The Caldecott Medal is named in honor of the 19th-century illustrator Randolph Caldecott. It is awarded annually to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association.
1999 Medal Winner
Snowflake Bentley, illustrated by Mary Azarian and written by Jacqueline Briggs Martin (Houghton Mifflin)
The story of Wilson Bentley is a true one: The Vermont farmboy mesmerized by snowflakes went on to become a prominent nature photographer. As a teen-ager in the 1870s, he learned of a camera with a built-in microscope that would enable him to capture the complexities of snowflakes in photographs. Using it, he created nature books that are still referred to today.
Jacqueline Briggs Martin's use of imagery and Mary Azarian's intricately detailed illustrations work in tandem to tell the story of a man driven by a passion that he turned into his life's work.
1999 Honor Books
Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra, illustrated by Brian Pinkney and written by Andrea Davis Pinkney (Hyperion)
Celebrating the "King of the Keys," the Pinkney husband-and-wife team combines flashy, energetic art with colorful language in its portrayal of Duke Ellington. Radios emit musical swirls and notes whiz around the jazz master's head in the scratchboard drawings.
The rich text tells the story of how Ellington cultivated his appreciation for the piano. A piano-lesson dropout, he was eventually hooked by the energy of ragtime. Its hold gave way to jazz, sending Ellington on his way to stardom.
No, David!, illustrated and written by David Shannon (Scholastic)
When author David Shannon was 5 years old, he compiled a book consisting of two words -- "no" and "David" -- the two words most familiar to him at the time. Years later, his mother sent him the book, which he transformed into this wildly humorous, boldly drawn recap of his childhood.
The brief text and expressive illustrations capture little David's mischief as he runs down the street naked, jumps on the bed and plays with his food. Mom's response? Two words: "No, David."
Which is not to say this is a negative book. It's as much about a child's curiosity as a loving parent's struggle.
Snow, illustrated and written by Uri Shulevitz (Farrar, Straus, Giroux)
Simple words and illustrations combine with a strong message in Uri Shulevitz's book about this wintertime wonder. Despite a small boy's insistence that it's going to snow, all the grown-ups he tells disagree. "It's only a snowflake." "It's nothing." "It'll melt." All squelch his excitement and wonder over the fluffy white stuff he hopes will spill from the sky.
Soon, however, snow covers the naysayers and the whole city disappears beneath a white blanket.
Tibet: Through the Red Box, illustrated and written by Peter Sis (Farrar, Straus, Giroux)
When author Peter Sis was growing up in Prague during the 1950s, his filmmaker father was ordered by Communist authorities to create a documentary on road construction in China. Sis describes the ensuing adventures from two points of view, the stories he remembers hearing from his father and the less sugar-coated excerpts direct from his father's journals. Both tell of a man's immersion in a new culture and his separation from his family.
These combine with fine-lined drawings of monks, mazes and castles, which are executed in a bold palette of orange, green, gold and blue. The detailed illustrations mirror the exotic setting of this tour through the Far East.
Pub Date: 03/07/99