West Bend Community Memorial Library

West Bend Community Memorial Library

Children's Booklist

Make reading a part of your child's life!

Caldecott Medal Winners and Honor Books
[2000-Present] [1990-1999] [1980-1989] [1970-1979] [1960-1969] [1950-1959] [1940-1949] [1938-1939]
[printable list]


1979 Winner:	The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses by Paul Goble - A Native American girl loves horses and spends all her free time with them. When a storm hits, she and her horses are forced to flee and they end up lost, but a handsome stallion, the leader of the wild horses, welcomes her to live with them. Gradually the girl relinquishes her life with her people, and years later, turns into a beautiful mare herself. Goble writes exclusively about Native American and his art reflects their culture and customs.

Honor Books:	Freight Train by Donald Crews - Brief text and illustrations trace the journey of a colorful train as it goes through tunnels, by cities, and over trestles.

	The Way to Start a Day by Byrd Baylor and illustrated by Peter Parnall - The way to start the day is to go outdoors and face the sun, making it welcome for the new day by your song or gift or blessing, as the cavemen did, and the Peruvians . . . and the people of Egypt, Africa and China . . . Parnall's geographic composition, his brilliant colors, and his precise and elegant use of the line reflect the strength and lyricism of the writing.

1978 Winner:	Noah's Ark by Peter Spier - The bee and the fox, the sheep and the ox--two of each kind trudged aboard Noah's famous vessel. Peter Spier uses his own translation of a seventeenth-century Dutch poem about this most famous menagerie.

Honor Books:	Castle by David Macaulay - The word itself conjures up mystery, romance, intrigue, and grandeur. What could be more perfect for an author/illustrator who has continually stripped away the mystique of architectural structures that have long fascinated modern man? With typical zest and wry sense of humor punctuating his drawings, David Macaulay traces the step-by-step planning and construction of both castle and town.

	It Could Always Be Worse: A Yiddish Folktale by Margot Zemach - Unable to stand his overcrowded and noisy home any longer, a poor man goes to the Rabbi for advice.

1977 Winner:	Ashanti to Zulu: African Traditions by Margaret Musgrove and illustrated by Leo & Diane Dillion - Explains some traditions and customs of 26 African tribes beginning with letters from A to Z.

Honor Books:	The Amazing Bone by William Steig - It's a bright and beautiful spring day, and Pearl, a pig, is dawdling on her way home from school. Most unexpectedly, she strikes up an acquaintance with a small bone. "You talk?" says Pearl. "In any language," says the bone. "And I can imitate any sound there is." (Its former owner was a witch.) Pearl and the bone immediately take a liking to each other, and before you know it she is on her way home with the bone in her purse, left open so they can continue their conversation. Won't her parents be surprised when she introduces her talking bone! But before that happy moment comes, the resourceful bone must deal with a band of highway robbers in Halloween masks and, worse, a fox who decides that Pearl will be his main course at dinner that night. And deal it does, with gambits droll and thrilling. William Steig, incomparable master of the contemporary picture book, has never been better than in The Amazing Bone.

	The Contest by Nonny Hogrogian - Two robbers, Hmayag and Hrahad, meet by accident under a pomegranate tree, each having decided it was time for lunch. To their amazement, they find their bokhjahs contain identical lunches. It does not take long before they discover that they are engaged to the same girl, Ehleezah, who, of course, prepared the food for each of them. Since neither robber is willing to give her up, they agree to hold a contest with Ehleezah as the prize. The one who proves himself the cleverer at his trade will be the winner. The resulting trials are truly a test of theives. But the outcome is not what the robbers had intended, nor does the story end as the reader might expect.

	The Golem: A Jewish Legend by Beverly Brodsky McDermott - A retelling of the Jewish legend of the golem created by Rabbi Lev to protect the Jews of Prague from the angry mob.

	Hawk, I'm Your Brother by Byrd Baylor and illustrated by Peter Parnall - Rudy's only dream is to fly like a hawk over Santos Mountain, and in an unusual way he makes his dream come true.

	Fish for Supper by M.B. Goffstein - Grandmother hurries through her morning chores so that she can get to the real business of the dayfishing until sunset and then eating a pan-fried fish for supper.

1976 Winner:	Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears by Verna Aardema and illustrated by Leo & Diane Dillion - A mosquito annoyed the iguana, who frightened the python, who scared the rabbit...and now the whole jungle is in an uproar because the sun won't rise. The animals discuss the situation and decide to punish the mosquito. Even today, whenever we hear a mosquito buzz, we smack it hard!

Honor Books:	The Desert is Theirs by Byrd Baylor and illustrated by Peter Parnall - Simple text and illustrations describe the characteristics of the desert and its plant, animal, and human life.

	Strega Nona by Tomie DePaola - A retelling of an old Italian tale about what happens when Strega Nona leaves her apprentice alone with her magic pasta pot, and he is determined to show the townspeople how it works.

1975 Winner:	Arrow to the Sun by Gerald McDermott - Gerald McDermott's version of the Pueblo Native American tale is strikingly illustrated with bold, warm colors and unique geometric figures in the style of Southwestern Native American art.

Honor Books:	Jambo Means Hello: A Sawahili Alphabet Book by Muriel Feelings and illustrated by Tom Feelings - Presents a word, with English translation, for each of the twenty-four letters in the Swahili alphabet. Brief explanation of each word introduces an East African custom.

1974 Winner:	Duffy and the Devil by Harve Zemach and illustrated by Margot Zemach - Duffy and the Devil was a popular play in Cornwall in the nineteenth century, performed at the Christmas season by groups of young people who went from house to house. The Zemachs have interpreted the folk tale which the play dramatized, recognizable as a version of the widespread Rumpelstiltskin story. Its main themes are familiar, but the character and details of this picture book are entirely Cornish, as robust and distinctive as the higgledy-piggledy, cliff-hanging villages that dot England's southwestern coast from Penzance to Land's End. The language spoken by the Christmas players was a rich mixture of local English dialect and Old Cornish (similar to Welsh and Gaelic), and something of this flavor is preserved in Harve Zemach's retelling. Margot Zemach's pen-and-wash illustrations combine a refined sense of comedy with telling observation of character, felicitous drawing with decorative richness, to a degree that surpasses her own past accomplishments.

Honor Books:	Three Jovial Huntsmen by Susan Jeffers - Despite the many animals in the forest, three hunters see only a ship, a house, and a pincushion and find nothing to shoot.

	Cathedral by David Macaulay - This richly illustrated book shows the intricate step-by-step process of a cathedral's growth.

1973 Winner:	The Funny Little Woman by Arlene Mosel and illustrated by Blair Lent - In this tale set in Old Japan, a lively little woman who loves to laugh pursues her runaway dumpling-and must outwit the wicked three-eyed oni when she lands in their clutches.

Honor Books:	Anansi the Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti by Gerald McDermott - In this traditional Ashanti tale, Anansi sets out on a long, difficult journey. Threatened by Fish and Falcon, he is saved from terrible fates by his sons. But which of his sons should Anansi reward? Calling upon Nyame, the God of All Things, Anansi solves his predicament in a touching and highly resourceful fashion.

	Hosies Alphabet by Hosea, Tobias & Lisa Baskin and illustrated by Leonard Baskin - A full-page illustration of a creature for each letter of the alphabet, including a bumptious baboon, furious fly, ghastly garrulous gargoyle, and quintessential quail.

	Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs by Randall Jarrell and illustrated by Nancy Ekholm Burkert - Retells the tale of the beautiful princess whose lips were red as blood, skin was white as snow, and hair was as black as ebony.

	When Clay Sings by Byrd Baylor and illustrated by Tom Bahti - Pieces of broken pots are scattered over the desert hillsides of the Southwest. The Indians there treat them with respect -- "Every piece of clay is a piece of someone's life," they say. And the children try to imagine those lives that took place in the desert they think of as their own. Clay has its own small voice, and sings. Its song has lasted for thousands of years. And Byrd Baylor's prose-poem as simple and powerful as the clay pots, sings too.

1972 Winner:	One Fine Day by Nonny Hogrogian - After the old woman cuts off his tail when he steals her milk, the fox must go through a long series of transactions before she will sew it back on again.

Honor Books:	Hildilid's Night by Cheli Duran Ryan and illustrated by Arnold Lobel - In this Caldecot Honor folktale, an old woman named Hildilid lives high in the hills and hates the night above all things. She tries capturing the night in a sack, tying it up with vines, shaking her fist at it, but the night takes no notice--until it disappears.

	If All the Seas were One Sea by Janina Domanska - Speculates on what would happen if all the world's trees were one tree and all the world's seas were one sea.

	Moja Means One: Swahili Counting Book by Muriel Feelings and illustrated by Tom Feelings - The numbers one through ten in Swahili accompany two-page illustrations of various aspects of East African life.

1971 Winner:	A Story A Story by Gail E. Haley - Many African stories, whether or not they are about Kwaku Ananse the "spider man," are called, "Spider Stories." This book is about how that came to be. The African storyteller begins: "We do not really mean, we do not really mean that what we are about to say is true. A Story, a story; let it come, let it go." And it tells that long, long ago there were no stories on earth for children to hear. All stories belonged to Nyame, the Sky God. Ananse, the Spider man, wanted to buy some of these stories, so he spun a web up to the sky and went up to bargain with the Sky God. The price the Sky God asked was Osebo, the leopard of-the-terrible-teeth, Mmboro the hornet who-stings-like-fire, and Mmoatia the fairy whom-men-never-see. How Ananse paid the price is told in a graceful and clever text, with forceful, lovely woodcut illustrations.

Honor Books:	The Angry Moon by William Sleator and illustrated by Blair Lent - The outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville nine that day: The score stood four to two with but one inning more to play.... Since 1888 Casey at the Bat has been read and loved by baseball fans around the world. Now Mighty Casey has been brought to life by celebrated illustrator C. F. Payne, who captures the old-fashioned fun of an afternoon at the ballpark for a brand-new generation.

	Frog and Toad are Friends by Arnold Lobel - The best of friends From writing letters to going swimming, telling stories to finding lost buttons, Frog and Toad are always there for each other -- just as best friends should be.

	In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak - The story of Mickey's nighttime adventure in the baker's kitchen is "a highly original dream fantasy (with) deliciously playful illustrations (and a) chantable, easily remembered text. Pure delight for young children."--Booklist.

1970 Winner:	Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig - In a moment of fright Sylvester the donkey asks his magic pebble to turn him into a rock but then can not hold the pebble to wish himself back to normal again.

Honor Books:	Goggles! by Ezra Jack Keats - Two boys must outsmart the neighborhood bullies before they can enjoy their new treasure, a pair of lensless motorcycle goggles.

	Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse by Leo Lionni - Eye-catching, boldly colored collages illustrate this classic 'grass is always greener' story in which a live mouse is envious of his mechanical counterpart.

	Pop Corn & Ma Goodness by Edna Mitchell Preston and illustrated by Robert Andrew-

	Thy Friend, Obadiah by Brinton Turkle - A seagull befriends a Quaker boy, much to his embarrassment, and it is not until he has helped the bird that he can accept its friendship.

	The Judge: An Untrue Tale by Harve Zemach and illustrated by Margot Zemach - A judge discovers that five people he had imprisoned are innocent after all.