Caldecott MEDAL ACCEPTANCE SPEECH

Hello, hello, hello!

Members of the 2019 Caldecott com- mittee, my agents, my family, fellow authors and illustrators, publishers, li- brarians, beacons of the community—

As the 2019 Caldecott committee gathered around a phone, early on a cold January morning in Seattle, I was having dinner in sultry Myan- mar, trying not to picture them. But I couldn’t help it. I liked the look of them all, in my mind, about to de- liver news to change a life. And then, like some kind of dream, my phone Sophie Blackall received the buzzed. 2019 (Randolph) Caldecott Medal for Hello Lighthouse (Little, My phone. This was not supposed to Brown/Hachette). She delivered happen. her acceptance remarks at the Newbery-Caldecott-Legacy From seven thousand miles away I Banquet on Sunday, June 23, heard the crackling committee and then I remembered how I felt when 2019, during the American the word medal, and the first thing my second child, Eggy, was born. I Library Association Annual out of my mouth was . . . didn’t, for a minute, offer to give my Conference. son back. His arrival was every bit as Oh no. miraculous and joyful and distinct as it had been with my first child, Olive. No. (Later, when Eggy was three, and I was trying to sound professional on No. the phone with my first editor, Vic- toria Rock, and Eggy was under my Followed by, Are you sure about this? desk in a cardboard-box bumper car, gleefully ramming my shins, then, I hate to tell you, but I tried to give for a split second, I considered giving the thing back. him back. But only for a second.)

As the news of this second Caldecott I also realized with a thud how rude sank in, I kept thinking, No one de- it was to question the judgment of serves this much good fortune. And the committee. Mary Fellows and

For more information about Sophie Blackall is an Australian-born illustrator based in New York. She has illus- the Caldecott Medal, visit trated over 45 books for children, including Finding Winnie: The True Story of the http://bit.ly/caldecott-medal. World’s Most Famous Bear, the 2016 Caldecott Medal winner, the bestselling Ivy and Bean series, and Ruby’s Wish, which won the Ezra Jack Keats Award. Her first book for adults, Missed Connections: Love, Lost & Found, was named one of the Best Art and Design Books of 2011 on brainpickings.org. Blackall lives in Brooklyn with her family. Caldecott MEDAL ACCEPTANCE SPEECH

the fourteen other committee mem- people said, “Your cup runneth over,” 2019 CALDECOTT bers spent an entire year poring over it sounded the tiniest bit like a rep- HONOR BOOKS picture books. And what a year for rimand. As though I had chosen an picture books! And they chose Hello inappropriately sized cup, and now I Lighthouse for the medal. For which was making a mess on the floor. I am, after my initial shock, pro- foundly grateful. So I decided to look to my forebears to see how previous medalists man- It’s especially wonderful to be in aged their good fortune. Washington, DC, tonight, to cheer on Meg Medina, to celebrate the legacy I went right back to the beginning, to The Rough Patch of Walter Dean Myers, and to be hon- 1938 when the first Caldecott Medal Brian Lies ored alongside Brian Lies, Grace Lin, was awarded, and proceeded to Illus. by the author Juana Martinez-Neal, and Oge Mora. read all eighty-one speeches. (Well, Greenwillow/HarperCollins I couldn’t read Stephen Gammell’s, And yet, when someone says, “Hey! I the infamous speech that was never hear you won the Caldecott!” I wince written down, so eighty.) in response, as though they’ve said, “Hey! I hear you accidentally killed a Many winners wished they could horse!” skip the speech, or draw it instead, but besides that most were sur- Australians, as a rule, don’t like prised, pleased, and grateful. showoffs. When I told my mother that I had won the 2016 Caldecott for A few clearly thought it was long Finding Winnie, she chastised me for overdue . . . bragging. And then there were the women. Australians are trained to be self- * * * A Big Mooncake for Little Star deprecating. We save others the Grace Lin trouble of discovering our flaws by Hello, Dorothy P. Lathrop. Virginia Illus. by the author presenting them with a list when we Lee Burton. Elizabeth Orton Jones. Little, Brown/Hachette meet. Especially if we are women. * * *

In 2013, when Susan Rich wrote to Eighteen solo women have won the me with the manuscript of Finding Caldecott Medal in eighty-two years. Winnie, before accepting I asked I was very interested in the women; whether she should perhaps con- and especially the working mothers; sider Brian Floca? Because Brian is and particularly the working, single really good at drawing trains. mothers; and most-particularly the working, single mother who won This year, the Caldecott attention two Caldecotts, my hero, Barbara made me uncomfortable. I was Cooney. But it was Marcia Brown, acutely aware of the many illustrators who writes so eloquently in each of who made beautiful, award-deserv- her three acceptance speeches about ing books in 2018, and I felt their dis- the challenge and responsibility, appointment. Also, I had it on good peril and heartache, of artistic pro- authority from Chris Raschka that cess, who stopped me in my tracks. nobody likes a two-time medalist. Al- She writes about the artist in the though he seems pretty likable. And third person, using the pronoun “he.” maybe I was imagining it, but when Caldecott MEDAL ACCEPTANCE SPEECH

The Caldecott women had a way of * * * 2019 CALDECOTT distancing themselves from their Hello, Grace Lin. Oge Mora. Juana HONOR BOOKS achievements, which I found heart- Martinez-Neal. breaking—and familiar. Hello, Yuyi Morales. Melissa Sweet. Most lighthouse keepers were men. Cece Bell. But some of them were women. Women in lighthouses did all the * * * same work as the men. They tended In the past twenty years, only three the light, rescued sailors in storms, women have won Caldecott Medals. and scraped ice off the lantern-room And men have won nearly two-thirds windows. They also cleaned and of the Honors. This year the Calde- cooked and bore children. Alma and How She Got Her Name cott numbers are different. Also, this Juana Martinez-Neal year there are 131 women serving in Most Caldecott winners are men. Illus. by the author Congress. This past year, even though But some of them are women. Wom- Candlewick Wikipedia hadn’t previously thought en who make books do all the same her noteworthy enough for an entry, work as the men. They delve deep a woman, Donna Strickland, won into research, they paint through the Nobel Prize in Physics. There is the night, and they wrestle with revi- change in the air. It is time for wom- sions. They also clean and cook and en to allow themselves pride in their bear children. achievements, to talk about their work in the first person—and use And remember birthdays and booster whichever pronoun is right for them. shots, and to change the oil in the car. * * * * * * Hello, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Jacinda Hello, Margot Zemach. Trina Schart Ardern. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Hyman. Mary Azarian. * * * * * * Hello Lighthouse is dedicated to Su- In a Q&A at a recent school visit, a san Rich—editor, friend, beacon of student raised her hand and said, “I light. Before I had drawn a single line have something to say and a ques- of Finding Winnie, I was already talk- Thank You, Omu! tion: I didn’t know girls could be ing to Susan about Hello Lighthouse. Oge Mora authors; and also, how does it feel I thought, There is something special Illus. by the author to hold a medal in each of your own about this woman. She is brilliant Little, Brown/Hachette hands?” I thought of Marcia Brown and wise and wickedly funny—she il- and I looked this child in the eye luminates everything in her path. She without wincing and said, “Girls Can makes me a better writer, a better il- Do Anything. And I’ll let you know in lustrator, and a better person. I hope June.” we get to work together until our hands and minds and hearts give out. I’m crushed when I meet girls who are unaware of their potential or While it seemed at times as though when I’m told I’m the first female we were in our own world, discuss- picture-book author or illustrator to ing small things (like fog bell mecha- visit a school. We are in a golden age nisms and lighthouse tender sched- for picture books, and many of them ules) and big things (like love and are being made by women. Caldecott MEDAL ACCEPTANCE SPEECH loss and hope and change), no two ous, constructive criticism; loyal ca- the Virginia Children’s Book Festival people are an island. In our case we maraderie; whiskey and cake. in a county where one in five adults had the extraordinary design and can’t read. The children I met in Con- production team at Little, Brown A lighthouse is built on the same go who are hoping the measles virus behind us, supporting our uncom- dangerous rocks it is designed to doesn’t pass through their village mon trim size, gatefold, case cover; warn against. Half of the building is before the vaccine reaches them, finding the perfect combination of done under water. A sudden storm and the young people I hope to work paper and ink to achieve stormy- can wash all efforts to sea. Making with in Nepal who, with astounding dark skies and barely there fog; and a picture book is not dissimilar. It’s courage and creativity, are protest- working tirelessly in pursuit of the hard, hard work to create a world ing being forced into marriage, some finest stamping of gold foil. I thank from a blank page. It is much harder of them at the age of five. everyone at Little, Brown, including to build something than it is to tear Dave Caplan, Nicole Brown, Erika it down. But with Hello Lighthouse, With any book, the very first chil- Schwartz, and Ruiko Tokunaga; also once I realized that the lighthouse dren I think of are my own, because Nikki Garcia, Kristina Pisciotta, An- was constant and steadfast and I couldn’t make books without them. drea Spooner, Megan Tingley, and must remain in place on the spread There were many years when Olive Victoria Stapleton, who loves me in while weather and seasons and time and Eggy and I were on our own. Like spite of everything. passed it by, and when I realized Barbara Cooney, I worked on books that the lives lived within the round at the kitchen table while my chil- * * * rooms of a tower were lives like any dren did their homework, and I car- Hello, Ekua Holmes. Carson Ellis. Mi- others, filled with love and friend- ried on late into the night after they chaela Goade. ship, birth and death, grief and joy slept. They were understanding and in expanding circles, then I entered a supportive, thoughtful and encour- Hello, Barbara McClintock. Marla kind of painting trance, transported aging, wise beyond their years and Frazee. LeUyen Pham. to a remote island in the middle of entertaining beyond belief. Also like an imaginary sea. Outside, in 2017, Barbara Cooney, I have known the * * * post-election, a storm was raging, joy of falling in love a second time If it gets to 1:00 p.m. in the studio and I was more grateful than ever for and expanding my family. Olive and I share in Brooklyn and nobody beacons. Eggy and Jack and Bea have grown has yet mentioned food, Rowboat up together, into the finest young * * * Watkins will send us all a text in people I know. I have spent long caps, WHY DOES EVERYONE HATE Hello, Michelle Obama. Carla nights in the studio and long days LUNCH? You might, at this point in Hayden. Jacqueline Woodson. on the road, but I am never happier the speech, be thinking, WHY DOES than when we are sitting around the * * * BLACKALL HATE MEN? kitchen table together. Most Caldecott medalists either set Oh, I really don’t. I have shared my out to make books for children, like As for my partner, Ed, he tends the waking, working hours of the past Virginia Lee Burton, or they make light and winds the clockwork and is eight years with some of the very books and other people say they’re everywhere all at once. He cooks and best of them. Our studio lineup has for children, like Maurice Sendak. I cleans and picks up my laundry. He, changed; the way I feel about them make books for children. I draw a sad who first told me I could write, is the has not: Brian Floca, Johnny Mar- fish dinner to make them gag, a wild best writer I know. All the words in ciano, Sergio Ruzzier, John Rocco, wind to make them shudder, and a the world are not enough to describe Eddie Hemingway, Rowboat Wat- room so cozy they can imagine pull- how wonderful he is and how lucky I kins, Doug Salati. Old and new, I ing up the quilt and falling asleep to am. Luckily, he knows all the words. love them dearly. They are kind and the sound of crashing waves. I think funny and insanely talented. They about the children who might read I am grateful to Little, Brown for weighed in on every page of Hello this book, but also the children who making it possible for my family to Lighthouse, offering wisecracks and probably won’t. The twelve thousand be here tonight. pithy witticisms; thoughtful, gener- eager children who get bused in to Caldecott MEDAL ACCEPTANCE SPEECH

It took reading the speeches of my Hello, Juanita Giles. Susannah Rich- Kids are smart. forebears—artists, immigrants, sol- ards. Rita Auerbach. diers, parents, teachers, men, and Girls can do anything. women—to figure out what the Hello, Martha Parravano. Donalyn Caldecott really means to me. Our Miller. Alvina Ling. We can all be beacons. work as bookmakers, and our work as women, is built upon the foun- Hello, Andrea Davis Pinkney, Rukh- In her final Caldecott acceptance dation of those who came before. It sana Khan, Julie Danielson. speech in 1983, Marcia Brown said, was built on sharp rocks, partly un- I have attended several of these oc- derwater; but without it, we cannot Hello, every librarian in the room. casions—some up here, some down reach the height we need to beam there. Wherever one is, one cannot a light into the dark. Until we look Hello, hello, hello. help but feel on this night a sense of back, we can’t see forward. celebration and pride that we are * * * all somehow one in work very much With this second award, I can look A parent told me she and her child worth doing. forward. I can lend my ears and were talking about the ending of voice and hands to help advocate for Hello Lighthouse. Did you notice all On the fanciest dais of the grandest children in Virginia and elsewhere the circles? the parent asked. It’s like room in the Marriott Marquis stands who don’t have books, for children everything goes around, seasons and a woman, happy and grateful for the in Congo and elsewhere who don’t time, and now they’re looking back at honor you have given her, proud to have access to vaccines, for children the lighthouse and that part of their be one of you in work very much the world over who are robbed of life is over, and they’ll always remem- worth doing. their childhood. ber it, but it’s sad, don’t you think? And the child said, Not really, be- Thank you. As always, I will look to beacons to cause after they finish saying hello to guide me. the lighthouse, which is also goodbye, © Sophie Blackall, 2019. Used by they’re going to close the door and permission. * * * climb the stairs and also, behind their house is the rest of the world.

2019 CALDECOTT MEDAL COMMITTEE Mary Fellows, Chair, Upper Hudson Library System, Albany, N.Y. Farouqua Abuzeit, Boston (Mass.) Public Library Heather Acerro, Rochester (Minn.) Public Library Tom Bober, School District of Clayton, Mo. Megan Alleyn Egbert, Meridian (Idaho) Library District Lucia Martinez Gonzalez, North Miami (Fla.) Public Library Dr. Darwin L. Henderson, Cincinnati, Ohio Shannon Horrocks, Sno-Isle Libraries, Snohomish, Wash. Dr. Jonda C. McNair, Clemson (S.C.) University Dr. Ruth E. Quiroa, National Louis University, Lisle, Ill. Chinasa Izeogu Seyse, Schenectady (N.Y.) County Public Library Amanda Struckmeyer, Middleton-Cross Plains Area School District (Wisc.) For more information about Marilyn J. Taniguchi, Beverly Hills (Calif.) Public Library the Caldecott Medal, visit Gwen Vanderhage, Brodart Co., Williamsport, Pa. http://bit.ly/caldecott-medal. Caroline Ward, Cos Cob, Conn.