As a former elementary and middle school teacher, this Grandma waited anxiously for the annual announcements of the Caldecott and Newbery Award winning children’s books. These awards, given by the American Library Association, are the most prestigious for children’s book writers. The Randolph Caldecott Medal is awarded to the most distinguished picture book of the year, and the John Newbery Metal is given for the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature of the year, not usually a picture book. A grandma may remember a gold metal on the cover of a special book given to us when we were children. Getting a book with a gold metal on it was a treat, and well it should be. Yes, we check the New York Times Best Seller list now for books for our grandchildren, but these awards are not for the books that necessarily sell the most copies. We can be assured of a quality book for our grandchildren with the Randolph Caldecott Medal and John Newbery Metal emblem on the book cover.
The Newbery Metal goes back to 1921. The American Library Association wanted to encourage excellence in children’s literature. Librarians identify books to nominate and a jury selects annual winners and honor runner up books. Many Newbery award books are biographies, so if a grandchild must select a biography to read for school, check out the list.
We grandmas know the classic 1953 Newbery winner by E. B. White, “Charlotte’s Web,” for grades 3-7 but one book we read aloud to children much earlier, found on Amazon. I am sure we watch the movie version with the grandchildren as well, winner of the best family film award, found on Amazon.
A personal favorite is the 1963 Newbery winner by Madeleine L’Engle, “A Wrinkle in Time,” listed as grades 6 and up, but I read it aloud to my fifth graders, found on Amazon, also now a classic children’s book to share with grandchildren. It is a combination of time travel, fantasy and mystery, and children cannot put it down. There is a movie based on the book as well, found on Amazon. If your grandchild is not a “reader,” pick it up and read it aloud with your grandchild.
The Randolph Caldecott Medal goes back to 1937, again by the American Library Association Getting a Caldecott Metal picture book meant that the illustrations showed excellence, the best of the year, and that the story shown through the pictures showed excellence, the best of the year. My personal favorite as a child was “Make Way For Ducklings,” found on Amazon, an 1942 winner by Robert McCloskey. As a young mother, I bought all of the Caldecott Metal winners for my children. I read “Make Way For Ducklings” to my children so many times, I think I could still repeat it from memory for my grandchildren. For a history of the Randolph Caldecott Medal and a list of all of the
Caldecott Metal picture book winners go here.
If grandma needs a visit present, a is a great present anytime for a grandchild. A brand new annual Caldecott winner picture book is a treat. The Caldecott Metal winner for 2016 is “Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear,” illustrated by Sophie Blackall. It tells us the backstory of the real bear in the London Zoo that was the inspiration for Winnie the Pooh, written for K-3, a number one best seller on Amazon.
Each year there are books that are given honors, and this year the runner ups with honors are “Trombone Shorty” by Bryan Collier, an autobiography about dream and success as a jazz trombone player, also a number one best seller at Amazon by Kevin Henkes, about five toy friends waiting on a windowsill for something to happen, for preschoolers to kindergarten, found on Amazon, “Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement,” by Ekua Holmes, for grades 6 and up, a biography about a civil rights leader, found on Amazon and “Last Stop on Market Street,” by Christian Robinson, illustrator. This last book was written by Matt de la Pena and is also this year’s Newbery Metal winner for most outstanding contribution to children’s literature. It is about a boy’s bus ride to a soup kitchen with his grandmother. This is unusual as it is a picture book and it is rare for a picture book to receive a Newbery Metal, and intended for K-2.
There were three Newbery Metal honors: “The War that Saved my Life,” by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, about a disabled girl during World War II in England for grades 4-6, a number one Amazon best seller, “Roller Girl,” by Victoria Jamieson, about a twelve year old girl who falls in love with roller derby, intended for grades 4-8, a number one best seller on Amazon and “Echo,” by Pam Muñoz Ryan, about a boy lost in the woods, a witches curse, and a harmonica that ties together children of different times and history, intended for grades 5-8, found on Amazon.
There really is a winner for a grandchild with any interest, or for a grandma to read aloud to a grandchild. For your next visit to grandchildren, pick one up and with a grandchild in your lap or lying next to you before bed, read aloud together and experience pure grandma
Joy,
Mema
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