Lori Swope

This is an excellent book to read for students to understand the difference between prediction and inference... where is papa? Students will work with their own schema for that one!

Posted : Jan 14, 2017 01:05

Martha V. Parravano

So nice to hear from you, Alec! Thanks for your astute comments. Yes, it's like Bagley used a new medium for the book: Xtreme watercolor. And it works perfectly. All the comments here have given me a deeper appreciation for BOATS FOR PAPA. Who knows? a similar thing might be happening with the actual committee :)

Posted : Nov 09, 2015 04:43

Alec Chunn

Joining this discussion a bit late, but I think it's never too late to talk shop about picture books! At first, I resisted this title because it does have that adult sensibility. But there are two aspects of the illustration that I can't get over: (1) The way that the watercolor bleeds on some pages. It almost looks like someone cried on the book and adds a melancholy tone to the art that is also woven into the text. (2) That double page spread where Buckley is showing Mama all the schematics for the boats and the border is faintly in the shape of a beaver. It's like he's symbolically reconstructing his Papa with these boats. So beautiful. I'm excited about this book's award potential (especially since Bagley is from the PNW!). Thanks for posting.

Posted : Nov 08, 2015 06:48

Josh Funk

So I stumbled across this on BOATS FOR PAPA author Jessixa Bagley's website (see full post here: http://jessixabagley.blogspot.com/2015/10/intentions.html ): "I genuinely created this book with children in mind. I myself was basically Buckley, and I know there are many children out there who have absence in their life. I felt so different from others because my father wasn't there everyday. But my mother was-something I only began to realize and appreciate the depth of once I became an adult. So by sharing my story, I hoped to create something that would make a child connect to the content in some way-so that they would feel safe and loved and not alone. Absence takes so many shapes and means different things for everyone, and maybe some young children don't have personal experience with it, but knowing you have love still around you is something I feel that every child (and adult) can benefit from. And hopefully creates conversations about compassion for others who do have personal experience with it. So I hoped that even if absence isn't a connection for the reader, that love is. The overwhelming byproduct of this book touching adults in an emotional way has been beautiful, but wasn't the motivation for the work. I honestly had no clue that adults would feel so strongly about it. I felt I had created something that was touching, and I hope that everyone who reads it at least understands its heart in some way, but adults weren't the target at all. I just got a letter from a friend who shared that he wished he had this book when he lost his father when he was 6. And so many others have shared they felt a level of personal healing from reading it and yes- these were adults. But another friend says every time they read the book and they get to the part when Buckley thanks his mama, he turns around and kisses her! And I just read a Facebook post about a friend of a friend who's son "finally connected with a book about grief" and he asked her to read it twice and then he made a boat. I totally lost it. I understand that a child emotional depth is different than an adult-but something made him feel and connect when he read it. And that is what I am so humbled and honored to be apart of. Whether I'm helping the 6 year old in real life or the 6 year old inside an adult, I can't tell you how much that touches my soul." For me, the mother son relationship is what hits home. The larger, more important theme that I can't directly associate with is the single-parent home. There are very few picture books with this topic, but certainly MANY children living this life - including the author (yes, Llama Llama exists, but that theme is not the focal point of the series). Bagley manages to tell this story with such depth on multiple emotional levels. And as far as Caldecott is concerned, she does it with the eye, brush, and heart of a talented and finely trained artist.

Posted : Oct 07, 2015 04:59

Josh Funk

I agree, I think Waiting is perfectly paced. In some ways, And yet sometimes I think the pages of Waiting could be rearranged in any order and it would still work well. I'm a sucker for inanimate objects books (reminded me of Edward Tulane, as I'm sure it did for many). I think part of my attraction to Boats for Papa might also be that I may have some underlying Mommy issues which I need to work out on a personal level. Rarely do I find books that give me chills like this one does. Zen Ghosts, The Gardener - for me, these are a rare breed.

Posted : Oct 06, 2015 07:14

Martha V. Parravano

Hi, Josh. You are of course correct that a picture book is a picture book is a picture book, regardless of child appeal. This one has both child and adult appeal -- and there is a long history of such books winning the Caldecott. (See KT Horning's article in her series about Caldecott winners through the decades https://www.hbook.com/2013/11/choosing-books/horn-book-magazine/hey-al-and-the-quirky-choice/) I do think child appeal IS something the committee considers, which is why I brought it up. But as I also said, the illustrations and how they work with the story are the primary consideration. Committee members past and present, please correct me if I am wrong! As to your "pacing" comment: see Eric's comment above for an alternate interpretation to mine, which I found very helpful. I imagine such give-and-take on interpretations about such things are common on the Real Committee -- which is after all what we are trying to model here. And as I said, i admire the deliberateness of the pacing in Boats for Papa. It's appropriate for the story. As it is for Waiting.

Posted : Oct 06, 2015 04:29

Sam Juliano

They are indeed beavers. I am losing it.

Posted : Oct 05, 2015 10:50

Christine Sarmel

I understand all of the love this book gets, but in terms of bestowing my entirely-imaginary personal Caldecott, this wouldn't be the book. My students don't entirely grasp CREEPY CARROTS (to continue the example from above), but they love it. This book doesn't function the same way in front of children. That being said, it speaks to adults and the panel is comprised of adults. So, maybe...

Posted : Oct 05, 2015 09:55

Josh Funk

So, according to ala.org: A “picture book for children” is one for which children are an intended potential audience. There should be no argument about this fact regarding BOATS FOR PAPA. So despite the fact that it has an adult sensibility, that shouldn't matter. There are undoubtedly many examples of former Caldecott Medal winning and honored books where much of the story or art goes way over children's heads. Do kids understand the noir-style referenced in Creepy Carrots? Probably few to none. Did that stop it from winning an honor? No. Do kids understand living with a single parent? Certainly more than few to none. (note: I love Creepy Carrots) As far as pacing goes, I'm curious as to what you think of WAITING....

Posted : Oct 05, 2015 08:34

Eric Carpenter

I really like this book, though it worked better with adults than the young kindergarten class I read it to a few weeks ago. Martha, you state that we don't get to the "meat" of the book until the small vignettes of Buckley building things. I disagree. I think we get to the meat of the book on the first page of text. "Buckely and his mama lived in a small wooden house by the sea. They didn't have much, but they always had each other." Leading up to this text (if you include the end papers) we have 3 spreads of the shore. The end papers show the drift wood, the title page spread "zooms out" showing us the Buckley and his mother making sand castles together on the beach, the copyright info and dedication occupy one last wordless spread showing mother and son waking back to their tiny wooden house on the beach, after this spread we have an almost entirely white page, except for a shell and starfish. Opposite this blank space we have a scene of mother and son eating a meal accompanied by the above text. If you look at the wall we see a family portrait in an oval frame. Father, mother, and a much younger Buckley. This small portrait of a familial whole is, in my opinion, the "meat of the book". The absence of the titular Papa is shown, not told, in an extremely elegant way. And I assume that the characters are beavers because Bagley is from Oregon home of the Oregon State Beavers.

Posted : Oct 05, 2015 07:45

Martha V. Parravano

Just a reminder that the characters are beavers, not bears. And in answer to my query above, Jessixa Bagley tweeted: "Why Beavers? Because they use wood for eating and building — so they seemed like natural..." Makes sense :) Thanks, Ms. Bagley!

Posted : Oct 05, 2015 07:38

Sam Juliano

Yes an absolutely stunning debut and a book that well deserves to be discussed in the Caldecott equation. It is never easy for a first-time illustrator to gain committee acceptance, but it has happened numerous times, most recently in the case of Aaron Becker. This book has the poise, confidence and aesthetic beauty that I though was missing in last year's THREE BEARS IN A BOAT, though I do respect those who feel otherwise. This review is meticulously wrought and wholly passionate and certainly a great companion piece to the book itself. I completely agree that the ink and watercolor here is stunning, and the end papers are sublime. I was first alerted to this in one of Betsey Bird's Caldecott prediction posts in late summer, and I immediately secured a copy from our library system. I ordered my own copy last week from amazon. My wife loves picture book about bears so this is a big winner for us. Just so incredible assured.

Posted : Oct 05, 2015 04:35