1946 - The Rooster Crows

The ninth book to be awarded the Caldecott Medal was The Rooster Crows: A Book of American Rhymes and Jingles by Maud and Miska Petersham, published in 1945 by Macmillan, now a part of Simon and Schuster.

The title says it all.  This book contains many classic nursery rhymes, finger games, and skipping rope songs that we will all remember from childhood, and some that have been lost to more recent generations.

Who were Maud and Miska Petersham?

Photo of Miska and Maud Petersham taken sometime in the 1950s

Maud Fuller was born in Kingston, New York on August 5, 1890.  She was the third of four daughters and her father, a baptist minister, was a direct descendant of the physician on the Mayflower.  Maud graduated from Vassar College in 1912 and went on to study at the New York School of Fine and Applied Art, now known as Parsons The New School of Design, and, from there, went to work at the International Art Service, a graphic design firm in New York City.

Miska was born Petrezselyem Mihaly on September 20, 1888 in Torokszentmiklos, Hungary.  After studying at the Royal National School of Applied Arts in Budapest, in 1911 Miska moved first to London and then six months later traveled to New York City and came through Ellis Island in 1912.  He quickly found work at the International Art Service, where he met Maud Fuller.  They married in 1917.

Maud and Miska moved to Greenwich Village and with the help of their friend, Willy Pogany, a Hungarian illustrator, they found their first work in children's book illustrations which then led to steady commissions.  In 1923, they bought a house in Woodstock, New York.

From the 1920's through the 1950's, the Petershams were considered pioneers in the world of children's book illustrations.

Maud is quoted in Books Are By People: Interviews With 104 Authors and Illustrators of Books for Young Children  as saying "At first we illustrated books written by others, but often we found no place in the text that lent itself to illustration, so we decided to plan a book of our own with both pictures and text." And they published their first book, Miki: The Book of Maud and Miska Petersham, a story about their young son, in 1929.

The Petershams went on to write and illustrate nearly 50 other books including: Auntie and Celia Jane and Miki, The Box with Red Wheels (written for their grandchildren), and Story of the Presidents of the United States of America.  Unfortunately, it appears that nearly all their books are out of print, but they could be found at used bookstores, online, or in your local library.

Miska passed away on May 15, 1960 and Maud on November 29, 1971.

In 2012, WoodstockArts published Under the North Light: The Life and Work of Maud and Miska Petersham by Lawrence Webster.  Webster grew up in Woodstock and played with the Petersham's granddaughter, Mary.  According to Webster, the Petershams complimented each other perfectly.  Maud drew on the left page while Miska drew on the right; Maud did the research while Miska took care of all the criticism.  To learn more about what Webster had to say about the Petershams, check out this review of a presentation she gave at the New York Public Library.

What surprised me, was that according to Webster, The Rooster Crows  was not considered to be the Petersham's best work, even though they won the Caldecott.

The Illustrations

I suppose I was surprised by Webster's statement about The Rooster's Crow not being the Petersham's best work because I just assume when a book wins the Caldecott, it is.  Just because this book was chosen to win means it was the most "distinguished American picture book for children" of that particular year, not necessarily the best illustrations ever done by the illustrator.  But then all art is subjective and when each person looks at a work of art they are all seeing something a little different.

There is no plot in The Rooster Crows to discuss, it contains a collection of rhymes and jingles, finger games, rope skipping rhymes, counting-out rhymes, and games, ending with the full length version of Yankee Doodle.

There are plenty of old standbys that we're all familiar with including: How Much Wood Would A Woodchuck Chuck, This Little Piggy, A Bear Went Over The Mountain, and Little Jack Horner.

There were some I had never heard of like:

Bat, bat, come under my hat,

And I'll give you a slice of bacon.

And when I bake, I'll give you some cake,

That is, if I'm not mistaken

and

Black cat sat on the sewing machine

Looking fine and handsome,

Ran ninety-nine stitches in his tail

Ad then he ran some.

And then there were some sayings that I didn't know were a part of a rhyme:

Two's a couple,

Three's a crowd.

Four on the sidewalk

Is never allowed.

I have the feeling that depending on your age and where you live, you may know some of these and others may be new to you.  But the illustrations are quite beautiful.  They're soft and lovely.

 I loved the animals they drew and it appears to me the Petershams excelled in showing emotion, not just on human faces, but animals as well.

"Yankee Doodle"
Look at the expression on the boy's face.

Plucking daisy petals for "One I Love"

"Little Sally Waters"

Illustration for the full version of "Yankee Doodle"

And when it came to the finger games, the Petershams included illustrations on how to play the game:

When I was a child, I loved poetry and this was definitely the kind of book I would have loved reading through.  This book would be a lot of fun to read with a young child, the nursery rhymes and games are just plain silly enough to keep them entertained.

If this is considered by critics to not be the Petersham's best work, this definitely makes me want to look up their other books to see what tops the illustrations in The Rooster Crows.

1946 Caldecott Honor Books
Little Lost Lamb, illustrated by Leonard Weisgard, written by Margaret Wise Brown (using the pseudonym Golden MacDonald  Sing Mother Goose, illustrated by Marjorie Torrey, music by Opal Wheeler My Mother Is the Most Beautiful Woman in the World: A Russian Folk Tale, illustrated by Ruth Gannett, written by Becky Reyher You Can Write Chinese by Kurt Wiese

1945 - Prayer for a Child

The eighth book to win the Caldecott Medal was Prayer for a Child, written by Rachel Field and illustrated by Elizabeth Orton Jones, published in 1944 by Macmillan, which is now a part of Simon & Schuster.

The prayer in this book is written as a 22 line poem and expresses gratitude to God for everything important to a young child: food, toys, shoes, friends, family, parents, and so much more.  It is a very sweet sentiment that could be easily expressed by boy or girl.  

The prayer was written by Rachel Field for her young daughter, Hannah,  and this book was published posthumously as Field died on March 15, 1942 from pneumonia at the age of 48.  Her book, Hitty, Her First One Hundred Years, had won the Newbery Medal in 1930 and had been illustrated by Dorothy P. Lathrop, the first person to have won the Caldecott Medal in 1938.

Who was Elizabeth Orton Jones?

Elizabeth Orton Jones was born on June 25, 1910 in Highland Park, Illinois, 23 miles north of Chicago.  Her father was a musician and her grandfather owned a bookstore in Geneva, New York, so music and books had always been a big part of her life.

Jones attended the University of Chicago and earned a Ph.D there in 1932.  She went on to study in France at the Ecole des Beaux Arts before going on to study under French artist, Camille Liausu.  While working with Liausu, Jones began drawing children at play as a way to practice and work on drawing motion. While in Paris, she published her first book, Ragman of Paris and his Ragamuffins, in 1937.

She returned to the United States and took a job with William and Lillian Glaser, children's book publishers on Long Island who specialized in working closely with illustrators to accomplish superior results.  While there, Jones published Maminka's Children in 1940.  In 1942, she published Twig, the book most associated with Jones and which led to her being nicknamed Twig for the rest of her life.  

In 1945, Jones was on a business trip to New Hampshire where she fell in love with the town of Mason.  She decided to stay and bought a farmhouse that had been built in the 1780s.  She loved her adopted hometown so much, that Jones became dedicated to preserving the history of Mason.  She recorded and taught history as well as helping to create the Mason Historical Society and edited the Mason Bicentennial in 1968.  Jones was also a big supporter of the local children's theater, Andy's Summer Playhouse, and was well known for her work with Crocheted Mountain, a rehabilitation center for children.  

In total, Jones wrote and illustrated 7 books and illustrated 16 other books.  In 1944, Small Rain: Verses from the Bible, illustrated by Jones and edited by her mother, Jessie Orton Jones, had been a Caldecott Honor book.  

Elizabeth Orton Jones died on May 10, 2005.  On June 25 of the same year, Mason Public Library renamed their Junior Room the "Twig Room" in her honor.

The Illustrations

The prayer is published in it's entirety in the beginning of the book, but then it is broken up throughout the rest of the book with one line of the prayer on one page and the opposite page having a corresponding illustration.

The drawings are beautiful and colorful.  While reading the book and studying the illustrations, the words that popped into my mind were "soft" and "cozy", comforting images of a happy childhood. 

In her Caldecott Medal acceptance speech, Jones says "I had no little girl. The little girl closest to me was the little-girl-I-used-to-be."  The silver cup in the image above was the silver cup Jones drank her milk from as a child.  The quilt on the bed was based on the quilt her grandmother had made her.

Jones took out her own toys that she had put away in cardboard boxes and brought them to life on the pages of this book.

The picture of the little painted chair is one of my favorites.  The colors in the illustration, the sweet expression on the little girl's face, and the dimpled child's hands. 

For the line blessing family and friends, Jones tried to draw companionship, which I feel she did beautifully.  And I like that she included the cat, as our pets are often just as much a part of our family as our brothers and sisters.

And in order to portray the line"Bless other children far and near, and keep them safe and free from fear", Jones said she tried to "draw the feeling of fellowship that exists...among all children."  I enjoyed taking the time to examine the illustration and take in all the details of hats and other head dressings, faces and smiles.  This was another example of Jones' use of colors.  They blend together well in the drawing, but show so many ethnicities.  

One little detail I really liked about this book was that the first illustration was a group of what appeared to be wooden angels and those angels were carried throughout the book, adorning the first letter of each page.

While the prayer was originally written for a little girl and the illustrations are of a girl, this prayer could very easily be said by a boy as well.

While researching Prayer For A Child, I found a site that offers printables for homeschoolers to use after reading the book, but anyone who shares this book with their child could have fun with these activities.  Prayer For a Child Printables.

1945 Caldecott Honor Books

Mother Goose illustrated by Tasha Tudor

In the Forest by Marie Hall Ets

Yonie Wondernose by Marguerite de Angeli

The Christmas Anna Angel illustrated by Kate Seredy, written by Ruth Sawyer

1944 - Many Moons

The seventh book to be awarded the Caldecott Medal was Many Moons written by James Thurber and illustrated by Louis Slobodkin, published in 1943 by Harcourt Brace, now a part of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Many Moons tells the story of Princess Lenore, a young girl who falls ill after eating too many raspberry tarts.  Her father, the King, will do anything to help his daughter feel better and when she asks for the moon, he calls in his wisest men to help get it for her.

The author of Many Moons is James Thurber, a well known author, cartoonist, playwright, and journalist.  When I was in school, there were few required reading assignments I truly enjoyed and even fewer that I actually finished (I loved reading and read more books than I can count, but if I didn't enjoy something, I just didn't finish it).  The three assigned readings I remember the best and loved the most were Arthur Miller's The Crucible, John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, and James Thurber's The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.  I don't remember what grade I was in when we read Walter Mitty, but I remember rereading it several times before the assignment was over.

But, alas, this blog is about the Caldecott Medal and so we will talk about the illustrator.

Who was Louis Slobodkin?

Louis Slobodkin was born on February 19, 1903 in Albany, New York.  By the time he turned 15, Slobodkin knew he wasn't meant for traditional school and convinced his parents to allow him to dropout so he could attend Beaux-Arts Institute of Design in New York City.  Reportedly, he held a "one-man sit-down strike" until they allowed him to go.

He spent 5 years working odd jobs to pay his way at the Institute and during that time he was awarded The Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Fellowship and 22 medals for life study, composition, and drawing.

At the age of 20 Slobodkin joined the merchant marines and traveled the world.  When he returned to the U.S., he began an apprenticeship in commercial art studios before becoming a sculptor's assistant in Europe.  He returned to New York City and got involved in several New Deal art projects and organizations.  

In 1927, Slobodkin married Florence Gersh, a poet and children's book author.  They went on to have two sons, Larry and Michael.

In 1938, the U.S. Treasury Section of Fine Arts put out a request for entries of sculpture that exemplified "the most unique example of American Unity" to be placed at the 1939 World's Fair.  Slobodkin entered and his work, a 15-foot steel and plaster rendering of a young Abraham Lincoln, called the Rail Joiner was chosen.

When Slobodkin and his wife arrived at the Fair to check on the statue, they were told it had been destroyed by sledgehammers.  It was later discovered Theodore Hayes, executive assistant to the federal commissioner, had the statue destroyed after a friend of the commissioner said she felt it was not in "good taste."

While on vacation at Cape Ann, Massachusetts in 1941, the Slobodkins met Eleanor and Rice Estes, two young librarians.  Eleanor convinced Slobodkin to collaborate with her on a children's book, The Moffats.  The book was such a success, they agreed to work together again on The Middle Moffat and Rufus M., as well as The Hundred Dresses.

All told, Slobodkin illustrated nearly 90 books, and wrote 50 of those books, including instructional books on sculpture and drawing.  He also teamed up with his wife on five books.

Louis Slobodkin died in May of 1975.

The Illustrations

The only way I can describe the illustrations in Many Moons is "whimsical abstract".

Princess Lenore in bed after eating too many raspberry tarts.

I love the colors and the small illustrations that frame the text on several of the pages.

Princess Lenore ate too many raspberry tarts and is sent to bed after becoming ill.  When her father the King is sent for, he appears at her bedside and tells her he will do anything to help her feel better.  Princess Lenore asks for the moon, her father vows get it for her.

And so the King calls the Lord High Chamberlain, the Royal Wizard, and the Royal Mathematician to his throne and asks them how they can get the moon for his daughter.

Lord High Chamberlain, Royal Wizard, and Royal Mathematician

Each man tells the King the moon is too far away and too big.  At a loss, the King calls his Royal Jester to come and sing for him.  When the Jester asks the King what is wrong, the Jester comes up with idea of asking the Princess how far away she thinks the moon is and how big she thinks it is.  

The Princess tells the Jester she believes the moon is smaller than her thumbnail and just above the tree outside her window.

The Jester went to the Royal Goldsmith and asked him to make a small gold moon, smaller than the Princess' thumbnail, and to put it on a gold chain so the Princess may wear it around her neck.

The next morning, the Jester took the moon to the princess and she was thrilled.  The following day she was well enough to get out of bed and play.

But the king was concerned that the Princess might fall ill again if she saw the moon in the sky that night.  He once again called the Lord High Chamberlain, the Royal Wizard, and the Royal Mathematician to help.  But the ideas they came up with just wouldn't work.

Set off fireworks all night to camouflage the moon?

So, the king called his Royal Jester again to sing to him and try to make him feel better.

The Jester suggested they ask Princess Lenore what she thought about the moon returning to the sky.

The Jester raced up the stairs to see the Princess

The Princess assuaged the Jester's fears by explaining that when she loses a tooth, a new tooth grows in it's place.  The moon is just like that.

I loved this book, so much.  It is such a wonderful story that shows how adults tend to lose their imagination as they grow up and over complicate the simplest things.  The Lord High Chamberlain, Royal Wizard, and Royal Mathematician were considered the wisest men in all the world, but they used analysis and facts and figures when all that was needed to get Princess Lenore the moon was a little girl's imagination.

When I first started reading this book and Princess Lenore asked for the moon, I was afraid she would be portrayed as a spoiled brat, a little Veruca Salt.  Instead, she proved to be the wisest person in the King's court.

I found it strange that in 1990, Many Moons was rereleased with new illustrations by Marc Simont:

They are beautiful watercolors and there is a foreword by James Thurber's daughter where she admits it was a difficult decision to agree to the reprint.  Personally, I have no opinion one way or the other when it comes to reprints (except for books that are changed because of a movie, that annoys me) but when your picture book wins the highest award for illustrations, it just seems like an unnecessary money-grab.

1944 Caldecott Honor Books
Small Rain: Verses From the Bible, illustrated by Elizabet Orton Jones, text selected by Jessie Orton James Pierre Pidgeon, illustrated by Arnold E. Bare, written by Lee Kingman The Mighty Hunter, written and illustrated by Berta & Elmer Hader A Child's Good Night Book, illustrated by Jean Charlot, written by Margaret Wise Brown Good - Luck Horse, illustrated by Plato Chan, text written by Chih - Yi Chan

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