Latest news with #ChoochHelped
Yahoo
16-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Local Cherokee artist Rebecca Lee Kunz wins Caldecott Medal for 'Chooch Helped'
Feb. 16—Santa Fe-based artist Rebecca Lee Kunz has won the Caldecott Medal, widely considered the highest award a children's book illustrator can receive. "Chooch Helped," written by Andrea L. Rogers, was the first book Kunz ever illustrated, so she was especially stunned to learn of her win. "I am overjoyed," Kunz said. "It has been a surreal and magical past few weeks." "Chooch Helped" is a humorous and tender story about siblings that has found wide appeal. Its universal themes are filtered through the cultural particularities of contemporary Cherokee life. Kunz and Rogers are both members of the Cherokee Nation, and the characters in "Chooch Helped" are Cherokee, too. "By using the Cherokee language and (showing) traditional activities like crawdad gigging, Andrea and I are taking an active role in keeping our culture alive," Kunz said. Kunz is only the second Indigenous artist to win the Caldecott. The first was Michaela Goade in 2021 for "We Are Water Protectors." "It was crucial to Andrea that the book be about contemporary Cherokees," Kunz said. "She and I both believe that stories of today need to reflect real people doing real things. Cherokee people are not stuck in the past." Rogers' author's note in the back of "Chooch Helped" provides parents and teachers with a wealth of cultural and historical context, including information about the forced displacement of Cherokees from their homeland in the notorious Trail of Tears, as well as the Remember the Removal annual bike ride, which commemorates that displacement. "To tell an honest story with honest characters is almost an act of resistance, among so many stereotypes that still persist today," Kunz said. Kunz and Rogers, who received a Master of Fine Arts from the Institute for American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, met for the first time in 2022, but they were already fans of each other's work. "Andrea was signing books at a gallery where I show my work in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, during the Cherokee National Holiday weekend," Kunz said. "When I realized who she was, I told her I had several copies of her book 'Mary and the Trail of Tears' at home. And then she realized who I was and said she was about to buy some of my artwork before I had walked up. We hit it off right away." "Most people that attend Cherokee National Holiday weekend are Cherokee, and because of that everyone there felt like kin, including Andrea," she continued. "It is like going home to be around so many other Cherokee Nation citizens. I see so much of myself in them, and I feel at peace when we're together." The illustrations in "Chooch Helped" include many small Easter eggs that families familiar with Cherokee culture will notice and appreciate. For others, those details may provide a springboard for further exploration. Kunz used the Cherokee "Four Winds" cross as a motif on the older sister's clothing, for instance, and she put bird motifs from the Moundville archaeological site into the mural that the children's grandmother is painting in the book. Beyond their rich symbolism, Kunz's illustrations have won praise for their sheer beauty. A review in Kirkus praised her "powerful images, which make stunning use of collage." "I used a combination of handmade watercolor and sketching with digital painting and collage," Kunz said. "Before this book project, I had never worked digitally and I wasn't sure I ever wanted to. But after much trial and error, I developed some techniques that matched my handmade art style, a style I developed over 30 years. It was absolutely essential that my illustration work keep the same handmade, textural, organic feel." Although born in Oklahoma, Kunz has lived in Santa Fe for her entire adult life and says the environment has had a profound effect on her art. She attended the College of Santa Fe and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting. "The color palette of New Mexico, from the colors of our clay and wild grasses to the jewel-tone colors of our sunsets, has been working its way into my psyche for 30 years," Kunz said. "I feel like New Mexico gets me, and I get New Mexico." "Chooch Helped" is recommended for young readers aged 4 to 8, but older readers, including parents, have fallen in love with Kunz's dreamlike watercolor collages. "The surprise and joy about my atypical book art has been fun to witness," she said. "I think what I love most are the positive reactions from librarians. They might be my biggest allies. What better company to be in?" Logan Royce Beitmen is an arts writer for the Albuquerque Journal. He covers music, visual arts, books, and more. You can reach him at lbeitmen@
Yahoo
27-01-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Newbery medal for best children's book is given to Erin Entrada Kelly's 'The First State of Being'
NEW YORK (AP) — Erin Entrada Kelly's 'The First State of Being,' a coming-of-age story that blends time travel and the approaching millennium of the year 2000, has won the John Newbery Medal for the year's outstanding children's book. The Randolph Caldecott Medal for best picture story went to 'Chooch Helped,' a tale of Cherokee siblings illustrated by Rebecca Lee Kunz and written by Andrea L. Rogers. Chanel Miller's 'Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All' was a runner-up for the Newbery prize. Miller is also the author of 'Know My Name,' her acclaimed memoir about being sexually assaulted on the Stanford University campus. The awards were announced Monday by the American Library Association, which has gathered in Phoenix for 'LibLearnX: The Library Learning Experience.' Jason Reynolds' 'Twenty-four Seconds from Now ..." received the Coretta Scott Award for a work by a Black author, and the King prize for illustration went to 'My Daddy Is a Cowboy,' illustrated by C.G. Esperanza and written by Stephanie Seales. Carolyn L. Garnes, a longtime library director and founder of the nonprofit Aunt Lil's Reading Room, won the King/Virginia Hamilton Award for lifetime achievement. 'Brownstone,' written by Samuel Teer and illustrated by Mar Julia won the Michael L. Printz Award for young adult literature. Jes and Cin Wibowo's 'Lunar Boy' won the Stonewall Award for best LGBTQ children's book, and Jonny Garza Villa's 'Canto Contigo" won the Stonewall award for young adult stories. Three Pura Belpré Awards for Latino writers and illustrators were announced: 'Abuelo, the Sea, and Me," illustrated by Tatiana Gardel and written by Ismée Williams, won for illustration; Karla Arenas Valenti's 'Lola' was cited in the best children's author category; and the young adult award was given to Carolina Ixta's ''Shut Up, This Is Serious.' The Associated Press
Associated Press
27-01-2025
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
Newbery medal for best children's book is given to Erin Entrada Kelly's ‘The First State of Being'
NEW YORK (AP) — Erin Entrada Kelly's 'The First State of Being,' a coming-of-age story that blends time travel and the approaching millennium of the year 2000, has won the John Newbery Medal for the year's outstanding children's book. The Randolph Caldecott Medal for best picture story went to 'Chooch Helped,' a tale of Cherokee siblings illustrated by Rebecca Lee Kunz and written by Andrea L. Rogers. 'Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All' was a runner-up for the Newbery prize. Miller is also the author of 'Know My Name,' her acclaimed memoir about being sexually assaulted on the Stanford University campus. The awards were announced Monday by the American Library Association, which has gathered in Phoenix for 'LibLearnX: The Library Learning Experience.' Jason Reynolds' 'Twenty-four Seconds from Now ...' received the Coretta Scott Award for a work by a Black author, and the King prize for illustration went to 'My Daddy Is a Cowboy,' illustrated by C.G. Esperanza and written by Stephanie Seales. Carolyn L. Garnes, a longtime library director and founder of the nonprofit Aunt Lil's Reading Room, won the King/Virginia Hamilton Award for lifetime achievement. 'Brownstone,' written by Samuel Teer and illustrated by Mar Julia won the Michael L. Printz Award for young adult literature. Jes and Cin Wibowo's 'Lunar Boy' won the Stonewall Award for best LGBTQ children's book, and Jonny Garza Villa's 'Canto Contigo' won the Stonewall award for young adult stories. Three Pura Belpré Awards for Latino writers and illustrators were announced: 'Abuelo, the Sea, and Me,' illustrated by Tatiana Gardel and written by Ismée Williams, won for illustration; Karla Arenas Valenti's 'Lola' was cited in the best children's author category; and the young adult award was given to Carolina Ixta's ''Shut Up, This Is Serious.'
