100 Great Picture Books/100 Years

I love book lists.  And now, The New York Public Library has just published a list of "100 Best Picture Books," on occasion of their current exhibition The ABC of It: Why Children’s Books Matter, "an examination of why children’s books are important: what and how they teach children, and what they reveal about the societies that produced them."  The exhibition is really geared for adults interested in the history of children's literature; however there are some fun hands-on displays and lively spaces--like the recreation of Margaret Wise Brown's Goodnight Moon's great green room, that will occupy kids while their grown-ups examine the contents of the display cases.  

You can browse the list here

published 1928

Most of these books are in our school library's collection, and they circulate regularly, proving that these "classics" on our shelves withstand the test of time--and children!  

published 1938

published 1962

published 1972

Caldecott Medal

While slowing down with young readers while reading picture books, it is possible to take in how the illustrations work to move a narrative along.  Emerging readers prove to be very keen readers of pictures.  It's the adults who seem to have lost the skill of this kind of reading, and any thorough reading of a picture book must include a visual as well as textual reading.  Grades 1 and 2 have been reading and discussing several books published in the last year, to see if we can make a prediction for the Caldecott Medal, the prestigious award bestowed upon the most distinguished American illustrator.  These are the books we have looked at and will vote on:

A summary of the book: Annabelle knits for everyone and everything in town with a supply of yarn that never seems to run out, until an evil archduke decides he wants the yarn for himself.  One observant reader recognized the little brown bear figure from Klassen's 2011  I Want My Hat Back.  

Leaving the den as the weather warms, Baby Bear discovers blue birds, red strawberries, orange butterflies, and other colorful things in nature. Author Ashley Wolff claims the picture book classic Blueberries for Sal as the inspiration for her linocut illustrations.  

In Extra Yarn, the pictures enables the reader make inferences that are essential in making sense of the story.

In this cumulative tale, A series of animals falls into a deep hole, only to be saved at last by a very large rescuer.

The carrots that grow in Crackenhopper Field are the fattest and crispiest around and Jasper Rabbit cannot resist pulling some to eat each time he passes by, until he begins hearing and seeing creepy carrots wherever he goes.

Illustrator Peter Brown reveals his inspiration in the book trailer below:

The Creepy Carrots Zone -- an uproariously funny book trailer from Peter Brown on Vimeo.

The Caldecott winner will be announced at the annual mid-winter conference of the American Library Association on Monday, January 28th.