Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Caldecott Award Given to Brian Floca

Last week at the Midwinter Meeting of the American Library Association, author/illustrator Brian Floca was awarded the Caldecott Medal for his book Locomotive.  I was very fortunate to meet this author at Vermont's Red Clover conference a couple of years ago.  At that time, he spoke about his work on Race Car Alphabet and other books.  He said that he feels very strongly that even with all or our electronic devices, nothing will replace the picture book.  Locomotive is a great example of why he is most likely right about this.   The large format is meant for sharing, and upon opening the book the pictures pull the reader into a time when the transcontinental railroad was just becoming a reality.  The Caldecott Award is given for the best illustrations in a children's book, but this book is also an example of outstanding writing. Read this book and you will feel as though you were there when it first became possible to travel across the United States by rail.