2021 Mock-Caldecott Part 3: LIFT
Welcome to Part 3 of my 2021 mock-Caldecott!
In advance of the January 22-26 ALA awards, where the Caldecott honor books will be announced, I will be posting nomination essays for three of the many exemplary picture books of 2020. While not every book can win, I hope to show how several might qualify for excellence under the terms & criteria of the Caldecott Medal. And most of all, I hope to introduce to you several of my favorite picture books of 2020.
Read on to discover the luminous LIFT, written by Minh Lê and illustrated by Caldecott Medalist Dan Santat!
I am nominating Lift, story by Minh Lê and art by Dan Santat, for the Caldecott Medal because it best fits the criteria of distinction. Lift is a cinematic masterpiece that not only best exemplifies excellence of pictorial presentation for children, but also demonstrates Santat’s mastery of the art form, starting with the overall book design.
The front cover of the book jacket displays wide-eyed wonder on the face of main character Iris, as she stares out into a wild jungle of deep, muted greens from a doorway out of nowhere. Behind her, a vast full moon lights up the sky, and re-readers will notice Iris’ two solitary adventures on the cover between the moon and the jungle. The title, arranged vertically and slightly off-center, lights up the whole jacket, with the capital I the doorway and each of the letters L-I-F-T a glowing, vibrant yellow. The back cover of the book jacket shows a close-up of an elevator button taped to the wall, the button glowing the same yellow as the letters on the front, pairing them nicely together and generating initial curiosity as to what this will mean over the course of the story.
The preprinted cover shows different art, the front a close-up of a closed door from the inside of a child’s hauntingly green bedroom, with a promise of adventure showing through the cracks in the doorway, glowing that same yellow. The back cover shows the same view, but from the other side, with the doorway open into the bedroom from the jungle. The preprinted cover, therefore, serves as bookends for the adventures within the pages. Similarly, Santat employs the endpapers as doorways as well, the front as a doorway into the adventure of the book itself, with Iris on the recto in sepia tones staring into an open doorway with wonder, encouraging the page turn. The back endpapers are nearly identical, in sepia tones with Iris staring into an open doorway with wonder, but this time she is placed on the verso with her baby brother by her side, equally amazed, as they look off into the next unknown adventure.
The pages within Lift are divided into panels outlined boldly in black that work to convey both time and movement. The panels, too, echo the enclosed quarters of an elevator, where much of the story takes place, form effectively following function. The only spreads without panels depict Iris’ initial forays into her otherworldly adventures by way of magic elevator, and those bleeding spreads create the effect of limitless space, inviting the reader into the fantasy alongside Iris. Additionally, the panels are almost reminiscent of an animated feature, creating an immersive cinematic experience unique among picturebooks, a particular strength of Lift and an appropriate style of illustration to the story and its themes. Within the panels, Santat plays with perspective, from close-up depictions of the characters’ vivid expressions to wider views of the vast landscapes. However, the differing perspectives are all from Iris’ level, showing excellence of presentation in recognition of a child audience. Santat’s character expressions particularly shine, with subtle changes in eyebrows and eyes allowing a range of emotions comedic and magnetic in turn.
A muted color palette with hauntingly green undertones allows for the yellow glow that promises an otherworldly adventure with each appearance, and Santat’s play with illumination makes the yellow glow feel innately magical even before the adventures begin, as if conveying all along that there are worlds to explore on the other side of the door. Santat’s mastery of light allows for a mastery of atmosphere as well. Santat’s small details cleverly provide clues to the destinations of the magic elevator throughout, from Iris’ baby brother’s stuffed tiger before the jungle to the babysitter’s OUT OF THIS WORLD board game before outer space, and finally, the snowy mountain picturebook Summit that Iris reads to her baby brother before they go off an adventure to an icy summit themselves.
Ultimately, Lift is a work of great distinction, Santat’s artwork both highlighting and moving beyond Lê’s sparse text to create a cinematic and immersive experience that deserves to be awarded the Caldecott Medal.