Many of us have been told the story or seen the cinematic adaptation of Chris Van Allsburg’s Caldecott-winning book, The Polar Express. I chose this magical story because Christmas time has always been close to my heart. The winter months are important to my family because we all have birthdays in December, as well as Christmas, and we all become very festive this time of year. I’m looking forward to doing more research into this amazing story which has helped keep alive dreams of sugarplums dancing through the heads of children all over the world.

I selected this book because I always enjoyed watching the movie when it come on television. I am excited to read this book and explore the author as well. Also, I want to see how different the book is from the movie. This will be an interesting writing assignment and I look forward to learning more about the Caldecott Medal.

I chose Black and White written by David Macaulay because I find it interesting that it tells 4 stories at the same time. It also could be 4 different points of view of the same story. That alone has me intrigued about Black and White. The complex storytelling with the unique illustrations are the reasons why I chose this book.

Journey by Aaron Becker

For the picture book essay, I have chosen to write about Aaron Becker’s Journey. Though I’ve never read it before, looking at images of the book online has gotten me very excited to receive my copy. The artwork looks absolutely beautiful, and the story reminds me of a high-fantasy version of Harold and the Purple Crayon–a childhood favorite of mine.

Hopefully this one isn’t too conventional… I chose Where the Wild Things Are because it has always been one of my favorite books… I must have gone through it at least ten thousand times as a child, memorizing every nuance. Still a lovely book :).

– Chris Kimsey

In first grade there were a set of books in the library I was obsessed with. They were short non-fiction picture books informing children of the progression of horror movies, focusing on a monster for every book. I remember one of my favorite aspects of the book was that the photos were of old black and white films, a connection I made in my head to my favorite TV show, “The Munsters.”  I chose the book Creepy Carrots! because it reminded me of those books I loved as a child. Creepy Carrots! was created with the aesthetic of early horror films as inspiration to introduce the younger generation to film noir, as well as horror.

“Journey,” by Aaron Becker received a Caldecott Honor in 2014.  It is an interesting book because it is entirely wordless, but Becker still produces a coherent narrative that is both universally understandable and subject to personalization. I selected this book for the subject of my paper because I believe it is an excellent example of success in all of the criteria for the Caldecott Medal (although it didn’t win), especially “Excellence of pictorial interpretation of story, theme, or concept,” and “Delineation of plot, theme, characters, setting, mood or information through the pictures” (American Library Association).

I chose this book because the illustrations, all in hues of lilac, made me curious. They almost seem like high-def cartoon drawings from newspapers come to life. While there is a clear cartoon feel, it definitely still holds a figment of reality to me, making me look closer at the shadows, lines, and shapes the illustrator chose to depict the story. I look forward to reading this book and figuring out why the artist chose to depict the story this way!

I have selected “Why Mosquitos Buzz in People’s Ears,” the 1976 Caldecott winner, written by Verna Aardema and illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon.

I’m choosing this book because it’s one of the ones I can recall reading instantly, and that’s due to the images. The story’s images are so recognizable because of their intricacy; they feature cut-outs that lend a certain sense of depth. The book is visually compelling; the colors are incredibly vivid, and the images utilize negative space in a very interesting way.