Time Magazine’s 100 Best Children’s Books of All Time

The list includes books we have reviewed here: Extra Yarn, Journey, The Day The Crayons Quit, The Snowy Day and Press Here. Where the Wild Things Are, The Cat in The Hat and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day and Madeline are also included. Since this is a list of picture books it is a puzzle as to why Out Of My Mind, a very worthy book, was on this list.

NYPL: 100 Best Children’s Book for 2013

The New York Public Library is out with an interactive list of the best children's books of 2013. You can search by reading level, genre and theme. Click on a book that interests you and it will take you to a short description  of the story. There is something for everyone.

2014 Caldecott Medal and Honors

Hooray! Hooray!  Locomotive by Brian Floca took the Caldecott Medal for 2014. It just happens to be my favorite picture book of 2013.

Honors were awarded to Journey by Aaron Becker

Flora and the Flamingo  by Molly Idle

and Mr. Wuffles! by David Wiesner.

One thing that is interesting to me is that all of the illustrators are also the authors of the stories. In Brian Floca’s case, that includes a written story but just because the other three books are wordless, it doesn’t mean that they don’t tell a story. Aaron Becker has a video on his website about the creation of his book Journey. Congratulations to all!

Journey

Journey is Aaron Becker’s first book. A former concept designer for movie studios,  Aaron Becker decided to do what he had been thinking about for a very long time: create a children’s book. There are no words in Journey but the story is rich and detailed. Our protagonist has no name. Everyone in her house is busy (in ways, that I fear, are all to common in 21st century households). She is bored. Looking around her room, she spies a red marker, picks it up and draws a red door on her bedroom wall. Marker in hand, she opens the door and enters a fantasy world. She comes to a stream and uses her red marker to draw herself a boat. It carries her into a medieval city with elevated waterways. To save herself from going over a waterfall, she draws herself a hot air balloon. Her flight takes her to a flying ship and danger. Will she be able to find her way home and perhaps find a friend at the end of her journey?

The detailed artwork is done in pen and ink and watercolor. My best guess is that this book has the best chance to be the Caldecott medal winner. We’ll see on January 27th.

The Sonoma County Library has several copies of Journey