Caldecott Books

Caldecott Gold Medal

Aardem, Verna. Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears. Illustrated by Leo and

Diane Dillon. New York. The Dial Press. 1975.

When he bothers Iguana, Mosquito sets up a chain of events that leads to the death of a baby owl. When Mother Owl refuses to hoot to tell the sun to rise, the animals of the jungle know they have to find out who was responsible for the death of the baby owl so Mother Owl will make the sun rise once again.

Caldecott Gold Medal

Bunting, Eve. Smokey Night. Illustrated by David Diaz. New York.

Harcourt Brace & Company. 1994.

The LA riots of 1993 are the backdrop for this story of tolerance and friendship. Young Daniel and his mother watch in horror as their neighborhood is looted and set afire. The neighborhood grocery store, Kim’s, is one of the businesses attacked. Daniel and his mother never go there, choosing instead to buy from their own people. When they have to vacate their apartment building, Daniel loses his cat Jasmine. Mrs. Kim, the owner of the grocery store, also loses her cat. When Daniel and Mrs. Kim are reunited with their pets at the shelter, everyone learns the lesson that getting to know people is the way to friendship and community.

Caldecott Gold Medal

Emberly, Barbara Drummer Hoff. Illustrated by Ed Emberely. New Jersey.

Prentice-Hall, Inc. 1967.

Drummer Hoff is a story told in repeated rhyme. The characters are setting off a cannon to be fired at an unknown enemy. Each character contributes one action to the process, but is Drummer Hoff who fired it off.

Caldecott Gold Medal

Keats, Ezra Jack. The Snowy Day. New York. The Viking Press.

1962.

Peter awakes one morning to a world of white. He spends the day exploring his neighborhood, making tracks in the snow, watching a snowball fight, making a snowman, and stuffing his pockets with snow to save for later. In bed that night he dreams warmth returns and melts all the snow. Happily, his dream has not come true and Peter awakes to spend another day romping in the snowy world.

Caldecott Silver Medal

Kerley, Barbara. The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins.

Illustrated by Brian Selznick. New York. Scholastic Press.

2001.

1853, Victorian London, a time before people thought about dinosaurs, let alone knew what they looked like. In this time lived Waterhouse Hawkins, artist, sculptor, and dinosaur enthusiast. Waterhouse worked with paleontologist and anatomists to draw and sculpt some of the first pictures and statues of dinosaurs. The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins tells the story of the first statues the world saw of some of the most fantastic creatures the world has ever seen.

Caldecott Gold Medal

Lobel, Arnold. Fables. New York. Harper & Row. 1980.

Arnold Lobel builds upon the works of Aesop with these new fables. Each fable is only one page long and told with a familiar animal as the main character. The lesson of each tale is summed up in one sentence, the moral. In The Hen and the Apple Tree a wolf tries to fool a hen that he’s a tree, but the hen isn’t fooled for an instant. The moral: It is always difficult to pose as something that one is not.

Caldecott Gold Medal

Say, Allen. Grandfather’s Journey. New York. Houghton Mifflin. 1993.

Allan Say narrates this tale about his grandfather’s coming to America. His grandfather falls in love with America and decides to make it his home. Eventually, he longs for the country of his birth, Japan, and returns with his family to live there. After living in Japan for many years, Grandfather longs to return to California, but WWII intervenes. Sadly, Grandfather never returns to his adopted country. But his grandson, whom he told many wondrous stories of America, eventually makes America his home. And, just like his grandfather, he too loves, and lives his life in, two countries.

Caldecott Gold Medal

Steig, William. Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. New York. Simon and

Schuster Books for Young Readers. 1969.

Rock collector Sylvester Duncan discovers an unusual red pebble. During a rainstorm Sylvester discovers the magic of the pebble. When a lion appears, Sylvester makes an unfortunate wish and is turned into a rock. Will Sylvester once again be the person he was or will he remain a rock forever?

Caldecott Silver Medal

Steptoe, John. Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters. New York. Scholastic Inc. 1987.

Two sisters, Manyara and Nyasha, are as different as night and day. Manyara is as vain and selfish as Nyasha is humble and kind. One day, an edict comes from the king for all young maidens come to his palace in the city for he is in search of a wife. Manyara, who has always believed she is destined to be queen, sneaks off during the night to get to the king’s palace before he sister. On her way she encounters a young boy, an old woman, and a poor man treating each of them with anger and meanness. When Nyasha encounters the same people she treats them with kindness and warmth. When they finally arrive at the city, each girl has to appear before the king. One of them sees a monster, the other the king. Which sister deserves to be the king’s bride?

Caldecott Silver Medal

Stevens, Janet. Tops & Bottoms. New York. Harcourt Brace & Company. 1995.

Bear is too lazy to farm his wonderful land. The rabbits are starving, so Father Rabbit devises a plan to feed his family by using Bear’s land. Father Rabbit makes a deal with Bear to give Bear all of what grows above the ground and the Rabbits will take what grows below the ground. The Rabbits plant root crops, keeping the vegetables and giving Bear only the leafy tops. The Rabbits trick Bear twice more until the Rabbits have enough to eat and Bear decides to farm his land himself.

(Also listed under Everybody Books)

Caldecott Silver Medal

Van Allsburg, Chris. The Garden of Abdul Gazazi.

Fritz, Chris Van Allsburg’s dog that he always includes in his books, is one of the main characters in this story of mystery and magic. Fritz escapes while David is watching him and runs into the garden of a famous magician. Abdul Gazazi hates dogs and any who enter his garden is turned into a duck. This is also Fritz’s fate. While taking him back home, Fritz steals David’s hat and flies off. David is worried about how he’ll break the news to Miss Marple that he’s lost her dog. Much to his amazement, when he gets to Miss Marple’s house, there sits Fritz. Is Abdul Gazazi the greatest magician ever, or did he just play a trick on David?

Caldecott Gold Medal

Van Allsburg, Chris. Jumanji. Boston. Houghton Mifflin. 1981.

Peter and Judy, bored at having to stay home and keep the house neat, decide to take out all their toys and make a mess. When they tire of this they go for a walk in the park. There they find a most unusual game – Jumanji. What Peter and Judy discover is that finishing what you start is sometimes the difference between winning and losing.

Caldecott Gold Medal

Van Allsburg, Chris. The Polar Express. Boston. Houghton Mifflin

Company. 1985

One snowy Christmas Eve, David is whisked away on the Polar Express. Through the night he, along with other children, travel until they reach the North Pole and Santa Claus. Once there, Santa picks one lucky child to receive the first gift of Christmas. This year, David is the special child chosen. His gift, small and simple, continues to be special for him and all true believers.

Caldecott Gold Medal

Ward, Lynd. The Biggest Bear. New York. Houghton Mifflin Company. 1952.

Johnny Orchard is ashamed of the fact no man in his family has ever returned from a hunting trip with a bear skin. He decides this is not going to continue and sets off on his own hunting trip. Rather than shooting a bear, he finds an orphaned bear cub and brings it home. Quickly he discovers that living among people is not beneficial to either people or bears. Can he find a place for the bear before he has to do the one thing he doesn’t want to do, shoot him?

Caldecott Gold Medal

Yolen, Jane. Owl Moon. Illustrated by John Schoenherr. New York. Philomel

Books. 1987.

On the night of the full moon, sometime deep in winter, with her father a young girl takes her first trip “owling”. While waiting for the appearance of a great horned owl, she learns the value of patience and silence.

Caldecott Gold Medal

Zelinsky, Paul O. Rapunzel. New York. Dutton Children’s Books.

1997.

This beautifully illustrated book retells this classic story. This is the original Grimm tale. While waiting for her baby to be born, a woman looks out from her window at the neighbor’s garden. She begins to crave the rapunzel that grows in the garden and swears she will die if she doesn’t get any. While trying to fulfill his wife’s wish, the husband is caught by the owner of the garden, a witch. She agrees to spare the man’s life if he agrees to give her the baby. Sadly he agrees and when the baby is born he gives it to the witch, who names her Rapunzel. Rapunzel is eventually locked in a tower with only her long hair as the ladder the witch climbs to enter to tower. One day the prince her Rapunzel singing, finds a way into the tower, and eventually marries Rapunzel. The witch finds out and Rapunzel and the Prince both suffer terrible punishments before they live “happily ever after”.