The Caldecott Awards are my Oscars. Every year I sit perched on the edge of my seat just waiting and hoping and wondering what the hands down picture book winner of the year is going be. Last year I predicted correctly who was gonna get it and this year I had some pretty good guesses. So when the announcement was made that first time picture book author (and "Phantom Tollbooth" god) Norton Juster had won for his eclectic little "The Hello, Goodbye Window", I plucked that puppy straight from my to-be-read pile of library books and snuggled down for a read. Obviously the editor of the book, once they realized they had a bona fide original Juster on their hands, ran and got the most award-worthy illustrator they could find. Enter Chris Raschka. Always a bridesmaid never a bride, Raschka's garnered himself enough New York Times Best Illustrated Book mentions, Horn Book Globe wins, and even a Caldecott HONOR, but never the sweetest plum of all. Now in 2006 all that has changed. Ha ha! The Caldecott has fallen smack dab onto "The Hello, Goodye Window" and the result is a lovely pairing between two greats, producing a story that is, if nothing else, sweet.
A young girl is first pictured on the dedication page hugging her mother and father goodbye. Then she skips off on the title page as her loving parents wave her off. The child is going to her grandparents' home. When visiting she always makes sure to pass the Hello, Goodbye Window. "It looks like a regular window, but it's not". The girl ticks off the reasons why it's so spectacular. You can play games through it, "frighten" your own grandparents, or tap on it and then hide with glee. Then we see the child as she plays in her Nanna and Poppy's home. There are things to draw and Poppy (who can only play `Oh, Susannah' on his harmonica) will serenade you as he sits, stands, or drinks a glass of water (though she confesses that, "I've never seen him do that"). The window itself? It can be a mirror at night, a window to her imagination (be it a T-Rex outside or the Queen of England), and when the child leaves it's that last place to say good-bye.
Juster mentions on his bookflap that as a grandfather he's, "just warming up". If this book is anything to judge by, he has a good grasp on the subject. What "The Hello, Goodbye Window" does best is synthesize the loving relationship a preschooler can have with his or her own grandparents. Poppy in this book often teases his little granddaughter in a way that is sometimes so realistic and familiar that you're shocked at how well it plays out on the page. That's some good writing, it is. At one point Poppy and child are looking at the window at night like it's a mirror. It looks like the two are outside looking in and the grandfather demands, "What are you doing out there? You come right in and have your dinner". Delighted, the child insists that she's inside with him and not outside at all. In the accompanying picture we see her decrying her insider status as her Poppy regards her with a skeptical and loving look, a hand under his chin. Later when it's hot he sprays her with the hose. She tells him to stop, which he does and immediately and so, "I ask him to do it again. Nanna just shakes her head". Nanna, I'd like to point out, is wearing some pretty kickin' flip-flops in this scene. Just a note.
Raschka always has his own way of doing things. When he illustrates a picture book, he doesn't read it through and find the easiest dullest way of bringing those same words to life. No sir! Not he. In this particular case Raschka's gone wild with his palette. Colors burst forth from this page in a flurry of colors, textures, and wild emotional flicks of the pen. The scantiest of penciled lines can indicate a facial feature or a curl of hair. The book is an odd balance between impressionism and out n' out anarchy at times. You get the distinct feeling that it's all Mr. Raschka can do not to let his drawing hand go haywire and start scribbling hither and thither without cease. The book, sadly, doesn't mention on its publication page what materials the artist utilized when creating his story. To my eye there's definitely some watercolors, possibly a little crayon and colored pencil, and maybe even a smidgen of oil-based something for the deep colors and wild hues.
Of course, as I mentioned before, Mr. Raschka does things his own way. So for some reason he's decided that the father of our heroine should look as if he just stepped out of a 1950s Levittown development. He has a dapper little hat (straw to my eyes), suspenders, white shirt, tie, pocket handkerchief, and striped old-man-golf-pants. You almost wonder if his old timey choice of clothing should make him the grandpa rather than the dad, but the mystery is never really solved. I should also mention that he is white and his wife is black. "The Hello, Goodbye Window" has won the official well-it's-about-bloody-time award for being the first Caldecott winning book to feature an interracial family and a multiracial child. Not only do the little girl's parents consist of a black woman with a white man, but her grandparents ALSO constitute a black woman with a white man. But how do we know? Race is such a nebulous thing. We try to categorize a book by claiming that one character is all white and another all black, but does it really matter in the end? After all, the book points out that the grandmother is originally from England, and who are we do say that the girl's father is white? He may well be the son of the grandparents featured in this book. We don't know and it doesn't matter in the least. Everybody in this story loves one another. They are a family. THAT is what matters. And the small child heroine is an obvious product of that same love. I'm still not sure why the dad looks so McCarthy era though.
Was this my favorite picture book of the year of 2005? Sadly, "Zen Shorts" holds that honor. But I don't mind in the least that "The Hello, Goodbye Window" won all the accolades it did. A lovely little story with original and touching pictures, the book is bound to be beloved of families everywhere. It's touching in its simplicity and written with a sure steady hand. A true class act.
