Locomotive by Brian Floca is this year’s Caldecott Winner! Awarded annually to the to artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children, this year’s 2014 Caldecott Winner should be at the top of your summer reading list.
Picture books are a marvel for adults and children alike, thrilling our imaginations like little else can. Don’t worry about text, just let yourself melt into another time and place with Brian’s spectacular illustrations.
Take some time to check out the runner-ups to from your local library.
2014 Medal Winner
Locomotive, illustrated by Brian Floca
All aboard! Accompany a family on an unforgettable weeklong train trip from Omaha to Sacramento in 1869. Brian Floca’s dramatic watercolor, ink, acrylic and gouache illustrations incorporate meticulously-researched portraits of the train, the travelers and the crew as they traverse the American landscape on the new transcontinental railroad.
2014 Honor Books
Journey, written and illustrated by Aaron Becker and published by Candlewick Press
Finding a magical red crayon, a bored and lonely girl draws a new door on her bedroom wall that leads her to a wondrous but perilous new world. Her drab, sepia-toned, humdrum reality gives way to sumptuous, lushly-hued watercolor and pen and ink landscapes.
Flora and the Flamingo, written and illustrated by Molly Idle
The budding relationship between an awkward young girl and a graceful flamingo is revealed through carefully orchestrated flaps.
Mr. Wuffles! written and illustrated by David Wiesner
Mr. Wuffles finds a new toy that is actually a tiny spaceship in this nearly wordless science fiction tale of epic and miniature proportions.
