Abraham Lincoln, the 1940 Caldecoot Medal Book by Ingri and Edgar Parin d’Aulaire, expertly tells of Lincoln’s story allows children to relate to this American icon. The illustrations in d’Aulaire’s book alternate color with black and white on facing pages.
Caldecott Criteria:
1. “Excellence of execution in the artistic technique employed.” – Absolutely fascinating, detailed, and beautiful pictures! The color pages are bright and eye-catching.
2. “Excellence of pictorial interpretation of story, theme, or concept.” – Each aspect of the story is pictured either in a large page-sized print or smaller insets. Some of the questions my children asked were specifically answered by the illustrations.
3.“Appropriateness of style of illustration to the story, theme or concept.” – The folk art-type illustrations appropriately depict the country life of this man.
4.“Delineation of plot, theme, characters, setting, mood or information through the pictures.” – All of these criteria are more than satisfied. I found it poignant that the last page does not discuss Lincoln’s assassination, but simply says that he sat down in his rocking chair. The illustration clearly shows him seated in a setting reminiscent of a theater box in a rocking chair just as he was when he was shot.
5.“Excellence of presentation in recognition of a child audience.” – While this book was a bit long for my younger children, my 5-year old loved the entire book and was captivated by the illustrations.
littlebooksontheprairie
littlebooksontheprairie 