Favorite Caldecott Books 1970-1979

With two boys in the house, we have owned multiple copies of this book because we kept wearing it out.

My boys relished learning what the different train cars were called while also learning their colors.

Description: Red caboose at the back, orange tank car, green cattle car, purple box car, black tender and a black steam engine freight train.

The powerful words evoke 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.

I originally checked this book out at the library, having absolutely no idea how much my son would fall in love with it.

I think he gets caught up in the fanciful idea that someone could turn into something they truly love.

Description: 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.

Strega Nona is one of our all-time favorite books.

We have read this one a thousand times and have listened to the wonderfully produced audio CD in the car just as many times as well.

Description: Strega Nona — “Grandma Witch” — is the source for potions, cures, magic, and comfort in her Calabrian town.

Her magical ever-full pasta pot is especially intriguing to hungry Big Anthony.

He is supposed to look after her house and tend her garden but one day, when she goes over the mountain to visit Strega Amelia, Big Anthony recites the magic verse over the pasta pot, with disastrous results.

I remember this book being one of my favorites as a child and was so thrilled when my boys took to Frog and Toad as well.

Description: 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.

Leo Lionni is one of our all-time favorite authors!

We fell in love with Alexander and his fanciful wish to become something other than an ordinary mouse.

Description: 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.