![]() ![]() ![]() “The emotions feel too big to even describe, and readers feel her emotions through the illustrations.” “I knew pretty early on that I wanted this book to be spare, to not have a lot of words,” Harrison said. Linear text guides the story, but readers also notice voice-bubble asides, hand-lettered pink compliments, and overheard, gray, negative words as the story addresses body acceptance. “I’m grateful I get to be part of the story.”īig introduces a Black child in a pink leotard and lilac tutu who goes from hearing grown-ups’ approval-“What a big girl you are!”-to feeling ashamed of her body due to unsolicited remarks an insensitive teacher casts the girl as a cloudy mountain in a school play and turns the girl’s ballerina dress a drab charcoal hue. “I am truly humbled to be credited as the first, but there are so many unsung heroes,” she said. Cabrera (2021, for Me & Mama)-while acknowledging creators who have been overlooked. She expressed admiration for the four Black women who became Caldecott Honorees before her-Faith Ringgold (1992, for Tar Beach), Ekua Holmes (2016, for Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement, by Carole Boston Weatherford), Oge Mora (2019, for Thank You, Omu), and Cozbi A. “I was completely shocked when I heard that, because this is an award that’s been handed out for more than 80 years,” Harrison said. With Big’s success, Harrison becomes the first Black woman to win the Caldecott Medal. After getting that Caldecott call, she called Jacobs back, so elated, “I barely had any words.” She also phoned her agent, Carrie Hannigan of HG Literary, to rejoice. “I offered to pick up another aunt from another airport, and then I went to the wrong airport because I was so stressed.” Around 8 p.m., she texted her editor, Farrin Jacobs, who reassured her, “The night’s not over,” Harrison recalled. is a long time to wait, so I was trying to do things to keep myself busy,” she said. Harrison dared hope that lightning might strike again, but “between 1 and 9 p.m. ![]()
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