My Favourite Caldecott Award Winners Quiz

Answer: Jumanji

"Jumanji" was written and illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg. He won the Caldecott Medal for the fantasy adventure picture book in 1982. The book tells the story of a brother and sister who find a game in the park. They take it home to play, but find that, with every roll of the dice, they experience a different jungle adventure.

Their house is a mess inside, but just before their parents return, they are able to end the game, clean the house, and return the game to the park. Chris Van Allsburg also won the Caldecott Medal in 1986 for "The Polar Express".

Answer: Wolf

"Where the Wild Things Are" was written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak. It tells the story of a boy named Max who misbehaves while he has his wolf costume on and is sent to his room without dinner. There, he finds himself the imaginary king of a magical jungle.

He encounters lots of wild creatures on his journey until he gets lonely and decides to return to his former life. Once he turns his imagination off and is back in his room, he finds a nice warm dinner waiting for him. The story is told mostly using pictures, with only 338 words and 40 pages in the book.

Answer: Ball

"A Ball for Daisy" was illustrated by Chris Raschka. It was published in 2011 and won the Caldecott Medal in 2012. The wordless book is about a dog named Daisy who loves her red ball. She takes it with her everywhere. One day on a walk, a brown dog accidentally punctures it, so her owner throws the deflated ball away. Daisy is very sad until one day they are out for a walk and they see the same brown dog playing with a new blue ball.

The brown dog gives Daisy the blue ball, which makes her very happy.

Answer: As big as her thumbnail

"Many Moons" was written by James Thurber and illustrated by Louis Slobodkin. Slobodkin was awarded the Caldecott Medal when the book was initially published, but it was reprinted in 1990 with illustrations by a new artist. "Many Moons" is a charming tale of wisdom. Princess Lenore becomes ill from eating too many sweet things, but she tells her father, the king, that she will get better if he will bring her the moon.

He talks with all of his supposedly wise men, but they tell him it's impossible.

The court jester talks with Lenore to find out what she thinks the moon is like. She tells him that it is made of gold and that it is as big as her thumbnail. The king has a piece of jewelry made that matches her specifications, and when she receives it, she becomes better.

Then, he worries that she will get ill again when she sees the moon rise again. His wise men come up with all kinds of ridiculous schemes to keep her from seeing the moon, but once again the jester comes to the rescue when he has a chat with her.

He discovers that she knows that the moon will come back, just like a child's tooth or flowers in the garden.

Answer: Pennsylvania Dutch

"The Egg Tree" was written and illustrated by Katherine Milhous. She used some of her own experiences from her own culture to write about two children named Katy and Carl. They visit their grandmother for a traditional Pennsylvania Dutch Easter celebration one year.

There, Katy finds some beautifully painted eggs in the attic. Her grandmother expresses her happiness at the beauty of the eggs and decides to decorate a tree with them. The two children and their cousins also decorate eggs for the tree. Decorating the Egg Tree becomes a family tradition.

Answer: 2

"Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears: A West African Tale" is a book by Verna Aardema and illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon. The Dillons shared the Caldecott Medal for this book in 1976. This story explains that a mosquito was bothering a lizard who then stuck things in its ears to avoid the sound.

The lizard's looks then scared another animal, which then caused panic down a line of animals. Eventually, an owlet is killed in the panic. This causes the owl to become so sad that it can't wake up the sun.

The animals gather to figure out who is responsible. The mosquito is discovered to be responsible, but it hides so it won't be found by the other animals. That explains why even today, it continues to buzz in peoples' ears - it is trying to find out if the animals are still angry with it.

The Dillons also won the Caldecott Medal in 1977 for "Ashanti to Zulu: African Traditions".

Answer: A zoo

"A Sick Day for Amos McGee" was written by Philip C. Stead and illustrated by his wife Erin E. Stead. Erin won the Caldecott Medal in 2011 for her pictures in this charming tale about Amos McGee. He is a very punctual caretaker at the zoo who takes extra care with some of his favourite animals.

He plays chess with the elephant, provides a hankie for the rhino with a runny nose, lets the tortoise win races, and reads to the owl who is afraid of the dark. Each animal has their own fears, but Amos helps them at the zoo. One day, he wakes up with a bad cold, so he decides to take a sick day and stay home.

His animal friends worry about him, so they travel to his house to check on him. They stay with him overnight, each overcoming their individual fears.

Then, they all travel back to the zoo together the next day.

Answer: A bear

"Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World's Most Famous Bear" was the Caldecott Medal winner in 2016. It was written by Canadian author Lindsay Mattick and illustrated by Sophie Blackall. The non-fiction book tells the story of Mattick's great-grandfather.

He was in the Canadian Army during WWI. On his way across Canada to the east coast for his overseas deployment, he found an orphaned bear on a train platform in Winnipeg that he bought for $20 (about $450 CAD in the 2020s). It travelled overseas with his regiment, but he left it with the London Zoo when they were shipped to the front in France. Once at the zoo, a young boy named Christopher Robin made friends with the bear, thus inspiring A. A. Milne to write "Winnie-the-Pooh".

The book is well-researched, and contains photos and documents at the end to support the story told in the book.

Answer: 1

Marcia Brown won the Caldecott Medal three times, in 1955, 1962, and 1983. The books that won the award in these years include "Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper", "One a Mouse", and "Shadow". She also won Caldecott Honours, or runner-up awards in 1948, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, and 1954.

Answer: New York City

"The Man Who Walked Between the Towers" is written and illustrated by Mordicai Gerstein and won the 2004 Caldecott Medal. It is a non-fiction book that tells the story of Philippe Petit, a high wire artist who strung a wire between the towers of the World Trade Centre in New York City in the early morning hours of August 7, 1974.

Then, he performed a high wire act for about an hour where he danced, jumped, and walked on the wire. He even laid down for a rest at one point. For most of his performance, police officers were on the roof of the towers trying to get him to stop.

When he was ready, he walked off the wire onto the roof where he was handcuffed and taken before a judge. The judge sentenced him to performances for children in the park.

Not only is this a delightful story, but it is also a memory of the World Trade Centre as it once existed on the New York skyline.