The Difference Between Newbery books and Caldecott Books

They Newbery and the Caldecott awards are both given by members of the American Library Association. The main difference is that the Newbery medal is given for outstanding works in children's literature, while the Caldecott award is given for outstanding picture books.

The Newbery medal is also a slighter older award, being first given in 1922. The Caldecott medal was first awarded in 1938.

It is impossible for me to call one of these medals better than the other. To compare the two awards would be to compare apples and oranges. I can say, however, that before studying to be a librarian, I was familiar with the Newbery medal, but I had never heard of the Caldecott award. This could simply be because I was very young when I read Caldecott books, but I was old enough to remember when I read Newbery books such as Maniac Magee .



Association for Library Service to Children, (2009). ALA | About the Newbery Medal. Retrieved March 31, 2009, from A.L.S.C. Web site: http://atyourlibrary.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/aboutnewbery/aboutnewbery.cfm



Association for Library Service to Children, (2009). ALA | About the Caldecott Medal. Retrieved March 31, 2009, from A.L.S.C. Web site: http://atyourlibrary.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/caldecottmedal/aboutcaldecott/aboutcaldecott.cfm

How the Grinch Stole Christmas! by Dr. Seuss

(Chosen as the 3rd book to be turned into a movie)

This is classic tale of the miserly Grinch who breaks into the homes of all the residents of Who-ville and steals from them mercilessly on Christmas Eve. He takes their presents, their decorations, and worst of all, the very food from their kitchens, all in an attempt to make Christmas go away. What he discovers after stealing everything is that all the people down in Who-ville get together, hold hands, and sing on Christmas morning anyway. He has a realization that Christmas isn’t about the presents, the food, or the decorations. Christmas is about more than the things you buy. Overcome with emotion, the Grinch decides to give everything back, and for the first time in 53 years, he celebrates Christmas with them.

The movie version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is completely over the top, as one might expect from any film starring Jim Carrey. In his adaptation, The Grinch is a monster who picks on little kids, eats glass, and lives in a dungeon-type lair on top of the mountain. The movie shows how the Grinch came to be, floating down from an umbrella and landing in a tree, and also how he grew up and was teased as a young boy for having a beard.

The original theme of the book, of how Christmas may very well be out of hand and commercialized, but that the true meaning is still there, is portrayed in the movie as well. I feel, however, that they strayed too far from the original story and added in too much that isn’t relevant to that theme.

Also, this will probably not scare children, but it definitely scared me that the narrator of the story is Anthony Hopkins, the voice of the famous fictional serial killer Hannibal Lector.

Geisel, T.S. (1985). How the grinch stole christmas!. New York, NY: Random House.

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

(Chosen as a book with similar tension to The Cat in the Hat)

This is the story of a little boy, Max, who puts on a wolf suit and goes wild, eventually telling his mother he’ll eat her. When he gets sent to bed, his imagination takes over, and his room turns into an overgrown forest. An ocean forms and a boat is there at the coast. He hops on and sails for years to a place where the wild things are. He tames them, and they make him their king. They have a lot of fun, but eventually, Max misses his mom, and even though the wild things don’t want him to, he decides to sail home to his room, where his mother has left him dinner on a table by the bed.

This book appeals to children because of its use of imagination. Children love to pretend they are in places that they are not. As a child, I routinely turned my bedroom into a fort. Others turn theirs into a castle or into a dragon's lair. It's just part of what little kids do.

While there are many things this book does not have in common with The Cat in the Hat, I believe there is a similar tension. Specifically, both stories have the idea of a child deciding between their civilized home, in the house, with their mother, and a wild, adventurous life with an untamed animal. Both little boys spend some time in the company of the animals, but eventually decide that the animals must go.

Where the Wild Things Are is currently under film production. It will be directed by Spike Jonze. The movie trailer is below. This video was embedded from youtube.com, and can also be found on the official website for the movie, which is

http://wherethewildthingsare.warnerbros.com/ .

Sendak, M. (1963). Where the wild things are. New York, NY: Harper

Collins.

The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss

This classic from children’s literature has not aged noticeably since my childhood, and probably not since my parents’ childhood. The tension for the children between doing what is right (as spoken by the fish) and doing what is easy (letting the cat do what he wants), is one that has been mimicked in stories such as Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems and many others. Still, no one does it quite like Dr. Seuss.

His rhymes are definitely part of what make his writing unique, yet anyone can rhyme, so there must be something about how the rhymes are created. The words themselves, as well as the sounds included in those words, are repeated often enough that the text is didactic, teaching children about the letter combinations and sounds associated with the words.

The illustrations of Dr. Seuss are also complete originals. There are characters and pictures that are totally invented, such as Thing 1 and Thing 2, but Seuss also has the ability to take something normal, and make it into something totally his own. The idea that a cat and a hat, two of the most common words imaginable, could become a trademark or a franchise that would be immediately recognizable throughout the world, is almost absurd. Yet Seuss managed to create just that, a completely new world that is miles from normal that is based on his own interpretation of things that are completely normal.

Geisel, T.S. (1957). The cat in the hat. New York, NY: Random House.

Curious George by Hans Augusto Rey (2nd example of a book that was turned into a movie)

 

This is the classic story of the little monkey, George, who is constantly getting into trouble. His owner, a nameless man in a yellow suit, always saves the curious little monkey at the end of the day. The original story tells of how the man in yellow goes to the woods in Africa, captures the monkey and takes him back to the city to live in a zoo.

The movie, however, tells that the man in yellow (in this version named Ted), goes to Africa in search of an ancient shrine called Zagawa. He doesn’t find exactly what he is looking for, and so, disappointed, he returns to the city. When he does, he realizes that the monkey has followed him on the boat.

This version also adds common movie themes, such as a love interest for Ted, and a desperate need to keep the museum from failing. There is also a rivalry between Ted and the museum owner’s son, who wants to raze it and make room for a parking structure.These inclusions do not necessarily detract from the story, but are clearly Hollywood conventions, and are as predictable as they come. I think I saw this movie ten years ago when it was called Billy Madison (minus the monkey).

I thought it was a nice touch that the filmmakers named the ship used to bring George to the city after the author. Both at the beginning of the movie and again at the end, you can see “H. A. Reys” painted along the side of the boat.

Rey, H.A. (1998). The original curious george. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.

The Lorax by Theodor Seuss Geisel

The Lorax is the story of a man, the Once-ler, who moves into a land where beautiful Truffula trees grow, Swomee Swans sing, Humming fish swim, and Brown Barba-loots live. The Once-ler cuts down a tree and uses it to make some product, called a Thneed. When he does, a little monkey man, who also sort of looks like an owl with a beard, pops out of the tree trunk and asks him not to cut down trees. The Once-ler ignores him and continues to cut down more and more trees to make his Thneeds.

As he continues to cut down trees, the Lorax repeatedly points out the effect his actions are having on the environment. He explains to him how the Barba-loots can no longer feed on the Truffula fruit and the humming fish can no longer swim in the water, made toxic by industrial waste the Once-ler is dumping into the local stream. The Swomee swan cannot sing because of all of the smog in the air. Finally, as the very last Truffula tree is chopped down, the Lorax gives up and leaves his once beautiful forest.

The Once-ler is left all alone to live in the wasteland that he has created. He recounts this whole story to a little boy and then tosses him a seed. He tells him it is the last Truffula seed in existence. He should plant it and protect it in hopes that the beautiful forest will someday return.

Seuss wrote this book decades ago. Though the problems with mass industrialization and limited environmental protections existed in his day as well as in ours, Seuss showed foresight in highlighting what the future would hold for all of us unless some change is made.

If The Lorax were released today as a new children’s book, I believe it would be not only award-winning, but bestselling. There are many people who still do not believe in global warming or the effects of industrialization on our environment, but I believe the number of people who think this way is shrinking rapidly.

The Lorax could have also struggled in sales because, while it is still a children’s book, it is quite a bit more difficult to read than The Cat in the Hat. There are more invented words, such as Thneed, Barba-loot, and Truffula, but there are also more complicated sentences and ideas. It is the type of book that a parent or teacher might read with a child and then discuss, asking leading questions that might further understanding.

 

Geisel, T.S. (1971). The lorax. New York, NY: Random House.

The Girl Who Married a Lion and Other Tales From Africa by Alexander McCall Smith

  (Chosen as a book that represents cultural diversity)

 

This collection of African tales reads like legends or folk tales. The title story, The Girl Who Married a Lion, tells of a woman who marries a fine young man, but her brother does not trust him. He tells his sister that her new husband is really a lion. She laughs at her brother for speaking so foolishly, but the brother doesn’t give up. He goes to his father and tells him that he thinks his new son-in-law is a lion. His father also laughs at him, and explains that the new son-in-law is a decent, kind man.

The marriage works out well and they are together for many years. They have two children, young boys, who are also good people. Still, the brother refuses to be around his brother-in-law, refusing to accept that he is a human being and not a lion.

Then one day, his sister comes to him. She says she is worried because her husband’s things smell strange. They wait until the husband is out of the house, and they go back together. He brother smells his things, and he decides that they all smell like a lion.

He goes back and tells his father what he has smelled and devises a plan to test if he really is a lion. They tie a goat up outside of his house and then wait until morning. When the sun rises, the goat is gone, and all that remains are the bones of the goat. They surmise that this is proof that he is indeed a lion. They get spears and run him out of town.

Then the wife confesses that she is worried that her two sons may also be lions. They devise another plan to test them. They make a cage out of tree limbs and put the boys inside. Then they hide in the woods and wait for the lions to come. Eventually, two lions come, they smell the cage, and they begin to roar and claw at the cage. The brother and the father deduce that if the children were indeed lions, then the other lions would not attack and try to eat them. This proves that the children were indeed not lions.

I do not wish to seem culturally insensitive, but these stories do not impress me in any way. With respect to the story above, even if one could ignore the concept of a man being a lion, several of the elements of the story seem illogical. First, why would the husband’s things only start to smell of lion after years had already passed. Would they not have smelled of lion from the very  beginning? Second, the goat being eaten during the night could have occurred by the husband, or by any random lion that came from the forest. The fact that it was eaten only proves that there was a lion, but not that he was the lion. Finally, if such a test were to work to prove that the husband was or was not a lion, why would the brother not have conducted such a test years earlier, perhaps before his sister married the man?

I do understand that legends from all cultures, including my own, often lack basic logic . Still, this faulty logic is often used to portray some sort of message or to create some effect that is more powerful than the logic would have been. However, I see no such reason in these stories.

Smith, A.M. (2004). The girl who married a lion and other stories from africa. New York, NY: Pantheon Books.

The Tales of Uncle Remus: The Adventures of Brer Rabbit by Julius Lester (illustrated by Jerry Pinkney)

This is the story of Brer Rabbit and his adventures within the animal community where he lives. Brer Rabbit is always tricking the other animals, especially Brer Fox, Brer Bear, and Brer Wolf. Beyond the interaction with animals, there are conversations with men, little girls, the moon, and a witch rabbit.

The relationship between all of the animals is unique. In one scene, they will be standing next to each other talking, and in another scene they will be plotting to kill and eat each other.

There also seems to be a culture of always trying to out-smart each other. Sometimes, these mind games are about simply getting food, while other times the animal that gets tricked will lose his or her life.

The dialog may be a little difficult to read for a child because it is written in a stereotypical southern African American 1950s vernacular, but after the reader adjusts to the manner that the characters speak, it becomes quite entertaining.

Lester, J. (1987). The tales of uncle remus:The adventures of brer rabbit. New York, NY: Dial Books.

The Wise Old Woman by Yoshiko Uchida

Uchida tells the story of a village where old people are taken to the mountains and left to die. One young farmer refuses to let his mother die, so instead he builds a secret basement in his home and hides his mother there for years.

Then one day, Lord Higa sends word that the entire village will be conquered unless they can solve three impossible tasks. First, they must create a rope made of ash. Second, they must pull a thread through the length of a curved log. Finally, they must make a drum that makes sounds without being beaten.

For days, the wise men of the village toil and struggle, but they cannot solve these riddles. Then the young farmer tells his mother of how the village will be destroyed if they cannot accomplish the impossible tasks.

She has them bring her supplies, and when they do, she proceeds to solve each of the riddles in turn. She makes the rope of ash by taking a rope, soaking it in salt water, then drying it and burning it. The rope maintains its shape, though its composition turns to ash. She puts honey on one end of a log and ties a thread to an ant. The ant pulls the thread through to the other end. She takes a small drum and puts a bee inside. As the bee flies around, it makes noise on the drum without anyone having to beat it.

The wise old woman saves the village, and from that day forward, old people are no longer forced to the mountains to die. They are instead respected and revered for their experience and wisdom.

This little book shows many elements of Japanese culture. First, the illustrations demonstrate both traditional dress and traditional architecture. The story itself shows a historical governing system of local lords and regional lords. Finally, the overall theme of respect and reverence for elders is an element of Japanese culture that is prevalent throughout the story.

 

 

 

 

Uchida, Y. (1994). The wise old woman. New York, NY: Macmillan.

Holiday! Celebration Days Around the World by Deborah Chancellor

(Book that addresses diversity #1)

This book a DK level 2 reader, meaning it is designed for children that are just beginning to read alone. It has slightly longer sentences and increased vocabulary from the level one books.

This book addresses diversity by talking about different holidays that are celebrated around the world. It includes American holidays as well, giving the child the opportunity to relate his or her own culture to the culture of others.

Along with the traditional American holidays, some of the holidays mentioned in the book are Diwali, Kwanzaa, Hina Matsuri, Holi, and Hanukkah.

In each case, the book tells what people traditionally do on these holidays, but for some of them, it also tells the history and where the tradition began. It helped me learn a little bit about my own culture. I did not know, for example, that April Fool’s day originated when the Pope changed New Year’s Day in France from April first to January first. Some people, not remembering the change, were laughed at and called “April Fools.”

 

Chancellor, Deborah (2000). Holiday! celebration days around the world. New York, NY: DK Publishing, Inc.

Movie adapted from a Book #1, Horton Hears a Who!, by Dr. Seuss

The book:

This is the story of an elephant, Horton, who one day hears a noise coming from a speck of dust on a clover. He soon discovers that there is a very small town, Who-ville, full of buildings and people living on the speck. He speaks to the mayor of Who-ville and finds out all about them. All of the other animals think he is crazy, but Horton decides to do whatever he can to protect the inhabitants of the speck.

First, he guards them from the kangaroo’s careless splashing. Then a group of monkeys, the Wickersham Brothers, decide to stop Horton’s crazy antics, and they steal the clover and give it to an eagle named Vlad Vlad-i-koff, who flies away. Horton chases him, but the eagle drops the clover into a field full of ones that looked exactly like it. He searches and searches, and finally finds the right clover.

He talks to them and discovers that their city is damaged badly. Horton promises to stick by them while the repair their city, but soon, the kangaroo and the monkeys arrive and say they’re going to drop the clover in a pot of boiling water. They put Horton in a cage, and are about to destroy the clover. Horton begs the mayor to make as much noise as possible to prove that they exist, but the kangaroo still can’t hear them.

Finally, the mayor asks the little boy Jojo to join them in making noise. Finally, the kangaroo hears the noise, and he finally admits that there is a town called Who-ville with little Who-people living there in the speck on the clover. He promises to help Horton protect them from now on.

The movie:

While entertaining, the movie was very different from the original story in several significant ways. In the book, for example, the character Jojo was just a small boy in Who-ville . In the movie, however, he was the mayor’s son. The difficult relationship between the mayor and his son was a significant storyline in the movie, as was the mayor’s relationship with his wife, his 96 daughters, and the rest of the townsfolk.

The movie also has a great deal of silliness added in for kids. In one scene, the mayor walks by a construction worker, who says “These luxury condos don’t build themselves” and just then, Horton jumps, making the speck bounce. Suddenly, the construction site bounces into the air, and when everything falls back to the ground, the condos have built themselves.  Another such silly moment is when the mayor accidentally staples his face, and the mayor’s receptionist  is on the computer looking at Who-space.com.

I can forgive corny these additions. After all, the book is only 60 pages or so, while the movie is almost and hour and a half. They would obviously need to add scenes that weren’t originally in the book. However, there is one omission that I believe really keeps this movie from being in the same league as the book.

The trademarked Dr. Seuss rhythm of the story is mostly lost in the movie.The narrator, who quotes almost directly from the book, does maintain his rhyming, but this is used mostly in the beginning and the end of the story, and largely absent for the bulk of the movie that lies in between.

Though not delivered in the same way, the overriding theme is apparent in both the book and the movie. A person is a person, no matter how small they are.

Seuss, D. (1954). Horton hears a who!. New York, NY: Random House.

1999 Newbery Medal Winner Holes, by Louis Sachar

 

 Holes is a funny little book about a young boy, Stanley Yelnats, who believes he is cursed. He is falsely accused of stealing a pair of shoes and sent to a detention center called Camp Green Lake.

There, he and other boys, including his new friend Zero, are required to spend all day digging holes in the dirt where there used to be a lake. They soon discover that the warden is using them to dig for a hidden treasure.

Louis Sachar has a writing style that is all his own. I was especially impressed with how he gives the reader the story in little chunks that go along putting themselves together along the way. For example, early in the story he tells of Stanley getting arrested, but he doesn’t give any more details. Then, later, he says he was arrested for stealing some shoes that fell from the sky. Pages later, he says, no they didn’t actually fall from the sky, but rather, they fell on his head as he walked under a freeway overpass. In telling his story in this way, the author creates a reading experience that is truly unique.

 

Sachar, Louis (1998). Holes. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

2002 Newbery Honor Book, Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath

 

 

This is the story of a little girl, Primrose, whose parents are killed in a storm while they are out boating. The bodies of her parents aren’t found, so she continues to maintain that they are just shipwrecked on an island somewhere, and that they will be rescued and will come home soon. She knows that nobody believes her, but she doesn’t seem to care. She still goes to the pier to look for them every day.

Primrose is taken in by her uncle, who is a unique character, and not always a good parent, but he loves his niece and he works hard to treat her right.

Primrose has many older acquaintances, but the one associated with the title is Miss Bowzer. She runs a restaurant called Everything on a Waffle, where she indeed serves every item on the menu on a waffle. My favorite of those mentioned was the grilled swordfish on a waffle.

Themes in the book include family, friendship, coping with loss, being an orphan, and love.

Rereading my description of the novel, it doesn’t sound like something I would want to read. I think my summary has not done it justice. Despite what it may seem from this blog post, this is actually a really funny and witty book. Primrose is an entertaining character, and she hardly gives a whim of being a sad or downtrodden protagonist.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Horvath, P. (2001). Everything on a waffle. New York, NY: Farrar Straus Giroux.

2000 Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Award Winner: Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis

This is the story of a young orphan named Bud who carries around a suitcase of personal treasures. Among them is a flyer giving clues to who his father was. He carries with him memories of his mother as well, including advice that she gave him while he was living. One bit of advice that she gave her son was that he was not to allow anyone to call him Buddy. She said she chose the name Bud because it represented beauty, growth and potential, like a flower, and for him to be called Buddy would lose that meaning.

Bud gets placed with different families and things never work out there. He is experienced in the ways of the real world. He knows how to play the game and to work the rules. He knows, for example, how to get into the soup kitchen after the line is already closed. He also knows how to apologize and not mean what he’s saying.

What he wants to know, though, is more information about his dad, and therefore about himself.

 

This is a nice little book whose author seems to have found a voice for the character of Bud that is both believable and engaging. As Buddy goes through his many “rules and things” throughout the book, the reader feels and understands how this child has reasoned through his unfortunate surroundings in order to make sense of them all. This title is a worthy addition to any collection geared towards younger readers.

Curtis, C.P. (1999). Bud, not buddy. New York, NY: Delacorte Press.

2003 Caldecott Medal Winner, My Friend Rabbit by Eric Rohmann

This book, told from the point of view of a mouse, is about a jinxed little rabbit. He keeps trying to help out, but every time that he does, he ends up making a huge mess. In the beginning of the book, the rabbit throws a toy airplane and it gets stuck in a tree. So he gets all of the other animals to climb on top of each other. He pulls some and pushes others, but eventually they're all in a big tower, reaching up towards the tree where the little toy airplane is stuck. Right when they get to the top of the stack, the rabbit holds out a squirrel, who holds out the little mouse to reach out and get the plane, but that throws off the balance of the entire tower, and they all come tumbling to the ground.


This is a cute little book, but as I imagine reading it to my niece or nephew, I don't imagine them adoring it and wanting to read it over and over as they do with some books. To begin with, there isn't a lot of variety on each page. Many young children like to see something on the page and point at it and say the word. In this book, just about every page has the same images, so there will be little for a child to look forward to. Children do enjoy animals, though, and this may be the saving grace for this title.

It is a well-written and nicely illustrated book. However, I do not see anything extraordinary about it. I should take it to my nieces and nephews and see if they agree with my evaluation.



Rohmann, Eric (2002). My friend rabbit. Brookfield, CT: Roaring Brook Press.

Rohmann, E (2002). Blaine.org. Retrieved February 15, 2009, from Blaine.org Web site: http://blaine.org/jules/my%20friend%20rabbit.jpg