A hodge-podge of information for anyone who couldn't imagine a world without children's books.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

2009 Caldecott Winner and Honors

This year's Caldecott Winner is the book The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson with illustrations by Beth Krommes.

Serene illustrations accompany this gentle rhyming book about getting ready for bed. The text is builds on itself begining with the key to the house and then goes on to name other bedtime objects, such as the bed, a book, and a light. Even theough the illustrations are mostly black the touches of yellow throughout add warmth to the pictures. This would be a wonderful, calming story to share at bedtime.


The Caldecott Honor books for this year are:



How I Learned Geography written and illustrated by Uri Shulevitz

Shulevitz shares a story from his own life about a time his father brought home a map and hung it on the wall. The young Uri looked at remote places on this map and was transported to wonderful exotic places in his immagination. These imaginary trips helped him get through difficult times during WWII.


A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever written and illustrated by Marla Frazee

Two boys spend one week in the summer together doing the things they love, they are supposed to be spending a lot of time outside but wind up playing video games mostly. In the end they do find a creative way to play outside.

A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams by by Jen Bryant with illustrations by Melissa Sweet

Beautiful collage illustrations help tell about the life of poet William Carlos Williams in this biography written in a poetic lryical style.