Picture Books: A CALDECOTT CELEBRATION

Bibliography

Marcus, Leonard. S. 1998. A Caldecott Celebration. New York, NY: Walker. ISBN 0-8027-8656-1



Plot Summary

A Caldecott Celebration chronicles the work of six Caldecott Medal winners: Robert McCloskey, Marcia Brown, Maurice Sendak, William Steig, Chris Van Allsburg, and David Wiesner. These author/illustrators' work span six decades and a variety of styles. For each winner, Marcus shares biographical information about the author as well as describing the creative process that led to the winning book.

Critical Analysis

Children will be able to gain an understanding of the process of writing and illustrating a book from the interviews and anecdotes presented in A Caldecott Celebration. Not only will they begin to realize that authors are regular people with real families and backgrounds, but also they are able to see that writing is a process, sometimes struggle, for adults. Marice Sendak's difficulty with Where the Wild Things Are exemplifies this challenge. He was so dissatisfied with the first versions, featuring wild horses, that he put the whole idea aside, and the final, successful, version turned out quite differently from his first attempts.

Thumbnail and dummy representations of the works in progress add interest and authenticity to the pages. The dedication of these artists to their work proves amazing. Robert McCloskey filled his apartment with ducklings (and all that ducklings produce) to gain an intimate knowledge of their anatomy and movement. Marcia Brown spent hours studying period costumes, dances, and styles to add historical richness to her version of the Cinderella story.

I was surprised at the level of fascination I felt reading this book. A Caldecott Celebration provides factual information with an engaging and lively prose. The interviews, artist's photographs, and art samples draw readers to the selected medal-winning books. I want to re-read the books I know and find the ones I missed knowing the history of the stories.



Review Excerpts


Starred review in Publishers Weekly: “Filled with witty anecdotes and pithy observations, Marcus’s approach to examining the works of six Caldecott Medalists will be of as much interest to adults as to picture book readers.”

Starred review in Booklist: “A lively, informative introduction to each book and its maker. A beautifully made book, this will serve as a fine resource for children interested in illustration and for teachers researching author/ illustrator studies."


Connections

This is a book about books. Students would benefit from reading the Caldecott Medal books that are described in Marcus' book along with his informative text.

Other books on authors/illustrators:

Christelow, Eileen. What Do Authors Do? ISBN:0395866219

Christelow, Eileen. What Do Illustrators Do? ISBN:0395902304

Note:

An updated version of this title, which includes The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordecai Gerstein, was released to celebrate the book's tenth anniversary.

MARCUS, Leonard S. A Caldecott Celebration: Seven Artists and Their Paths to the Caldecott Medal. ISBN 978-0-8027-9703-2