Caldecott Medal: My Friend Rabbit by Eric Rohmann

This charming book tells the basic story of a friendship.  A Caldecott Medal winner, the book is charming, witty and lively.  I read this story for the first time to my 5 year old daughter.  She laughed as the silly rabbit tried hard to show his friend mouse that he was helpful.  She loved tracing the patterns of the illustrations that lined the pages, following the cause and effect of what happens when rabbit tries to help mouse get his toy plane out of a tree.  As an adult, I found this book easy to relate to the good intentions of close friends, who sometimes end up causing more trouble when trying to help. I think the basic theme is one that most all people can identify with.  We all have moments where our good intentions cause mishap or even mayhem.  However, at the end of the day, as was in the case of this story,  friendship is about understanding and forgiveness as well as seeing into the heart and soul of others to recognize their good deeds. 

As a teacher, I think this is an excellent book to illustrate the theme of cause and effect.  This is often a difficult concept for primary children to grasp and the cause and effect relationship displayed in this book provides a great illustration of this concept.  The pictures were clear, crisp and inviting.  My 5 year old was enveloped in looking at the pictures and seeing the expressions on the animals faces throughout the story.  This is a great book to read again and again with little ones.

Caldecott Medal: The Lion & The Mouse by Jerry Pinkney

This is a classic retelling of the famous tale from Aesop's Fables, The Lion and the Mouse. What makes this unique is that it is a predominantly wordless version, allowing the illustrations to tell the story of compassion and friendship.  As the known story goes, a mouse is running to escape her predator when she stumbles upon and captured by a lion. The lion, seemingly, somewhat bothered by the mouse, lets her go.  As to why the lion lets the mouse go is left up to the reader.  Possibly he thought the mouse was too small or inconsequential to bother with.  The illustration on this page provides a curious look upon both the lion's and the mouse's face.  To me, I perceived a sense of likeness or humor from the lion towards the mouse.  The lion shows compassion and sets the mouse free who scurries on her way.  The mouse is then shown to run home to her nest where one sees a nest of babies.  This begins to demonstrate the gratefulness the mouse would feel towards the lion as she was allowed to return home to her children.  The lion proudly walks among the Savannah with his head held high.

But as true as life, mankind finds a way to puts it ugly stamp upon the magnificence of nature.  Hunters lay a trap to capture wildlife and the lion falls prey to the hunters.  As he roars in anger, fear, and helplessness, the mouse hears the cries and comes to find the lion trapped in the net.  The lion, seemingly skeptical by the look on his face, watches the mouse with maybe a splash of hopefulness that she might be able to help him.  The mouse begins gnawing at the nets.  She gnaws and scratches, gnaws and scratches.... until finally the nets give way.  The lion is free.  A poignant picture shows the lion and mouse gazing into each others eyes, not quite a smile on their faces but perhaps a look of respect towards each.  The mouse scurries home, bringing a piece of the rope home with her as a treat/toy for her babies.

This familiar story, written without words, truly allows the pictures to speak for themselves, allowing the reader to interpret meaning in their own personal ways.  What really intrigued me was looking at this book with my young 4 year old.  She was the one who pointed out to me the subtle look of the lion's eyes when he first captured the mouse....the gratefulness upon the mouse's face when she returned home to her babies, the concern and pain in the lion's eye when he was helpless in that net.  The ability for a child to see without words, emotions and feelings, is truly amazing to see and made reading this book with a real treat.

Other books illustrated by Jerry Pinkney include John Henry by Julius Lester,  The Patchwork Quilt by Valerie Flournoy, The Tale of Uncle Remus by Julius Lester and Mirandy and Brother Wind by Patricia McKissack. 

Caldecott Honor: Knuffle Bunny by Mo Williams

As a mother of two small girls, I have been a Mo Williams fan for quite some time.  His delightful stories brighten the hearts and spread smiles and laughter to both my daughters and myself.  His simple tales speak to the heart, the truth of life, parenting and friendship.  Knuffle Bunny, a Caldecott Honor Book, is one of our family's favorites.  The story consists of little baby Trixie who is going with her dad on a simple trip to the laundromat.  But what happens is an experience that most parents I think can relate to. When Trixie's beloved Knuffle Bunny stuffed animal, inexplicably goes missing (yet the readers see what happens to it), Trixie is besides herself.  But without knowing how to talk yet, her dad struggles with trying to figure out why Trixie is so upset.  But with mom to the rescue, dad soon realizes why Trixie is so upset and the adventure continues to get the beloved Knuffle Bunny back. 

While the story itself is precious, the illustrations are what gives this story its charm!  A unique combination of real photographs mixed with cartoon illustrations make for a wonderful visual experience.  The illustrations contains subtle pieces of information that enhance the story in such a way that leaves the reader laughing and smiling.

Newbery Honor: Feathers by Jacqueline Woodson

Feathers written by Jacqueline Woodson is a complex story that follows a short portion of the life of 6th grade student Fannie and her experiences growing up in the 1970's.  This Newbery Honor book takes a poignant look at a girl who has an introspect towards her own life, life growing up as an African-American who lives on what she and those around her call "the other side of the highway".  This other side is a predominantly African-American, lower income community.  However, this book, while on the surface may appear to center around race and judgments, is in fact, more about hope and faith.

I thoroughly enjoyed that the status of race isn't recognized immediately when beginning to read this book.  The book focuses on Fannie, her thoughts, her reactions, her daily routine of life, without race being made a strong factor in setting the state of this book.  Instead, it is about halfway through the first chapter before it is made clear Fannie's race and economic status.

I found several themes through this book.  One theme that resonates is the struggle of acceptance and fitting in.  Fannie is faced with learning more about herself through the introduction of a new student at school.  This new student is of a different race than her and her classmates and he is immediately labeled and presumed to fit into certain stereotypes based upon this.  However, this new student ends up bringing a new idea to those he encounters, one where his fellow students must reconsider their misconceptions and look more at the person within.

Another predominant theme is hope.  Fannie, in the end, must rely on hope and faith, as the tools that allow her to get through the day to day routines of life.  This book, allowed me to relate to the themes, the characters, even though on the surface, it would appear that I wouldn't have made that personal encounter.  I truly loved this book.  It was a beautiful telling of the power of faith and the different forms that faith can take in each of us.  Upon the completion of this book, it is more than obvious why Feathers was a true Newbery Honor winner.