Special Collections
Caldecott Award Winners
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Black and White
by David MacaulayFour stories are told simultaneously, with each double-page spread divided into quadrants. The stories do not necessarily take place at the same moment in time, but are they really one story?
Winner of the Caldecott Medal
Owl Moon
by Jane Yolen and John SchoenherrLate one winter night a child and father go owling. The trees stand still as statues and the world is silent as a dream. Wordlessly the two companions walk along, for when you go owling you don't need words. You don't need anything but hope. Sometimes there isn't an owl, but sometimes there is.
Distinguished author Jane Yolen has created a gentle, poetic story that lovingly depicts the special companionship of a child and father as well as humankind's close relationship to the natural world.
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Arrow to the Sun
by Gerald McdermottA young boy searches for his father, but before he can claim his heritage he must first prove his worthiness by passing through the four ceremonial chambers: the kiva of lions, the kiva of snakes, the kiva of bees, and the kiva of lightning. This book was the Caldecott Book Award Winner in 1975.
Mirette On the High Wire
by Emily MccullyWinner of the 1993 Caldecott Medal. One day, a mysterious stranger arrives at the boardinghouse of the widow Gâteaua sad-faced stranger, who keeps to himself. When the widow's daughter, Mirette, discovers him crossing the courtyard on air, she begs him to teach her how he does it. But Mirette doesn't know that the stranger was once the Great Bellini master wire-walker. Or that Bellini has been stopped by a terrible fear. And it is she who must teach him courage once again. Emily Arnold McCully's sweeping watercolor paintings carry the reader over the rooftops of nineteenth-century Paris, and into an elegant, beautiful world of acrobats, jugglers, mimes, actors, and one gallant, resourceful little girl.
Once A Mouse... A Fable Cut in Wood
by Marcia BrownFrom the book: "No one shall tell me that I was once a mouse!" roars the tiger. But an old hermit, mighty at magic, does tell him; for it was "he who first changed the tiger from a wretched -little mouse to a stout cat, to a big dog, and finally, to his proud and royal self. Youngest readers will take special delight in seeing these changes take place in Marcia Brown's dramatic picturing of the tiger's fall from grace. Older boys and girls will read more meaning into the text. A rajah of ancient India is said to have had such popular animal fables collected as a "mirror for princes" to instruct his errant sons. Marcia Brown retells this fable from the Hitopadesìa in a vigorous style. This book was the recipient of the 1962 Caldecott Medal.
Hey, Al
by Arthur YorinksAl, a janitor, and his faithful dog, Eddie, live in a single room on the West Side. They eat together, they work together, they do everything together. So what's the problem? You name it. Their tiny home is crowded and cramped; their life is an endless struggle. Al and Eddie are totally miserable until a large and mysterious bird offers them a change of fortune. Transported to a gorgeous island in the sky, they are soon living a life of ease and comfort. But sometimes, they discover, the grass can be a little too green on the other side. After a dramatic escape from their "paradise," both man and dog agree: There really is no place like home. Arthur Yorinks and Richard Egielski have previously collaborated on Sid and Sol, which Maurice Sendak described as "a wonder"; Louis the Fish, named one of the Best Books of 1980 by School Library Journal; and Happened in Pinsk, a Booklist Children's Editors' Choice for 1984.
Finding Winnie
by Sophie Blackall and Lindsay MattickBefore Winnie-the-Pooh, there was a real bear named Winnie. In 1914, Harry Colebourn, a veterinarian on his way to tend horses in World War I, followed his heart and rescued a baby bear. He named her Winnie, after his hometown of Winnipeg, and he took the bear to war. Harry Colebourn's real-life great-granddaughter tells the true story of a remarkable friendship and an even more remarkable journey--from the fields of Canada to a convoy across the ocean to an army base in England...And finally to the London Zoo, where Winnie made another new friend: a real boy named Christopher Robin. Here is the remarkable true story of the bear who inspired Winnie-the-Pooh.
Winner of the Caldecott Medal
The Little Island
by Golden MacdonaldOnce there was a little island in the ocean. That little island changes as the seasons come and go. The storm and the day and night change it. So do the lobsters and seals and gulls that stop by. Then one day a kitten visits the little island and learns a secret that every child will enjoy.
Lon Po Po
by Ed YoungIn this Chinese version of the classic fairy tale, a mother leaves her three children home alone while she goes to visit their grandmother. When the children are visited by a wolf, pretending to be their Po Po, or granny, they let him in the house, but ultimately are not fooled by his deep voice and hairy face
Winner of the Caldecott Medal
This text is listed as an example that meets Common Core Standards in English language arts for K-1 at http://www.corestandards.org.