From Elizabeth Kennedy,
Your Guide to Children's Books.
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In the United States, the Randolph Caldecott Medal is the most prestigious award for children's picture book illustration that an artist can receive. The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), announces the annual Caldecott winners at the ALA's annual Midwinter Meeting in January. On January 14, 2008, the 2008 Randolph Caldecott Medal and Honor Book illustrators were announced.

The 2008 Caldecott Medal

Brian Selznick received the 2008 Caldecott Medal winner for The Invention of Hugo Cabret, which he also wrote (compare prices). The book was published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic. According to the ALSC,

From an opening shot of the full moon setting over an awakening Paris in 1931, this tale casts a new light on the picture book form. Hugo is a young orphan secretly living in the walls of a train station where he labors to complete a mysterious invention left by his father. In a work of more than 500 pages, the suspenseful text and wordless double-page spreads narrate the tale in turns. (ALSC)

Both the story of The Invention of Hugo Cabret and the way it is presented make this a fascinating book that I highly recommend for 9-15 year olds, as well as older teens and adults.

2008 Caldecott Honor Books

• Henry's Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad, illustrated by Kadir Nelson, written by Ellen Levine, and published by Scholastic (compare prices)
• First the Egg, written and illustrated by Laura Vaccaro Seeger, published by Roaring Brook/Neal Porter (compare prices)
• The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain, written and illustrated by Peter Sís (Farrar/Frances Foster) (compare prices)
• Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity, written and illustrated by Mo Willems, published by Hyperion (compare prices)

The 2007 Caldecott Medal

David Wiesner was the recipient of the 2007 Caldecott Medal for Flotsam, which was published by Clarion Books, a Houghton Mifflin Company imprint (compare prices). This wordless picture book tells the imaginative story of an amazing day at the beach through the detailed watercolors of David Wiesner. According to the ALA news release,

Wiesner’s Flotsam, published by Clarion, is a cinematic unfolding of discovery. A vintage camera washed up on the beach provides a young boy with a surprising view of fantastical images from the bottom of the sea. From fish-eye to lens-eye, readers see a frame-by-frame narrative of lush marinescapes ebbing and flowing from the real to the surreal.

“Telling tales through imagery is what storytellers have done through the ages. Wiesner’s wordless tale resonates with visual images that tell his story with clever wit and lively humor,” said Caldecott Medal Committee Chair Janice Del Negro.

2007 Caldecott Honor Books

• Gone Wild: An Endangered Animal Alphabet, written and illustrated by David McLimans, published by Walker (compare prices)
• Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom, illustrated by Kadir Nelson and written by Carole Boston Weatherford, published by Hyperion/Jump at the Sun (compare prices)

I hope you will take the time to look at these picture books and select some of them to enjoy with your child.