Highs and Lows

My family does highs and lows each day.  It is a great way to capture each person's day.  For this stack of Caldecott Medal Winners I captured my personal highs and lows of each book--giving you a glimmer of my thoughts. I took some photos of my favorite illustrations in each book.

Andy and the Lion (Honor 1939)

High: An appearance of the library--love it!
Low: The only color in this book besides the black and white--was a not so pretty brown (meant to be lion colored??)

Animals of the Bible (Winner 1938)

High: The beautiful illustrations and getting the chance to see/read the first Caldecott
Low: This book was kind of boring. I felt like I was in confirmation all over again--reading Bible Stories.

They Were Strong and Good (Winner 1941)

High: This was one of the first of the older Caldecotts that seemed like it was written for children.
Low: Although the author makes claims of this story being "our story"--and representing all Americans that were "Strong and Good" the racial prejudice was obvious.  Not a  book suited for children of today, unless they are using it to evaluate texts.

Mei Li (Winner 1939)

High: This was a story written for children.  My own kids loved reading it.
Low: IT was hard to read a story that did not have a strong female lead.  Me Lei, was an accurate portrayal of what society thought of girls at that time (not equal to boys)--not exactly the message I wanted to share with my 5 year old little girl.

All the World (Honor 2010)

High: Love that there are interracial families represented in this story that is told in beautiful verse.  The words on the page are beautifully placed.
Low: I couldn't place how the families were all connected to the story...but it wasn't necessary.

Barkis (Honor 1939)

High: My daughter loves Clare Turlay Newbery--she was highly engaged.
Low: Not so much for me. These books are just so long.


In the Forest (Honor 1945)

High: I loved the picture of the animal parade.
Low: Although my kids enjoyed this story (that was clearly actually written for children) I found it to be kind of dull.

The Forest Pool (Honor 1939)

High: The pictures in this book are some of my favorite...and the colors are beautiful (much more intense than other books from its time period). It was interesting to me how the pictures were printed on only one side of the paper (see above). Makes me believe that they were printed separately and inserted into the text.  This book is rare, and was difficult to find--a beautiful example of pictures.
Low: The story did not grab me, it was much too adult for a "children's book."

Prayer for a Child (Winner 1945)

High: The pictures in this book were awfully sweet. I may be a bit biased--the little girl looks a lot like my little one.
Low: Prayers again.

Yonnie Wondernose (Honor 1945)

High: Loved when the grandmother got stuck in the chicken coop, and tried to crawl out--but was too big.
Low: Predictable story. I didn't really like the pictures in this book that much, and I thought Yonnie looked like a girl.