We’ve been to some very fine secondhand bookstores over the past several months — I’ve mentioned Powell’s, which carries both new and secondhand books, and we’ve made repeated trips to Bookman’s in Tucson and some in Austin I’ve forgotten the name of. I don’t really “collect” children’s books, rather I buy what interests me. I’d like to collect all the Caldecott Medals and Honors but I haven’t committed to that in a focused way. I have most from the mid 1980s on but almost none from the early years, though some of my recent purchases have given me a good start.

I’d never seen these three titles before:
Baboushka and the Three Kings by Ruth Robbins and illustrated by Nicolas Sidjakov

The art and design are stunning and unusual; the illustrations possess both a folk and modern feel. Caldecott Medal 1961

       Nueve dias para Navidad by Marie Hall Ets

This Spanish language edition of Nine Days Before Christmas has distinctive art with a limited palette. Caldecott Medal 1960

Hildild’s Night by Cheli Duran Ryan and illustrated by Arnold Lobel
Very effective use of black and white and lines; use of lines in the final pages reminds me of House in the Night, the 2009 Caldecott Medal winner. Caldecott Honor 1972

And I picked up copies of these titles too:
Always Room for One More, by Sorche Nic Leodhas and illlustrated by Nonny Hogrogian, Caldecott Medal 1966
The Story of Jumping Mouse: A Native American Legend, retold and illustrated by John Steptoe, Caldecott Honor 1985
Charlotte and the White Horse by Ruth Krauss and illustrated Maurice Sendak
Mother Crocodile, translated and adapted by Rosa Guy and illustrated by John Steptoe
The Hunter and the Animals by Tomie dePaola