Review of A CALDECOTT CELEBRATION by Leonard S. Marcus

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Marcus, Leonard S. 1998. A CALDECOTT CELEBRATION, SIX ARTISTS AND THEIR PATHS TO THE CALDECOTT MEDAL. New York. Walker and Company. ISBN 0802786561

2. PLOT SUMMARY
The author interviews the following six Caldecott Award Winners: Robert McCloskey, Marcia Brown, Maurice Sendak, William Steig, Chris Van Allsburg, and David Weisner. He gives a brief biography of each author, and explains how each developed their award winning book. He also discusses with each, how winning the award felt, and how it has affected their careers. He also lists all the award winners from 1938-1998. At the end of the book he provides a glossary of terms, and an index of proper nouns.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
This book is definitely for older readers. I think it could be read aloud in sections as an introduction to the author, for younger readers. I don’t think it would hold younger children’s interest if you tried to read the whole book. The book is 45 pages long, which is too long for young children.

The cover of the book, although colorful, is not an attention getter. In our school library, this book has never been checked out. Mr. Marcus allows approximately 6-7 pages for each author. He shows the authors’ rough drafts and first sketches, to engage readers. It is interesting to see that they don’t just draw a quick picture and have a finished product. Most of the authors studied and observed what they were going to illustrate for months, and some even years. The books are taken from Award winners from different decades, which is interesting because of what technology has done for illustrations. The authors also tell about where they were and how exciting it was to win the award.

The book would be of interest to anyone student interested in writing or illustrating, because it tells how each got started in their careers, and how each broke into the book business.

I think the book would also be of interest for teachers to use in their literary curriculum.

4. REVIEW EXCERPTS
Reviewed in CHILDREN’S BOOKPAGE: “Marcus’s short but wide-ranging discussion of each artist will appeal to both older school-age children as well as adults. My only gripe about this lovely book is that it isn’t longer!”
Reviewed in BOOKLIST: “Marcus who interviewed each artist, provides a lively, informative introduction to each book and its maker. A beautifully made book, this will serve as a fine resource for children interest in illustration and for teachers researching author/illustrator studies.”

5. CONNECTIONS:
I would use the book to introduce one of these authors, followed by reading their award winning book. You could then read other titles by that author.

The book could also be used in a lesson about book illustrations. Students could compare and contrast the similarities and differences in each author’s technique or process.

Students could read the book and make a chart with each author listed. Students could compare the different authors on such points as: Did they all go to art school? Did they all begin drawing as young children or wait until they were adults? Were their families supportive of their career choice? Did they have other careers before they began writing and illustrating? As each author is discussed, they could fill in their charts.

Older students could pick an author and do more research for a paper or poster about their author and then present it.