Smoky Night
By: Eve Bunting
Illustrated by: David Diaz
Medal Winner
NOT REVIEWED
In this Caldecott Medal-winning modern classic, a young boy and his mother witness the Los Angeles riots from the safety of shelter after being forced to leave their apartment.
From the publisher
John Henry
By: Julius Lester
Illustrated by: Jerry Pinkney
Honor
NOT REVIEWED
Like a shooting star, John Henry was born to move in a blaze of light, and everyone knew it from the moment they laid eyes on him. All the creatures from the biggest black bears to the fastest white-tailed deer to the proudest blue jays gathered around to admire the brand-new baby sparkling with life. John Henry was so strong, he could lift his cradle into the air like a feather. He grew so fast, he burst through the porch roof and then laughed so loud, he scared the sun! Soon John Henry was swinging his two huge sledge-hammers and breaking boulders for roads as smooth as ribbon. Meeting up with a crew building a railroad line, he knew that he could dig through a mountain faster than their steam drill, so he decided to race it. Nothing could stop John Henry—no boulder, no mountain, and definitely no steam drill.
Newbery Honor winner Julius Lester writes with such power that his African-American folk hero becomes as awesome as a natural phenomenon, yet as familiar as a strong older brother. The watercolor paintings by Caldecott Honor artist Jerry Pinkney show John Henry's energy bursting from nature. Mr. Lester and Mr. Pinkney recently completed the award-winning four-volume collection of The Tales of Uncle Remus, which Booklist praised as a "landmark".
From the dust jacket
Swamp Angel
By: Anne Isaacs
Illustrated by: Paul O. Zelinsky
Honor
NOT REVIEWED
When Angelica Longrider was born there was little to suggest that she would become the greatest woodswoman in Tennessee, single-handedly saving settlers from the jaws of a fearsome bear known as Thundering Tarnation. The newborn was scarcely taller than her mother and couldn't climb a tree without help.
Swamp Angel, this prodigious heroine who can disarm taunting men and marauding bear alike, is the original creation of a talented new write whose tall-tale text unfolds in a crackling combination of irony, exaggeration, and sheer good humor. Caldecott Honor artist Paul O. Zelinsky, working in an American primitive style on cherry and maple veneers, brings his matchless with and whimsy to these characters of extraordinary dimension. Drawing us into the luxuriant beauty of the American wilderness, his paintings flow with rhythm, deft expression, and a sense of monumental motion that befits a heroine who can wield a tornado like a lasso and drink a lake dry.
From the Great Smoky Mountains to the starry heavens above, Swamp Angel and Tarnation leave their indelible impressions on land and sky. So too will this book hold readers with its bold, expansive image-making—an image-making that grandly demonstrates the flamboyant vigor and winking humor by which the tall-tale tradition endures.
From the dust jacket of a later edition
Time Flies
By: Eric Rohmann
Honor
NOT REVIEWED
In these pages, time unravels, dinosaurs spring to life, and a bird makes a startling journey through the ages.
Is Time Flies a dream? Or is it the bird's faint memory of its ancient dinosaur ancestors?
Open this book—and take a journey to thrill the eye and set loose the imagination.
From the dust jacket of a later edition
