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February 14, 2008
I Just Wrote a Long Entry About How Excited I Am About the Cybils and the Way Lightship Won the Nonfiction Picture Book Category...
...and then my computer ate it.
Here’s a slightly shorter and less effusive version: find the complete award announcements here.
I have been waiting since Monday to tell you that Lightship by Brian Floca won in the Nonfiction Picture Book category. (Remember how I was on the judging panel? Of course you do.) I am so excited about this! I’d never heard of lightships before I first read Lightship earlier this year, and I found the whole idea fascinating. Since then, I even saw a real, live lightship on my trip to Baltimore. (I was all like, “Jason! Jason! Look! A lightship! Just like in the book!” And he was all like, “What are you talking about? That’s the National Aquarium.” And I was all like, “No, not that. THAT.”) Part of what drew me to the book (and part of what draws kids in as well) is the inherent coolness of things that float, but Floca makes the most of his subject. The endpapers feature lovingly detailed and labeled cutaways of the ship. Floca’s spare, poetic text begins by telling us many things about the ship: that she “holds her place,” that she has a captain and a crew, that she waits. Each page tells us more about life on the ship, but Floca holds the ship’s true purpose until the last pages. The text is simple enough to read to a four-year-old, but there is plenty here for older kids, too. While younger readers will enjoy following the ship’s cat from spread to spread, older readers will appreciate details such as the member of the lightship’s crew who curses (“#@*%&!”) at a much larger ship that sails too close.
All of our finalists in this category were awesome, and the deliberation process was kind of like picking your favorite child, but I am all enthusiasm for this book. Yay, Lightship!
While I’m at it, I thought I should mention that WPL just got in the Spoken Arts Media’s animated version of Lightship, which is very nicely done. It begins with some video of the Ambrose, the real ship Floca used as a model for his illustrations, and then it moves into an introduction by Floca himself.
Last, here’s the book trailer:
Posted by adrienne at February 14, 2008 09:12 PM
Comments
Adrienne, the next time you're in NYC, you can see the actual lightship! It's at the South Street Seaport.
Posted by: Susan T. at February 15, 2008 08:48 AM
Yes, I am very hopeful that I will be visiting NYC and the Ambrose in May. More info on that soon, I hope!
Posted by: adrienne at February 15, 2008 05:07 PM