Recent Caldecott Books

After I learned to read as a preschooler, I never spent much time with picture books again until I became a teacher!  Especially in the 23 years I was a kindergarten teacher I became totally enthralled with them! It was always a pleasure to introduce my students to my favorite authors, illustrators, and series of picture books.  When I was in my undergraduate Children's Literature class, we read all the Newbery and Caldecott books.  Many of the Newbery books were old friends--they were among my favorite books from childhood.  But the Caldecott books were mostly unfamiliar.  So that was a treasure trove of wonderful stories and pictures!  The last two books have been very special to me.  Even though I am retired now, I still buy the books and savor every page!  

A Ball For Daisy was written and illustrated by Chris Raschka.  I am so glad that he finally got his own gold Caldecott medal! My students enjoyed Yo!Yes? which received the silver Caldecott medal, and The Hello, Goodbye Window which he illustrated, but was written by Norton Juster, which received the gold medal.   A Ball For Daisy has no words.  The pictures tell the story of a dog who lost her ball, but in the end made a new friend.

Jon Klassen was a new name for me!  He has written and illustrated several other books, but I was not familiar with them.  This Is Not My Hat is the sequel to I Want My Hat Back.  A little fish takes a little hat from a big fish who is sleeping.  In the end, he does the right thing and returns the hat.