Award Picks (Caldecott 2014 Version)

Spring Story Time starts up the week of February 24, but until then, we'll be updating the blog with some recommended reading lists.  Be sure to keep your eyes peeled: if you see a blue asterisk next to a suggested book, that means that that title is a patron favorite! Would you like to suggest a book for our recommended reading lists?  Just shoot us an email in the Youth Department!  We'd love to hear from you!

Check out these recommended books from the Caldecott Award list (Locomotive was the 2014 winner!), soon to be on the shelves at Ozark Regional Library!

Cover images and summaries from Goodreads.

Locomotive by Brian Floca- It is the summer of 1869, and trains, crews, and family are traveling together, riding America's brand-new transcontinental railroad. These pages come alive with the details of the trip and the sounds, speed, and strength of the mighty locomotives; the work that keeps them moving; and the thrill of travel from plains to mountain to ocean.  Come hear the hiss of the steam, feel the heat of the engine, watch the landscape race by. Come ride the rails, come cross the young country!

Journey by Aaron Becker- A lonely girl draws a magic door on her bedroom wall and through it escapes into a world where wonder, adventure, and danger abound. Red marker in hand, she creates a boat, a balloon, and a flying carpet that carry her on a spectacular journey toward an uncertain destiny. When she is captured by a sinister emperor, only an act of tremendous courage and kindness can set her free. Can it also lead her home and to her heart’s desire? With supple line, luminous color, and nimble flights of fancy, author-illustrator Aaron Becker launches an ordinary child on an extraordinary journey toward her greatest and most exciting adventure of all.

My Wuffles by David Wiesner- In a near wordless masterpiece that could only have been devised by David Wiesner, a cat named Mr. Wuffles doesn't care about toy mice or toy goldfish. He’s much more interested in playing with a little spaceship full of actual aliens—but the ship wasn't designed for this kind of rough treatment. Between motion sickness and damaged equipment, the aliens are in deep trouble. When the space visitors dodge the cat and take shelter behind the radiator to repair the damage, they make a host of insect friends. The result? A humorous exploration of cooperation between aliens and insects, and of the universal nature of communication involving symbols, “cave” paintings, and gestures of friendship.
  

Keep reading!

Shaen