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Reviewed by: Taylor Coonelly, Elementary School Librarian Title: Tomfoolery! Randolph Caldecott and the Rambunctious Coming-of-Age of Children's Books
Author: Michelle Markel Illustrator: Barbara McClintock
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Year: 2023 Good for Grades: 1-5 Genre/Type of Book: Biography
Content Warnings, or things that other School Librarians should be aware of: N/A Recommended for a school library: Yes Reason(s) for choosing the book: Nominated for the CYBILS award for Elementary/Middle Grade Nonfiction
If you were tasked by the publisher with writing a short quote for the back cover of this book, what would it be:
Lets meet the man who inspired a revolution in the children's book world, and whose legacy continues to this day in name and honor.
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Review:
In the early 1800s, children's book illustrations were sparse and stiff, lacking color and movement that inspired readers. That all changed with the influence of Randolph Caldecott- a young boy whose illness couldn't stop him from spending time outdoors and drawing animals. He drew so much that his father sent him away to a sensible job at a bank at the age of 15. But Randolph's illustrating never stopped, sharing his pictures with his coworkers and selling them to magazines to be published. It wasn't until the age of 36 that Randolph considered working on children's books, where the finest printer in London noticed his talent and offered him a job. Drawing inspiration from his childhood on the farm, Randolph wrote and illustrated a book featuring movement and color, the likes of which hadn't been seen before in works of children's literature. He goes on to become a famous illustrator, laying the groundwork for all those whose art inspires them to create pictures for children's books. I really liked this story - I knew of Randolph Caldecott because of the Caldecott award, but only in name and not in understanding his life and legacy.
This book was a wonderful biographical text about a person that is incredibly important in the world of children's literature, and gives readers a look into his life. I love that the author included illustrations actually done by Randolph, as well as sourced material of children's book art before his influence. This makes the story more informational, but also allows readers to visually see the change that Caldecott's influence made. The text was easily digestible, and paired nicely with the illustrations. The back of the book contains not only biographical information about sources for Caldecott's work and the information discussed in the book, but also detailed annotations for a timeline of Caldecott's life and other books not featured that were created by Caldecott. I think that this book is wonderful for an elementary audience, and lends itself well to lessons about the Caldecott award, history, illustration and more. I know I plan to add this book into my lessons about the Caldecott award, to give my student's context as to how the award came to be!
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