I Guessed Wrong Again!

No Wabi Sabi didn't win the Caldecott Medal this year. I was absolutely, positively sure it would as it is the "best" book I saw in 2008. The Caldecott Award is given for the book that most aptly integrates story and illustration into one smooth work with the pictures continuing to tell the story where the words stop. That is the explanation I have always given to students when explaining this particular award to them. It is also the explanation Dr. McClaskey gave in his Children's Book Illustration class at the U. so many years ago. I had seen this year's "winner" both at Children's Book Week this fall and in November at the last Kerlan event I attended. I asked Dr. Karen Nelson Hoyle who she thought would win the Caldecott this year and she nailed it with "The House in the Night" by Susan Marie Swanson, a MN author & illustrated by Beth Krommes. This title is very reminiscent of "White Snow Bright Snow" the 1948 winner by Roger Duvoison. One of this year's judges for the Caldecott said how the black charcoal illustrations perfectly matched the story...so I guess this title did meet the qualifications for the award, but I personally like Wabi Sabi illustrated by Ed Young so much more.
The Newbery winner "The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman received so much more press than the Caldecott. Gaiman was quoted as saying that he was totally surprised as this title has already sold over 71,000 copies and was on the New York Times best-seller list for 15 weeks! It appears Mr. Gaiman doesn't know the qualifications for winning. I thought "The Underneath" by Appelt might win, but I wasn't as sure as I was with Wabi Sabi. His "Coraline" comes out as a movie on 2/6 & it has already been decided that this title will also be made into a motion picture. Both the Newbery & Caldecott winners, remarkably; are from the Twin Cities! Mr. Gaiman is originally from Great Britain but has lived here for the past 16 years, while Susan Marie Swanson lives in lower St. Anthony Park just off Como Ave. less than a mile from the fairgrounds. So that is good. Minnesota is a great place for writers - it must be all the cold weather we have to endure.

Eve of the Newbery/Caldecott Awards 2009

Yes, here we go again. I still get excited about the annual ALA awards for the "best" children's books. No matter how long I've taught or what we are called now, I am still a children's literature expert at heart. It's what life is all about for me. I have my personal collection of autographed books going back to 1967. Twice I've been correct in "choosing the winner" before the announcements. I'm pretty good at it. I had a terrific teacher, Dr. Harris McClaskey at the U. way back in the...well never mind about that. I took 5 classes from him, I loved the storytelling and children's book illustration classes the best. Through Dr. McClaskey's classes I became aware of my love of children's literature. I did three big projects in the Kerlan Collection as well as wrote my M.A. paper on the Kerlan Award. Then in the late 1980's I quickly took all of Dr. Odland's classes b/4 she retired. I received two compliments from her which to this day still mean so much to me. One day in class she said that she never really liked school librarians, but that she has come to change her mind about one of them, who she felt was pretty outstanding. Then she looked right at me. I felt very honored. The 2nd time I received a compliment from Dr. Odland was quite a bit later at the annual Children's Book Week dinner at the U. She was by this time in quite advanced stages of her disease; was in a wheel chair and could barely speak. She motioned me to come closer and whispered in my ear: "Are you still that good school librarian?" With tears in my eyes, I told her yes, I was and am still working hard at it. I haven't often felt very successful about my profession. Far too often I fell beaten down, it is difficult to remember the ideals I used to have. But anyway, tomorrow is a new day. I am most confident that Wabi Sabi by Mark Reibstein, illustrated by Ed Young will get the Caldecott Award it is absolutely exquisite! I'm not quite as sure about the Newbery Award. Some say The Underneath by Kathi Appelt will get the award while others say Waiting for Normal by Leslie Connor will win. It is now a matter of time. What is exciting is that there is now a link to the ALA Award ceremony in Denver so I won't have to wait to see all the "winners". I will forward it on to all the marvelous media specialists as I have done for the past 25 years. I'll let you know if I was correct this year.