Caldecott Monday: Finders Keepers

[osprey_archer]

Who decided that mustard yellow and red would make an appealing color palette for a children's book? These colors, with a liberal addition of black and white, make up the illustrations in Finders Keepers, which bafflingly won the 1952 Caldecott award with this hideous combination.

All the other Caldecott books I've been able to check out of local libraries, but this one I had to interlibrary loan. I can see why.

I didn't much like the story either. Two dogs find a bone and can't figure out which should have it. They ask a farmer for advice, and he says he'll give it to them if they help him move his cart; they help, and he goes on his merry way. Ditto a goat and a barber (who gives them hideous haircuts and still can't tell them how to divide the bone.) At last a big dog arrives and tries to steal it, and the two dogs fight him off and settle down content to share.

So... I guess the point is that everyone is untrustworthy and will take advantage of your aid without so much as giving you advice on how to share a bone? That's uninspiring.

Comments

[evelyn-b.livejournal.com]

I decided to look this one up, and just based on the cover, I can see it appealing to child!me - it's scruffy and ugly in a way I liked as a kid and it has a lot of energy, even with those dogs just sitting there. Of course, I couldn't find any pictures of the inside of the book.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

My copy did not have the dust jacket, so perhaps that is what went wrong here. I looked at the ugly bare board covers and it prejudiced me!

Alternatively, I was never a big fan of the scruffy & ugly style of art, so maybe the book was just never for me.