Children/Young Adult Book Awards: 1970-1979

"There was a girl in the village who loved horses... She led the horses to drink at the river. She spoke softly and they followed. People noticed that she understood horses in a special way."

And so begins the story of a young Native American girl devoted to the care of her tribe's horses. With simple text and brilliant illustrations. Paul Goble tells how she eventually becomes one of them to forever run free.

In powerful words and vibrant illustrations, Donald Crews evokes the essence of inexorably rolling wheels, so that even a child not lucky enough to have counted freight cars will feel he has watched a freight train passing.

Beautiful paintings highlight a text depicting the ways various peoples from around the world welcome the sun and the start of a new day.

The bee and the fox, the sheep and the ox--two of each kind trudged aboard Noah's famous vessel. Peter Spier uses his own translation of a seventeenth-century Dutch poem about this most famous menagerie.

Once upon a time a poor unfortunate man lived with his mother, his wife, and his six children in a one-room hut.
Because they were so crowded, the children often fought and the man and his wife argued. When the poor man was unable to stand it any longer, he ran to the Rabbi for help.
As he follows the Rabbi's unlikely advice, the poor man's life goes from bad to worse, with increasingly uproarious results. In his little hut, silly calamity follows foolish catastrophe, all memorably depicted in full-color illustrations that are both funnier and lovelier than any this distinguished artist has done in the past.

The word itself conjures up mystery, romance, intrigue, and grandeur. What could be more perfect for an author/illustrator who has continually stripped away the mystique of architectural structures that have long fascinated modern man? With typical zest and wry sense of humor punctuating his drawings, David Macaulay traces the step-by-step planning and construction of both castle and town.

Explains some traditions and customs of 26 African tribes beginning with letters from A to Z.

It's a bright and beautiful spring day, and Pearl, a pig, is dawdling on her way home from school. Most unexpectedly, she strikes up an acquaintance with a small bone. "You talk?" says Pearl. "In any language," says the bone. "And I can imitate any sound there is." (Its former owner was a witch.) Pearl and the bone immediately take a liking to each other, and before you know it she is on her way home with the bone in her purse, left open so they can continue their conversation. Won't her parents be surprised when she introduces her talking bone!
But before that happy moment comes, the resourceful bone must deal with a band of highway robbers in Halloween masks and, worse, a fox who decides that Pearl will be his main course at dinner that night. And deal it does, with gambits droll and thrilling.

Two robbers, Hmayag and Hrahad, meet by accident under a pomegranate tree, each having decided it was time for lunch. To their amazement, they find their "bokhjahs" contain identical lunches. It does not take long before they discover that they are engaged to the same girl, Ehleezah, who, of course, prepared the food for each of them. Since neither robber is willing to give her up, they agree to hold a contest with Ehleezah as the prize. The one who proves himself the cleverer at his trade will be the winner. The resulting trials are truly a test of theives. But the outcome is not what the robbers had intended, nor does the story end as the reader might expect. Nonny Hogrogian has used the intricate, highly decorative motifs of Oriental rugs to frame her pictures, and has placed brilliant black and white drawings to create a dazzling stage set for Hmayag's and Hrahad's good-natured rivalry and skillful sleight of hand.

Describes Grandmother's typical day of fishing.

Retold from traditional sources and accompanied by David Wisniewski's unique cut-paper illustrations, Golem is a dramatic tale of supernatural forces invoked to save an oppressed people. It also offers a thought-provoking look at the consequences of unleashing power beyond human control. The afterword discusses the legend of the golem and its roots in the history of the Jews.

Rudy's only dream is to fly like a hawk over Santos Mountain, and in an unusual way he makes his dream come true. "A sharp, fleeting dream in the sun--and Baylor's controlled lift and flow carries it off".--Kirkus Reviews.

Mosquito tells a story that causes a jungle disaster. "Elegance has become the Dillons' hallmark. . . . Matching the art is Aardema's uniquely onomatopoeic text . . . An impressive showpiece."
-Booklist, starred review.

"Baylor tells us about the desert, describing selected flora and fauna, and respectfully paying tribute to the Desert People who know its secrets and would live nowhere else . . . A striking mood piece".--Booklist.

In his Caldecott Honor book, dePaolo tells the story of Strega Nona, who is the source for potions, cures, magic, and comfort in her Calabrian town. When Strega Nona leaves him alone with her magic pasta pot, Big Anthony is determined to show the townspeople how it works.

Explains how the spirit of the Lord of the Sun was brought to the world of men.

Presents a word, with English translation, for each of the twenty-four letters in the Swahili alphabet. Brief explanation of each word introduces an East African custom.

Duffy and the Devilwas a popular play in Cornwall in the nineteenth century, performed at the Christmas season by groups of young people who went from house to house. The Zemachs have interpreted the folk tale which the play dramatized, recognizable as a version of the widespread Rumpelstiltskin story. Its main themes are familiar, but the character and details of this picture book are entirely Cornish, as robust and distinctive as the higgledy-piggledy, cliff-hanging villages that dot England's southwesterncoast from Penzance to Land's End.

This richly illustrated book shows the intricate step-by-step process of a cathedral's growth.

"Comically oblivious to the array of softly camouflaged animals around them, three nattily attired, incompetent huntsmen make their way through a shadowy forest and an open field".--Booklist.

While chasing a dumpling, a little lady is captured by wicked creatures from whom she escapes with the means of becoming the richest woman in Japan.

In this traditional tale from West Africa, Anansi, the Spider, sets out on a long journey. Threatened by Fish and Falcon, he is saved from terrible fates by his sons. But which of his six sons should he reward? The color, splendid design montage, and the authentic African language rhythms forge a new direction in picture books for children.

A full-page illustration of a creature for each letter of the alphabet, including a bumptious baboon, furious fly, ghastly garrulous gargoyle, and quintessential quail.

Pieces of broken pots are scattered over the desert hillsides of the Southwest. The Indians there treat them with respect -- "Every piece of clay is a piece of someone's life," they say. And the children try to imagine those lives that took place in the desert they think of as their own. Clay has its own small voice, and sings. Its song has lasted for thousands of years.

Retells the tale of the beautiful princess whose lips were red as blood, skin was white as snow, and hair was as black as ebony.

A delightful telling makes this story of a greedy fox's adventure as catchy as a nursery rhyme. Crisp, happy pictures add to the fun. Inspired by an Armenian folktale, the rhythmic, cumulative text will have small listeners "reading along" and matching words to pictures well before the story is ended.

What if all the seas were one sea? And what if a tree made up of all the trees in the world fell into the sea? Janina Domanska shows readers exactly what would happen in this 1972 Caldecott Honor classic. Her boldly designed and exciting etchings add wonder, humor, and suspense to a favorite nursery rhyme.

An old woman named Hildilid lives high in the hills and hates the night above all things. She tries capturing the night in a sack, tying it up with vines, shaking her fist at it, but the night takes no notice--until it disappears.

"Primarily a Swahili counting book, Moja Means One is also meant to be a gift of heritage, a glimpse of what is unique about East Africa."--School Library Journal.

Once, all the stories in the world belonged to Nyame, the Sky God. He kept them in a box beside his throne. But Ananse, the Spider man, wanted them -- and caught three sly creatures to get them.

This story of how we got our own stories to tell is adapted from an African folktale.

An Indian girl insults the moon and is held prisoner by him until her friend reaches the sky country to rescue her.

From writing letters to going swimming, telling stories to finding lost buttons, Frog and Toad are always there for each other—just as best friends should be.

A young boy named Mickey sleeps in his bed when he is disturbed by noise on a lower floor. Suddenly, he begins to float, and all of his clothes disappear as he drifts into a surreal world called the "Night Kitchen".
He falls into a giant mixing pot that contains the batter for the "morning cake". While Mickey is buried in the mass, three identical bakers (who closely resemble Oliver Hardy) mix the batter and prepare it for baking, unaware (or unconcerned) that there is a little boy inside. Just before the baking pan is placed into the oven, the boy emerges from the pan, protesting that he is not the batter's milk.
To make up for the baking ingredient deficiency, Mickey (now covered in batter from the neck down) constructs an airplane out of bread dough so he can fly to the mouth of a gigantic milk bottle. Upon reaching the bottle's opening, he dives in and briefly revels in the liquid. After his covering of batter disintegrates, he pours the needed milk in a cascade down to the bakers who joyfully finish making the morning cake.
With dawn breaking, the naked Mickey crows like a rooster and slides down the bottle to magically return to his bed. Everything is back to normal, beyond the happy memory of his experience.

Sylvester the donkey finds a magic pebble and unthinkingly wishes himself a rock when frightened by a lion. Although safe from the lion, Sylvester cannot hold the pebble to wish himself into a donkey again.

Everyone loves Willy the wind-up mouse, while Alexander the real mouse is chased away with brooms and mousetraps. Wouldn't it be wonderful to be loved and cuddled, thinks Alexander, and he wishes he could be a wind-up mouse too. In this gentle fable about a real mouse and a mechanical mouse, Leo Lionni explores the magic of friendship.

A well-loved character, a familiar childhood situation, and an urban setting are the components of this winning picture book, one of Keats?s best.? -- Booklist

Obadiah, a young Quaker boy living in colonial Nantucket, is constantly followed by a sea gull that he wishes would leave him alone. When it does leave, he wants it back.

Anxious prisoner after anxious prisoner echoes and embellishes this cry, but always in vain. The fiery old Judge, impatient with such foolish nonsense, calls them scoundrels, ninnyhammers, and throws them all in jail. But in the end, Justice is done--and the Judge is gone. Head first!

A verse tale of how Pop Corn and Ma Goodness met, married, built a house, and had a family.