So You Want to be President by Judith St. George

 

Summary:

So You Want to be President? is written by Judith St. George and illustrated by Caldecott winnr David Small.  The book the public and private lives of forty two presidents with both humor and flair.  The comical illustrations emphasizes on the presidents´ best know qualities.  You can learn about family life and pre-presidential occupations.  For example, Harry Truman stands at a cash register at a men´s store or Andrew Johnson (a formal tailor) making alterations on Abraham Lincoln´s suit.  

George, S. J., & Small, D. (2000). So you want to be president / M. Philomel Books.

Kitten´s First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes

 

Summary: 

Kitten´s First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes won a 2005 Caldecott Medal for its illustrations.  While sitting on the stairs, Kitten sees a small bowl of milk in the night sky.  However, she cannot get to it even when she chases and reaches for it.  When she climbs up a tree, she sees what seems to be an even larger bowl of milk.  Really seeing the reflection of the moon, she get soaking wet when she jumps into the water.  In the end of real bowl of milk is left out for Kitty.

Instead of using his normal bright and colorful illustrations, Henkes uses blacks, whites, and muted grays that give the book a more retro look.  

Henkes, K. (2004). Kitten's first full moon. Seedlings Braille Books.

The Man Who Walked Between Two Towers by Marigny Dupuy

 Summary:

The Man Who Walked Between Two Towers is written and illustrated Mordecai Gerstein.  It was his illustrations that earned the book a 2004 Caldecott Medal.  The book is based on the life of Phillippe Petit who is a French street performer, who specializes in tight rope walking, living in 1974 New York City.  Petit has a dream to walk on a tight rope between the two towers of the World Trade Center.  Since the towers were under construction, Petit and a friend dressed up as a construction worker and spooled wire across the two towers.  With the help of two more friends, they were able to attach the cable to the other tower.  Then early in the morning, Petit spent over an hour performing on the tight rope over 1,300 feet in the air.  

Gerstein´s illustrations are clear and powerful.  They are created in both oil and ink.  Through his illustrations you can see the perspective of the height of the towers.  His panoramic illustrations capture the rememberance of the World Trade Center, which is the site of the most aggressive act to take place on American soil.  The last page includes a painting of an imagined imprint of the towers that we only remember in memory.

Gerstein, M. (2003). The man who walked between the towers ; Mordicai Gerstein. Square fish.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

 

Summary:

The Invention of Cabret,written and illustrated by Brian Selznick, is the winner of a 2008 Caldecott Award.  Hugo´s father, a clockmaker, is suddenly killed in a fire, so Hugo is taken in by his uncle.  Together they live inside a Paris train station where his uncle maintains the station clocks.  One night Hugo´s uncle disappears leaving him all alone living inside the station walls.  Hugo must steal to survive and maintain the station clocks so no one knows his uncle is missing.  Hugo also works on a robot that his father had been trying to restore.  Hugo is obsessed with getting the robot to function.  One day he gets caught stealing parts from a toymaker and he takes away his father´s notebook and threatens to arrest him. A cryptic drawing, a treasured notebook, a stolen key, a mechanical man, and a hidden message from Hugo´s father create a spell binding mystery.

The Invention of Cabret is told in both words and pictures. It is a combination of a novel, a picture book, and a graphic novel.  Each picture takes up a double page spread.  As you turn each page, the next moment unfolds right in front of you.

Selznick, B. (2007). The invention of Hugo Cabret:a novel in words and pictures/(Caldecott Medal 2008). Scholastic Press.

The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend by Dan Stantat

 

Summary:

The Adventures of Beekle is a 2015 Caldecott Medal winner for excellence in illustration.  Beekle is an adorable white, doughy looking imaginary friend that is born on a fantasy island among other imaginary friends that are waiting to be chosen by a child.  He begins to feel worried when other imaginary friends get chosen and he is left behind.  He sets off across the ocean in a place similar to New York City in hopes to frind his friend.  He finds the city dark and dreary until he comes upon a colorful playground where he sees other imaginary friends with their humans.  It is here where he meets a timid and artistic young girl named Alice who imagined him in a picture and names him Beekle.

The Adventures of Beekle is an imaginative story that allows the reader to explore the common childhood experience of having an imaginary friend.  It is written and illustrated by Dan Strantat.  His illustrations are beautiful and show Beekle as a glowing white against the gray contrast of the urban landscape around him, where the grown up city dwellers look like they have no fun.

Santat, D. (2019). The adventures of Beekle: the unimaginary friend. Little, Brown and Company.

Wolf in the Snow by Matthew Cordell

 

Summary:

Wolf in the Snow is written and illustrated by Matthew Cordell.  It is the winner of the 2018 Caldecott Medal and is a nearly wordless picture book that tells the tale of a little girl that sets off for home after school.  On her way home, she finds a lost wolf pup that is seperated from its pack.  She picks it up and trudges through the snowstorm to bring it back to its pack.  Finally she is able to reunite the pup with its mom.  However, she is lost and tired and collapses.  The wolves surround the girl and begin to howl in hopes to alert her family that has been looking for her.  Finally she is rescued and she too is reunited with her mom where she is able to go home and be warm and safe.  

Matthew Cordell uses a mixure of pen and ink with watercolors to captivate the landscape of peril and compassion.  The illustrations also draw you in to cause you to care about the characters and shows the changing emotions on the girl´s face.  The only words are the wolves sounds which are the whine of the pup, the howls, and growls.  

Cordell, M. (2019). Wolf in the snow. Andersen Press.

The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander

 

Summary:

The Undefeated is written by Newberry Award winning poet Kwame Alexander and recieved a 2020 Caldecott Medal by illustrator Kadir Nelson.  The book was also awarded the 2020 Coretta Scott King Award and the 2020 Newberry Honor.  The Undefeated is a tribute to African Americans throughout American history.  From the time of being captured and take to American by ships, through slavery, the Civil Rights Movement.  It also highlights achievements in sports, literature, music, politics, and other areas.  

The Undefeated is a tribute to African American heroes and regular people that faces struggles, prejiduce, and oppression and survived, as well as those who didn´t.  Kadir Nelson´s art is amazing.  Sometimes it features a single figure or face against a stark white page or two-page spread and other times there is a collage of many heroes of a certain genre, like music or sports.

Alexander, K., & Nelson, K. (2020). The undefeated. Andersen Press.