Bluebonnet Award Winner - Caves by Nell Cross Beckerman

Bluebonnet Award Winner

Caves by Nell Cross Beckerman

Springfield-Greene County Library places this item in juvenile nonfiction - Sciences and Nature.  Searches involving caves, speleology, and caving will include this book within results.

Recommended target age is four through eight, grades kindergarten and first.

Beckerman takes readers along a wonderful journey exploring cave systems all over the world by stemming from her love of them as a child (pictures included).  Caves combine history, science, archaeology, animals, and recreation.  Additionally, Beckerman provides readers with proper cave etiquette (i.e., pre-exploration, reporting discoveries), safety tips, and unique facts about cave systems all over the world.

I discovered Caves while searching Bluebonnet Awards, and several colleagues familiar with Beckerman's work raved about it due to ita simple, age-appropriate language, and amazing illustrations.  

Three aspects about Caves stood-out to me: illustrations, tone, and the design and layout.  

The illustrations are wonderful and effective: from the cover to the family photos, each page maintains readers' attention until the very end.  The careful use of light on each page highlights the subject matter - a group exploring a cave, yet, each can tell where the other team members are due to flashlights (safety), whereas on another page, lighter illustrations compliment the author's description of complex stalactite formations.  Chock's selective use of color emphasizes each page's important message(s), and the writing style and language is oriented towards the appropriate age group.

With Beckerman indulging her lifelong passion for caves, her tone when using language to convey the plot group is evident - when emphasizing safety, important historical information, or providing information about unique animals or cave systems, the use of bold versus soft words draws readers in, holding their attention while encouraging them to finish the story.

Caves' design and layout of effective when conveying pages' massages: from cascading text that resembles eventual darkness, to attention-grabbing text describing the scenes, each page informs readers aware of the risks involved, while educating them about specific attributes.  For example, Beckerman repeats the word drip on one to describe what speleologists experience when exploring, which then leads to an explanation: the formation of stalactites and stalagmites. 

Due to Caves being nonfiction, I preferred to read this book in its physical format, as I do not feel that other formats, such as electronic versions or audiobooks, could provide the same experience.  By reading the text while experiencing the illustrations, the physical format is what I will be recommending to patrons and colleagues.  For me personally, there was just something about being able to flip pages back-and-forth resonated with me.

Beckerman, N. C. (2022). Caves (K. Chock, Illus.). Orchard Books, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.

Caves book cover - Beckerman. (n.d.). Scholastic Book Clubs. Retrieved June 2, 2024, from https://clubs.scholastic.com/caves/9781338726626-rco-us.html.