1951 Caldecott Medal Winners and Honor Books

The Egg Tree

By: Katherine Milhous

Medal Winner

Reviewed by: Jeannette Tulis
Recommended age: Kindergarten and up
Also read and recommended by: Sandy Hall, Sherry Early, Tanya Arnold

Katy and Carl celebrate Easter with their extended family in their Pennsylvania Dutch community. In the middle of their traditional egg hunt, Katy finds a basket of the most beautiful eggs hidden in the attic. When she shows them to her grandmom, she finds out her grandmom painted these eggs when she was a girl. These are the eggs that are hollow and hung onto a tree branch brought inside for the purpose. Now all the grandchildren want to learn how to paint eggs with the traditional Pennsylvania Dutch patterns that grandmom carefully sketches out so they can make more eggs for the tree. The next year the tradition continues and grows surprisingly big, so much so that the entire community comes to visit and admire the egg tree. This book is beautifully and rather primitively illustrated by the author in an old world style. There are Pennsylvania Dutch decorations bordering many of the pages which can be copied by industrious children. This is a beautiful story of family tradition and co-operation which can be enjoyed by children of a variety of ages. 

Dick Whittington and His Cat

By: Marcia Brown

Honor

Reviewed by: Lara Lleverino
Recommended age: 6 - 12 years of age
Also read and recommended by: Sandy Hall, Sherry Early, Tanya Arnold

Have you ever as an adult picked up a children's book and been suddenly transported to your childhood? The story of Dick Whittington and His Cat is such a story for me. I searched unsuccessfully for the audio I remember listening to as a child. I'm betting it was one of those audio-cassettes you would check out with a book from my local library or maybe it was read to us during the story time, but I had the strongest sense of deja vu while reading it. I'm not sure if I can put into words the magic of this enduring tale, but for cat lovers the world over it seems right and natural that a poor boy could be rescued from poverty and abuse by the no-nonsense nature of a cat. 

Firmly entrenched as a famous folktale and legend of old England, Dick and his anonymous cat rub elbows with the likes of Robin Hood and Ivanhoe pulling us back to a time when the poverty of the lower class was so pervasive it is almost incomprehensible for most first-world English readers today. This picture book manages, however, to convey the extreme destitution of the poverty without overwhelming young listeners with empathetic fear heavier than they can handle.

The linoleum cut illustrations are eye-catchingly vivid until they attempt to portray the darker-skinned Moors. Whether this is a choice of the illustrator or an unfortunate limitation of the medium it is hard to know, but it leaves one wishing for a Middle Eastern sequel of the anonymous cat and her progeny told and illustrated by the original tellers of Arabian Nights. 

If I Ran the Zoo

By: Dr. Seuss

Honor
NOT REVIEWED

This book is about the
     New Zoo, McGrew Zoo,
You never ever saw a zoo
     quite like it.
Nobody ever saw a zoo
     quite like it.
Nobody excepting young
     Gerald McGrew.

Gerald thought the old city zoo was a pretty dull place. The lions were all right. But he was tired of lions. The tigers were pretty good. But not quite good enough. To Gerald, lions and tigers seemed sort of old-fashioned.

So Gerald thought up a new kind of zoo. He let all the animals out of the old one and began collecting the most astounding assembly of beasts that the editors of Random House have ever laid eyes on. We guarantee you'll enjoy this new zoo, McGrew Zoo!

From the dust jacket

The Most Wonderful Doll in the World

By: Phyllis McGinley
Illustrated by: Helen Stone

Honor

Reviewed by: Jeannette Tulis
Recommended age: 7 and up
Also read and recommended by: Sandy Hall, Sherry Early

This is a kind of clever fairytale about a girl named Dulcy who was gifted a doll named Angela with a wardrobe of clothes and who lost the doll and her box of clothes in a pile of leaves on the very same day.  Each time she tells someone about her lost doll Angela (and she can not help but tell everyone!), the doll grows more and more wonderful and Dulcy grows more and more dissatisfied with the dolls she owns. Eventually Dulcy's tale becomes tiresome to her friends, and even her family. When it is suggested that another doll might be purchased to replace Angela, Dulcy adds even more outlandish descriptions of Angela and her wardrobe so that no doll existing can even begin to compare. One day Dulcy finds Angela and her box of clothes and realizes she is nothing like what she has been saying for about half a year. She is very upset to admit that she made up all the details about Angela and what is even harder is to accept the fact that she really did believe everything she had said about Angela. Dulcy has to do some growing up to reconcile her imagination with reality and her mom comes alongside her with wise advice. The gorgeous watercolor illustrations by Helen Stone in vivid colors add so much to the story. This book contains more text than the average picture book and there is not a picture on every page. Due to the nature of the theme of exaggeration vs truth, it might be better for the elementary vs the primary child but I can imagine any girl who loves dolls would love this book. 

T-Bone the Baby-Sitter

By: Clare Turlay Newberry

Honor
NOT REVIEWED

Mrs. Newberry has used her own little girl, Felicia Noelle, and her cat T-Bone—so named because he once devoured a valuable steak—as models for this delightful story about an impressive looking cat who acts as a baby-sitter.

T-Bone's responsible assignment, his regrettable excursions into mischief, and the dire results of separating baby from sitter are excellent subjects for this brilliant artist. The twenty-five charcoal drawings in two colors will delight cat-lovers, baby-lovers, Newberry-lovers, and all who appreciate quality of art and craftsmanship.

From the dust jacket

The Two Reds

By: Nicolas (pseud. Nicholas Mordvinoff)
Illustrated by: Will (pseud. William Lipkind)

Honor
NOT REVIEWED

Here is a gay, unusual picture book in which the author and artist have caught the spirit of a small boy and an independent cat in the heart of a busy city.

One bright morning Red the boy dashed out to play and Red the cat set out in search of food. In no time at all the boy Red was perilously involved with the Seventh Street Signal Senders, while Red the cat was equally involved with the fishman. And what a chase ensued! Young readers will share with enthusiasm all the adventures of the two Reds which are so graphically presented in simple text and in striking, colorful pictures.

From the dust jacket