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This year's Caldecott winner! |
With Cherokee words sprinkled throughout the book, Andrea L. Rogers tells a family story many will see as familiar. If a family with an older sibling is trying to get along with a way younger one, like Chooch, this is their story! It's a loving Cherokee family story where dear young, just-turned-two Chooch wants to do everything. See that cover! Older sister Sissy doesn't like it that no matter what he does, her parents continue to say he's simply "helping", even when he's messing something up. The last straw, after a number of other events, Chooch tries to help Sissy make a pinch pot, and she yells, "Hesdi!" (Quit it!) It isn't a happy scene, but I imagine others will see it as a familiar clash and a problem that must be solved. And they do it with love, all together. When you read, you'll see why the Caldecott win as you view the gorgeous collaged pages by Rebecca Lee Kunz. In her note, she shares the various tribal elements she has woven in her art.