. One picture-book I especially appreciated was Jim Arnosky's "Beaver Pond Moose Pond" (National Geographic). In extremely spare (and good read-aloud) text he evokes a mood and imparts a huge amount of information. The illustrations also convey mood and information. But what happens, in looking at a book in this way (would this happen for Caldecott...?), is that the illustrations are put under the same burden of accuracy as the text. Something, for instance, that still bugs me about "So You Want to Be President" is that Jesse Jackson is pictured next to Geraldine Ferraro, but only she is mentioned as a barrier-breaker.

Nina

Nina Lindsay, Children's Librarian Oakland Public Library, CA linds_na at oaklandlibrary.org
Received on Wed 07 Mar 2001 03:59:43 PM CST