CALDECOTT MEDAL WINNER – 1950
by Leo Politi
New York: Scribner, 1949
31 pp.
Age: 3 +
Interests: birds, migration, Spanish language, American history, seasons, gardens
Next: natural history books about birds, birdwatching
Young Juan learns about the history of the Mission San Juan from its old gardener Julian. Julian also tells him about the famous swallows who migrate for the winter to parts unknown but always return on the same day in the spring to the mission. Juan observes the swallows all summer, watches them fly off, and eagerly awaits their return the next spring.
A charming boy’s-eye view of this famous event, the swallows’ annual return to the Mission San Juan Capistrano in southern California. There are also some words of Spanish to be learned here, and two little folk songs about the birds (music included). The drawings of the landscape, the gardens and layout of the mission are lovely. Should interest children in the amazing spectacle of bird migration.
Rarest Kind of Best 