Picture Books

By Katie Weiblen, Library Committee, originally published in the January 2024 issue of the 1666 Coffman Newsletter

​A donation of picture books to the children’s section of our Library contained several titles that have been awarded the Caldecott Award by the American Library Association. The award is given annually to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children. The Caldecott Medal is named in honor of nineteenth-century illustrator Randolph Caldecott. The committee selects other books worthy of attention and these are known as Honor Books.

​The following books are noted for receiving the Caldecott Medal or being selected as Honor Books.

• Make Way for Ducklings, written and illustrated by Robert McCloskey, Viking Press, 1941. This beloved classic of a mother duck herding her ducklings across the Charles River, through heavy traffic to nest in the Boston Public Garden has delighted children for decades. Robert McCloskey received the Caldecott Award in 1942.

• ​One Morning in Maine, written and illustrated by Robert McCloskey, Viking Penguin, 1952. The author-illustrator and his family spent summers on the coast of Maine. This gentle tale, in black and white illustrations, focuses on his six-year-old daughter who loses her first tooth. What starts out as ​a crisis, ends happily after an adventurous day at the Maine seashore. It was awarded a Caldecott Honor Book distinction in 1953.
• Song of the Water Boatman & Other Pond Poems, written by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Beckie Prange, Houghton Mifflin, 2005. This unique blend of whimsy, science, poetry, and hand-colored woodcuts invites the reader to take a close look at our hidden ponds and wetlands. It was given an honor book designation in 2006. Joyce Sidman lives in Wayzata, Minnesota, and Beckie Prange lives in Ely, Minnesota.
• ​Sleep Like a Tiger, written by Mary Logue, illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski,  Houghton Mifflin 2012. ​This picture book is a gentle retelling of the age-old dilemma: a child refuses to go to bed. Whimsical illustrations accompany the parents’ tale of animals who go to sleep until the child finally falls asleep. Mary Logue is well known as a writer of mysteries.  She lives in the Bluff Country of Wisconsin. Pamela Zagarenski has twice been awarded the Caldecott Medal.