1943 - The Little House

The sixth book to win the Caldecott Medal was The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton, published in 1942 by Houghton Mifflin.

The Little House tells the story of a house lovingly built by a man who decided it would never be sold, but passed down through the family to his great-great grandchildren's great great grandchildren. As the years passed, the Little House watched children grow and seasons pass until a road was built.  That road brought people, businesses, and growth until the Little House no longer sat atop a small hill surrounded by daisies and trees.  A city sprang up around the Little House, leaving her sad and broken.

Who was Virginia Lee Burton?

Photo Courtesy: http://www.virginialeeburtonthefilm.com/film/

Virginia Lee Burton was born on August 30, 1909 in Newton Centre, Massachusetts to Lena Yates, an English poet, and Alfred E. Burton, an engineer and and the first Dean of Student Affairs at MIT.  When she was 8 years old, Burton's family, which included an older sister and younger brother, moved to San Diego, California, a year later they moved on to Carmel-by-the-Sea.  While there, Burton and her sister took dance and art lessons and performed in local productions.  In 1925, Burton's parents divorced and her father returned to Boston.  

Burton won a state scholarship to study art and dance at the California School of Fine Arts, now the San Francisco Art Institute.   After a year of school, she moved to Boston to be closer to her father and her sister, who was a dancer in New York City.  While there, Burton started working as a "sketcher" for a now defunct newspaper, Boston Evening Transcript.  For over two years, she worked under the drama and music critic, drawing actors and other performers.

In the fall of 1930, Burton entered a Saturday morning drawing class taught by George Demetrios, a sculptor and artist.  By the following spring, the two were married.  They went on to have two sons, Ari and Michael, and settled in the Folly Cove neighborhood of Gloucester, Massachusetts.

Burton's first book was published in 1935, Choo Choo, the story of a locomotive who decided to go in search of adventure.

She has said that she wrote her books "for my audience, my own children.  I would tell them the story over and over, watching their reaction and adjusting to their interest or lack of interest."

In total, Virginia Lee Burton illustrated six books for other authors and wrote and illustrated seven of her own books including the popular Katy and the Big Snow (Vol 2) in 1943 and, my personal favorite, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel in 1939.

Burton founded Folly Cove Designers in 1941, a textile collective where she designed some of the textiles.

Virginia Lee Burton died in 1968 at the age of 59.

The Illustrations

The one word that comes to my mind when I look at the illustrations in The Little House is 'sweet'.  It's a sweet story told with sweet illustrations.

Burton uses color beautifully to show the changing seasons.

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter

It is watching the children play and the seasons change that make the Little House so happy.  She sees the far-off lights of the city and wonders what it would be like to live there, but she is happy right where she is.

Every day the Little House watches the sun move across the sky

But, as we all know, change is inevitable.  Children grow up and move away, roads are built, bringing more people and businesses.

As time passes, a city grows up around the Little House, but since the man who built it said the house shall not be sold, it is left to fall into disrepair as apartments and skyscrapers grow around it and cars drive by as trolley lines are built and then replaced by elevated trains and subways.  The Little House sits quietly, missing her apple trees and daisies.

As the city grows around her, big grey buildings blocking the sun and moon from her view, the Little House grows grey herself.  She is no longer the happy Little House she once was.

Then, one day, a woman sees the sad Little House tucked between the skyscrapers and seems to recognize it as the house her grandmother grew up in.  

This woman turns out to be the great-great granddaughter of the man who originally built the house.  After learning that it is indeed the house her grandmother grew up in, the woman hires movers to move the Little House.

With the Little House put up on wheels and towed by a truck, they drove away from the city, searching for just the perfect spot.  Finding a little hill with apple trees and daisies.

The Little House's new family found that while her windows were broken and the shutters crooked, underneath it all, she was still a great little house.  They gave her fresh coat of paint, fixed her windows and shutters, and lived happily ever after inside her.

This is another book where you really should take the time to study the illustrations.  You'll notice little stories tucked away on each page.

Clockwise from the top left: Children floating boats in the creek; a child rolling a hoop while Mom hung laundry and Dad plowed the fields; children ice skating on the frozen pond; children building a snowman; and what appears to be a couple of little boys skinny-dipping.

A boy on a swing while a cat and dog frolic; a little girl reading under a tree while her little brother climbs it.

In 1952, the Walt Disney Corporation turned The Little House into an animated short.

The Little House is a sweet book.  I absolutely love the use of colors in the illustrations and I am quite partial to the way she draws the apple trees.  While I enjoyed this book and I can appreciate how these illustrations won the Caldecott, I will always be a bigger fan of Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne.

1943 Caldecott Honor Books
Dash and Dart by Mary and Conrad Buff Marshmallow by Clare Turlay Newberry

1942 - Make Way For Ducklings

The fifth book to win the Caldecott Medal is the much loved Make Way For Ducklings by Robert McCloskey, published by Viking Press in 1942.

Make Way For Ducklings tells the story of Mr. and Mrs. Mallard who are looking for a safe place to build a nest and raise their family.  Their search leads them to Boston, where they quickly find out how dangerous the world can be with all the bicycles and cars not stopping for ducks.  Luckily, they make some good friends who help them stay safe.

Who was Robert McCloskey?

John Robert McCloskey was born on September 15, 1914 in Hamilton, Ohio. As a child, he had a love of music and art, drawing all the way through high school and earning a scholarship to Vesper George School of Art in Boston in 1932.  The school closed in 1983.

After moving to New York City, McCloskey entered the National Academy of Design, now the National Academy Museum and School, and went on to win the President's Award.  He held exhibits at the Tiffany Foundation and the Society of Independent Artists in Boston, but despite a strong start to his art career, he was unable to make a living.  As a last resort, McCloskey went to a children's book editor.

After meeting with the editor, who told him "to get wise to myself and to shelve the dragons, Pegasus, and limpid pool business and learn how and what to 'art' with", McCloskey returned to Ohio in 1936 and wrote his first children's book, Lentil (Picture Puffin Books) .

Not long after Lentil was published, McCloskey returned to Boston. In a quote published on the back flap of Make Way For Ducklings, he "first noticed the ducks when walking through the Public Garden every morning on the way to Art School".  After returning to Boston, he "noticed the traffic problem of the ducks and heard a few stories about them.  Then the book just sort of developed from there."

McCloskey bought "four quaking mallards" and took them home to his apartment where he "spent the next weeks on my hands and knees, armed with a box of Kleenex and a sketchbook, following the ducks around the studio and observing them in the bathtub."  He finished the illustrations first and he ended up rewriting the book over and over, changing bits and pieces before finally completing Make Way For Ducklings.

In total, McCloskey wrote and illustrated 8 books, including Blueberries for Sal (Viking Kestrel picture books), a Caldecott Honor book in 1949, and One Morning in Maine (Picture Puffins), a Caldecott Honor Book in 1953.  He won a second Caldecott Medal as well, but that's a story for another blog post.  He also illustrated 12 books for other authors.

Robert McCloskey married Peggy Durand in 1940 and they had two daughters, Sally and Jane.  In 2000, McCloskey was named a "Living Legend" by the U.S. Library of Congress. He died in 2003.

The Illustrations

Make Way For Ducklings begins with Mr. and Mrs. Mallard looking for a nice, safe place to build their nest and start a family.  They found a small island in the pond at the Public Garden in Boston to stop for the night.  The next morning, while looking for breakfast in the pond, a large swan boat full of people floated past and the people threw peanuts to the ducks.

Mr. and Mrs. Mallard liked the little pond and island, not to mention all the free peanuts, but just as they're about to decide to live there, they meet a new threat.

Doesn't the gentleman in the upper right illustration look like a young Richard Nixon?

The Mallards learned how scary wheeled vehicles could be when a young boy on a bike almost hit Mr. Mallard.

After that close call, the ducks decide to keep looking.  As they fly over the city, the reader is given a bird's-eye view of Boston.  They find a quiet island in the Charles River that is close to the Public Garden and the Mallards decided to build their nest there.

After landing on the island, Mr and Mrs. Mallard begin to molt, losing their old wing feathers, and they won't be able to fly again until the new ones grow in.  They build a nest and settle into their new life.  While exploring the riverbank near their island, the ducks meet a kind police officer named Michael who feeds them peanuts and the ducks return every day.

It doesn't take long for Mrs. Mallard to lay eight eggs in her nest and one day the ducklings hatch.

 Mr. Mallard decides to head over to the Public Garden and tells his wife he will see her and their children in a week when they are to join him.  During that week, Mrs. Mallard works hard with the ducklings, teaching them how to swim and dive, walk in a straight line, and avoid scooters and bicycles.

When the time comes to join Mr. Mallard, Mrs. Mallard leads her children across the river to the bank and toward the street, where they are nearly hit by a car on the busy road.  Luckily, their friend, police officer Michael, sees their predicament and comes to their rescue.  He stops traffic and allows the ducks to safely cross the road before rushing back to his police booth to call for backup.

Mrs. Mallard continues through the city past stores and people who stopped to compliment the proud mama on her well behaved children.

And when they reach the busy corner of Beacon Street, there are four policemen who answered Michael's call for assistance and they held traffic so Mrs. Mallard and her ducklings could safely cross the road and join Mr. Mallard in the Public Garden.

Seriously, what isn't there to love about Make Way For Ducklings? It's a sweet story told with appealing illustrations.  And what person, no matter how old you are, doesn't stop when they see a mama duck and her babies crossing a street and think "Make way for ducklings!"

The city of Boston has enthusiastically embraced Make Way For Ducklings.  On October 4, 1987, a bronze statue of Mrs. Mallard and her eight ducklings was installed and is one of the most popular destinations for children in Boston. 

And every year on Mother's Day, Boston celebrates the Duckling Day Parade. Parents and children dress up as ducks to follow the route Mrs. Mallard and her children took from the Charles River to the Public Garden.

In 2003, Make Way For Ducklings was named the Official Children's Book of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

This is one of those rare stories that is so ingrained in our pop culture that no matter where you live, in a big city like Boston or in small rural town in the midwest, you always Make Way For Ducklings.





1942 Caldecott Honor Books
An American ABC by Maud & Miska Petersham 
In My Mother's House illustrated by Velino Herrera; written by Ann Nolan Clark
Paddle-to-the-Sea (Sandpiper Books) by Holling C. Holling 
Nothing At All (Fesler-Lampert Minnesota Heritage)  by Wanda Gág

1941 - They Were Strong and Good

 

They Were Strong and Good by Robert Lawson was the fourth book to be awarded the Caldecott Medal.  It was published in 1940 by Viking Books.  This book contains the real life stories of Lawson's parents and grandparents.  He tells how people from all over the world, from different corners of America, came together to become a family.

Who was Robert Lawson?

Born in New York City in 1892, Robert Lawson attended the New York School of Fine and Applied Arts from 1911 - 1914.  He started working as an illustrator in 1914 when his illustration for a poem about the invasion of Belgium appeared in Harper's Weekly.  His illustrations went on to appear in  Ladies Home Journal, Everybody's Magazine, Century Magazine, Vogue, and Designer.  During World War I, he served in the American Camouflage Corps along with several other artists designing camouflage for the military.  After the war, Lawson married Mary Abrams, a fellow author and illustrator, in 1922 and returned to work as an illustrator.

Lawson illustrated his first children's book, The Wonderful Adventures of Little Prince Toofat, in 1922.  He went on to illustrate some well-known and beloved children's books, including The Story of Ferdinand ,Mr. Popper's Penguins and 1939 Caldecott Honor Book Wee Gillis (New York Review Children's Collection).  In all, he illustrated 40 books by other authors and 17 books that he himself wrote.

Lawson is important in the world of children's literature because he is the only person to win the Newbery and Caldecott Medals.  He won the Newbery Medal for Rabbit Hill (Puffin Modern Classics) and he wrote one of my personal favorite books from my childhood:Ben and Me: An Astonishing Life of Benjamin Franklin by His Good Mouse Amos.

Robert Lawson died at in 1957 at his home in Westport, Connecticut.  He was 64.

The Illustrations

They Were Strong and Good is not your typical storybook. But as Lawson himself is quoted as saying "I have never, as far as I can remember, given one moment's thought as to whether any drawing that I was doing was for adults or children. I have never changed one conception or line or detail to suit the supposed age of the readers."  And I can confirm that this book is just as enjoyable for an adult to read as any child.  

The book's Foreword sums up the entire book in one sentence:

It is as simple and fascinating as that.  The illustrations are all black and white ink drawings, beautifully done and full of emotion.

The characters: Top Row - Lawson's maternal grandfather, maternal grandmother, mother
Bottom Row - Lawson's paternal grandfather, paternal grandmother, father

The book begins with Lawson's Mother's Father.  He was a "Scotch sea captain":

He sailed his ship Eliza Jane Hopper from New York to the Carribbean, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Isthmus of Panama.  Lawson told of the gifts his grandfather would bring his friends from those faraway places.

Lawson's Mother's Mother was a "little Dutch girl" living on a farm in New Jersey.  One day she rode with her father in a wagon full of ham, corn, cabbages, and other goods to sell at the wharves in New York.  While there, she met a Scotch sea captain:

They married and went to the Caribbean for their honeymoon.  After learning that sailing didn't agree with her, Lawson's maternal grandparents moved far away from the sea, settling in Minnesota where they had many children, including Lawson's mother.

His mother did not like the Indians in Minnesota who would walk into their house without knocking and sit on the kitchen floor until you gave them food.  She did not like the loud lumberjacks who would fight in town and make noise.  So, her parents sent her to a convent to go to school where she learned embroidery, painting, and how to speak French, Spanish, German, and Italian.  But it was her quiet, gentle nature that made her a fit for gardening and beekeeping:

Lawson's Father's Father was "an Englishman who lived in Alabama".  He was a preacher who made a living from traveling and fighting "the Powers of Evil."  While traveling from town to town fighting Satan, he came to a town where he met a young woman who he would marry:

Lawson's Father's Mother thought he "had a fine loud voice and that he fought Satan very well" and they married and had many children, including Lawson's father.

Personally, I feel that Lawson's father's story is the most fascinating.  He grew up in Alabama and had a slave boy his own age and two dogs.  The boys and the dogs spent all day out hunting.  When the Civil War broke out, Lawson's father was only twelve years old, so he had to stay home while Lawson's father's father went to fight the Yankees.  Lawson's father got a job working in a store for a wealthy store owner.  When word came that the Yankees were getting close, Lawson's father volunteered to ride the store owner's horse to safety, along with $2000 in gold wrapped in a belt he wore under his clothes.  He rode for two days, past deserters and runaway slaves to the safety of the store owner's brother's home.  He was given a $5 reward for his hard work.  At the age of fourteen, Lawson's father lied about his age and joined General Joseph E. Johnston's army as a guidon bearer, he would carry a small red flag on a long stick and either sit on a mule or stand where the battery was placed.

During a big battle near Atlanta, Lawson's father was shot in the leg.  By the time he was well again, the Yankees had won the war and he walked back to Alabama.  The store was gone and with no work, Lawson's father moved to New York City at the age of sixteen to make his fortune.  There, he met a young woman visiting from Minnesota.  She didn't make fun of his southern accent or the way he limped.

They married, had many children, and one of those children was Robert Lawson.

I found this to be a sweet book written by a man very proud of his heritage.  In this day and age when it seems like everyone I know met their significant other in college, at work, or online, it was fascinating to me to think that a Scotch sea captain and a little Dutch girl from New Jersey, a young man traveling the south fighting Satan and a small town southern woman, and a Civil War veteran from Alabama and a quiet, gentle woman from Minnesota happened to meet in New York City and from all that came this incredibly talented author and illustrator to share their stories.

1941 Caldecott Honor Book

April's Kittens by Clare Turlay Newberry