Picture Books Edited by Patricia Lee Gauch
Caldecott Winners and Honor Caldecott
Owl Moon by Jane Yolen and John Schoenherr: I liked Jane Yolen’s Owl Moon for its lucidity and sheer beauty of her almost hai ku like words. I first contacted Ian Schoenherr, a young artist whom I had taught in high school years before, to illustrate it. Immersed in college studies, he gave the manuscript to his father renown illustrator John Schoenherr, who fell in love with the story.
(Caldecott Medal Winner: 1988)
Lon Po Po by Ed Young: Ed Young had illustrated Yeh Shen, a Chinese Cinderella, by Aaie Ling Luie, and wanted a second Chinese folktale. In choosing Lon Po Po, Ed realized that elements were different from the Western tale. Three Red Riding Hoods instead of one. The wolf coming in disguise to the children’s home when father had journeyed briefly away. This Caldecott winner is full of Youngish games; look for the wolf hidden in the tree, his teeth in the branches. I felt that Ed’s dedication at the front of the book was as powerful as his art: “To all the wolves of the world for lending their good name as a tangible symbol for our darkness.”
(Caldecott Medal Winner: 1990)
So You Want to Be President by Judith St. George, illustrated by David Small: Judy St. George and I had been friends ever since we were both members of the Jean Fritz Writers’ Workshop, but we hadn’t worked as editor and writer. When she shared this idea with me as friend, I thought: picture book! No one else but the great David Small would do; he surprised and delighted me and his art director Semadar Megged with the outrageous whimsy of his political cartoonry.
(Caldecott Medal Winner: 2001)
Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young: Retold from the Aesop’s Blind Man and the Elephant tale, this Caldecott Honor Book is an almost perfect picture book. Everything in balance, art and text. Wonderfully original. It is one of my all time favorites, but it was denied the top honor because, it was rumored, someone on the Caldecott committee did not like to see the heroine as a white mouse!
(Caldecott Honor: 1993)