TOMFOOLERY!
RANDOLPH CALDECOTT AND THE RAMBUNCTIOUS
COMING-OF-AGE OF CHILDREN’S BOOKS
Chronicle Books 2023
Written by Michelle Markel
Illustrated by Barbara McClintock
Quick! If you don’t move fast, you’ll miss him—there he goes—Randolph Caldecott, future famous illustrator. His sketchbook is full of hurly-burly: wild weather, frisky animals, and people so sprightly they can barely hold onto the pages. But in the 1850s, there were no children’s books like that. Not yet.
Many books are published, but their pictures look stiff, full of pretty poses and cluttered scenery. No one has imagined how much fun an illustrated book could be because the future hero of children's book illustration is still just a lad.
Meet the artist who revolutionized picture book illustration and for whom the prestigious Caldecott medal is named! From acclaimed picture book creators Michelle Markel and Barbara McClintock comes a lively, humorous, and energetically informative biography that celebrates the spirit of storytelling in art.
*Golden Kite Award winner
*A Junior Library Guild Choice selection
*A Kirkus Reviews Best Picture Book of 2023
*A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2023
*Original Art Show exhibition selection
*Bologna Children’s Book Fair exhibition selection
*Five Starred Reviews
"Exuberant."—Horn Book Magazine, starred review
“Excellent.”—Booklist, starred review
“Storytelling at its best.”—Kirkus, starred review
“Enduringly appealing.”—School Library Journal, starred review
“[A] lively portrait.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review