From: GWoelfle at aol.com <GWoelfle>
Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2009 15:07:02 EST

Like other readers, I was delighted to see such varied styles in this year's Caldecott awards.

The illustrations for The House in the Night make this book, IMHO. The text is so very quiet, but Melissa Sweet's stunning art transforms it into a well-deserved Caldecott Gold Sticker book.

A River of Words by Jan Bryant tells more of a story (very well) and, Melissa Sweet's artwork adds layer upon layer of meaning to discover in multiple readings. It's an exquisite book and I'm glad to see it honored. Sweet's note at the back explains that she got her inspiration for this style from old discarded library books. (Hooray for library book sales!)

I love Uri Shulevitz's work and How I Learned Geography shows a
"looser"style with a bit more expressionistic figures. Many artists stick with one successful style. His work is always evolving.

Marla Frasee's A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever is the sort of book that (usually) only an author-illustrator can do -- tell one story in pictures, another in words, and still another in its speech bubbles. It's full of humor and surprises which are not always honored by award committees. Hurray for funny!

Hurray for the 2009 Caldecotts!

Gretchen Woelfle www.gretchenwoelfle.com


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Received on Thu 05 Feb 2009 02:07:02 PM CST