1970s Caldecott Winners
1970
Steig, William. Sylvester and the Magic Pebble New York: Windmill Books, 1969.
What if you wished yourself into a rock? What if you couldn’t wish yourself back? Sylvester had to spend a year as a rock before he was able to wish himself back into a donkey. The watercolor, cartoon-like pictures in this book capture an emotion the words don’t quite get. When his parents have a picnic on his rock, and place the magic pebble on his back, his wish is granted. This is a wonderful book about a family’s love.
1971
Haley, Gail E. A Story, A Story New York: Atheneum, 1970.
An African story of Ananse the Spider Man, this story is also reminiscent of Just So Stories because it is the story of "How stories came into the world." The storyteller at the beginning of the book is the spider man on the following pages. He tells of his adventures to round up payment to buy stories from the Sky gods. The storyteller spins the story as the spider spins his web. The full-color woodcuts contain many curved lines, weaving the reader into the tale.
1972
Hogrogian, Nonny. One Fine Day New York: Macmillan, 1971.
This cute story about a fox’s adventures after drinking an old woman’s pail of milk is illustrated with engaging, although simple acrylic paintings with turpentine on gesso panels. My favorite part is the pictures that show a bashful look on the fox’s face—not a trait normally associated with the fox.
1973
Mosel, Arlene. The Funny Little Woman illus. Blair Lent. New York: A. P. Dutton and Company, Inc., 1972.
Both pen and ink line drawings with full-color acrylic glazes and full color paintings illustrate this colorful book about a Japanese woman who likes to make rice dumplings. Most of the story takes place in a world underground where she is held captive as she makes her dumplings. The pictures are quite interesting because they show the connection between the world above ground and the world below. For instance, the top of the page shows the house with the well beside it, and the bottom of the page shows the rope with the bucket right under the well.
1974
Zemach, Harve. Duffy and the Devil illus. Margot Zemach. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1973.
Pen and ink drawings with watercolor bring this Cornish story to life. The pictures are very active, with people walking, the devil spinning, and even twiddling the thumbs while sitting. The final picture illustrates an interesting consequence of Duffy’s declaration that she will never knit anything again as her husband sits naked in his chair.
1975
McDermott, Gerald. Arrow to the Sun New York: Puffin Books, 1974.
This retelling of a Pueblo Indian tale has beautiful pictures done in gouache and pre-separated black ink. Every page is full of color—the pictures are not just on the page, they are the page. Most of the pictures are outlined in thick square pixel style, and all of the pictures are symmetrical and based on simple shape outlines. The few circle or arc shapes appear to be perfectly drawn—as if with a compass. The pictures tell exactly what the worlds say, but with the description that only pictures can add to the story.
1976
Aardema, Verna. Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears illus. Leo and Diane Dillon. New York: Dial Press, 1975.
This is a West African tale illustrated in full color using watercolors applied in airbrush, hand-rubbed pastels, India ink, and cutting shapes out of vellum and frisket masks at different stages. The mosquito annoys the iguana and sets in motion a string of events that cause the jungle creatures to dislike the mosquito, who then resorted to talking to people, with its real consequences as people also dislike the mosquito.
1977
Musgrove, Margaret. Ashanti to Zulu illus. Leo and Diane Dillon. New York: Dial Press, 1976.
Leo and Diane Dillon come back for a second year in a row with their pastels, watercolors and acrylics for the illustrations for this alphabet book of African Tribes. They researched and studied the African people depicted in the pictures "in order to show as much as possible about each different people, in most paintings they have included a man, a woman, a child, their living quarters, an artifact, and a local animal," even if they are not always seen together. The very detailed pictures are framed in borders joined at the corners in knots suggesting unity of life. Each picture also includes whatever the words mention.
1978
Spier, Peter. Noah’s Ark New York: Doubleday, 1977.
The words to this story are a translation of The Flood by Dutchman Jacobus Revius. The translation (by Peter Spier) is written on the first page and the rest of the book are just pictures of the story of Noah and his ark. The cartoon-like pictures are made with F pencil on paper, watercolor and white pencil, and negatives scratched. What I found most fascinating about this book is how the pictures tell the story of what is happening inside the ark during the flood. Noah and his sons muck out stalls and feed animals every day, and the animal couples become families before they leave the ark. This book also shows a scene of the story that many people don’t think about—what happened to the animals that couldn’t get on the ark? We know that they probably drowned, but we never see it happen, until this book. Two of the most comical pictures are where Noah is trying to get rid of the swarm of bees and shooing away extra birds.
1979
Goble, Paul. The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses Scarsdale, New York: Bradbury Press, 1978.
The illustrations are colorful pen-and-ink and watercolor paintings, and they are reproduced in combined line and halftone in this story of a Native American girl who prefers the company of the wild horses to staying in her village. The pictures tell how the horses were used by the villagers and the girl’s connection with the horses: she understands them and they trust her.
Steig, William. Sylvester and the Magic Pebble New York: Windmill Books, 1969.
What if you wished yourself into a rock? What if you couldn’t wish yourself back? Sylvester had to spend a year as a rock before he was able to wish himself back into a donkey. The watercolor, cartoon-like pictures in this book capture an emotion the words don’t quite get. When his parents have a picnic on his rock, and place the magic pebble on his back, his wish is granted. This is a wonderful book about a family’s love.
1971
Haley, Gail E. A Story, A Story New York: Atheneum, 1970.
An African story of Ananse the Spider Man, this story is also reminiscent of Just So Stories because it is the story of "How stories came into the world." The storyteller at the beginning of the book is the spider man on the following pages. He tells of his adventures to round up payment to buy stories from the Sky gods. The storyteller spins the story as the spider spins his web. The full-color woodcuts contain many curved lines, weaving the reader into the tale.
1972
Hogrogian, Nonny. One Fine Day New York: Macmillan, 1971.
This cute story about a fox’s adventures after drinking an old woman’s pail of milk is illustrated with engaging, although simple acrylic paintings with turpentine on gesso panels. My favorite part is the pictures that show a bashful look on the fox’s face—not a trait normally associated with the fox.
1973
Mosel, Arlene. The Funny Little Woman illus. Blair Lent. New York: A. P. Dutton and Company, Inc., 1972.
Both pen and ink line drawings with full-color acrylic glazes and full color paintings illustrate this colorful book about a Japanese woman who likes to make rice dumplings. Most of the story takes place in a world underground where she is held captive as she makes her dumplings. The pictures are quite interesting because they show the connection between the world above ground and the world below. For instance, the top of the page shows the house with the well beside it, and the bottom of the page shows the rope with the bucket right under the well.
1974
Zemach, Harve. Duffy and the Devil illus. Margot Zemach. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1973.
Pen and ink drawings with watercolor bring this Cornish story to life. The pictures are very active, with people walking, the devil spinning, and even twiddling the thumbs while sitting. The final picture illustrates an interesting consequence of Duffy’s declaration that she will never knit anything again as her husband sits naked in his chair.
1975
McDermott, Gerald. Arrow to the Sun New York: Puffin Books, 1974.
This retelling of a Pueblo Indian tale has beautiful pictures done in gouache and pre-separated black ink. Every page is full of color—the pictures are not just on the page, they are the page. Most of the pictures are outlined in thick square pixel style, and all of the pictures are symmetrical and based on simple shape outlines. The few circle or arc shapes appear to be perfectly drawn—as if with a compass. The pictures tell exactly what the worlds say, but with the description that only pictures can add to the story.
1976
Aardema, Verna. Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears illus. Leo and Diane Dillon. New York: Dial Press, 1975.
This is a West African tale illustrated in full color using watercolors applied in airbrush, hand-rubbed pastels, India ink, and cutting shapes out of vellum and frisket masks at different stages. The mosquito annoys the iguana and sets in motion a string of events that cause the jungle creatures to dislike the mosquito, who then resorted to talking to people, with its real consequences as people also dislike the mosquito.
1977
Musgrove, Margaret. Ashanti to Zulu illus. Leo and Diane Dillon. New York: Dial Press, 1976.
Leo and Diane Dillon come back for a second year in a row with their pastels, watercolors and acrylics for the illustrations for this alphabet book of African Tribes. They researched and studied the African people depicted in the pictures "in order to show as much as possible about each different people, in most paintings they have included a man, a woman, a child, their living quarters, an artifact, and a local animal," even if they are not always seen together. The very detailed pictures are framed in borders joined at the corners in knots suggesting unity of life. Each picture also includes whatever the words mention.
1978
Spier, Peter. Noah’s Ark New York: Doubleday, 1977.
The words to this story are a translation of The Flood by Dutchman Jacobus Revius. The translation (by Peter Spier) is written on the first page and the rest of the book are just pictures of the story of Noah and his ark. The cartoon-like pictures are made with F pencil on paper, watercolor and white pencil, and negatives scratched. What I found most fascinating about this book is how the pictures tell the story of what is happening inside the ark during the flood. Noah and his sons muck out stalls and feed animals every day, and the animal couples become families before they leave the ark. This book also shows a scene of the story that many people don’t think about—what happened to the animals that couldn’t get on the ark? We know that they probably drowned, but we never see it happen, until this book. Two of the most comical pictures are where Noah is trying to get rid of the swarm of bees and shooing away extra birds.
1979
Goble, Paul. The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses Scarsdale, New York: Bradbury Press, 1978.
The illustrations are colorful pen-and-ink and watercolor paintings, and they are reproduced in combined line and halftone in this story of a Native American girl who prefers the company of the wild horses to staying in her village. The pictures tell how the horses were used by the villagers and the girl’s connection with the horses: she understands them and they trust her.
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