The Hello, Goodbye Window (Caldecott Medal Winner)

As a teacher, I used The Hello, Goodbye Window during our family theme to discuss grandparents and the special relationships children have with them. My Pre-K students did not connect with the symbolism of the window, but enjoyed the pictures of the grandparents' house. This book launched a great discussion of the children's experiences with their own grandparents. Author Norton Jester uses simple events and experiences, such as running through the sprinkler, to describe a child's magical experience at her Nanna and Poppy's house. Chris Raschka's illustrations are colorful and imaginative - almost as if one of my students drew them. However, this open and artistic style did not detract from my students' interest in this text. This text is a great launching point for a discussion about grandparents for the early childhood and primary education fields. Educators with primary age students would be able to discuss the significance of the window. Relevant for all ages, this text highlights a child's special relationship with her grandparents - a relationship children treasure.

"The Hello, Goodbye Window" is delightful -- with imaginative art, warm and welcoming text -- a perfect book to read before, after or during a visit to grandparents or any other caretaker in a child's life. Matter-of-fact moments -- going from one's own home to one's grandparents' home and back again, sharing breakfast, taking naps, playing outside -- are infused with charm and combined with the wonderful fancy that epitomizes the best of conversations and time shared among generations. I enjoy this book as much as the children do, and that is quite a lot indeed.

The voice here sounds like a young girl's spontaneous speech, or perhaps the reminiscence of an adult looking at a foggy past. In either case, famed author Norman Juster ("The Phantom Tollbooth"), and multiple Caldecott honor winner Chris Raschka (who finally won the actual Award with this book) combine to form an impressionistic mélange of character study and memory. While we don't get to know the unnamed heroine very well, Juster captures the most important facets of the toddler personality. The girl is amusingly egocentric, and has an active imagination. For example, through the "Hello-Goodbye" window she sees a dinosaur ("he doesn't come around much"), the "Queen of England" ("Nana is English you know, so the Queen likes to come for tea"), and the pizza boy (who, of course, knows her favorite flavor). There's really very little plot--just revealing snapshot scenes of her sometimes quirky grandmother and grandfather. The Hello-Goodbye window itself in not central to the story, it's like a theatrical set piece that limns such concepts as inside/outside, arrival/departure, reality/fantasy, day/night, and open/secret. However, these "big" ideas lie just beneath the book's surface; overall, the story has the slightly random and spontaneous exuberance of a child who can't wait to get the words out. As mentioned above, illustrator Raschka won the Caldecott Medal for his illustrations: A childlike style full of jumbled color-forms with big circles and squiggles of color-on-color crayon, watercolor, and (perhaps) pastels. Although some pictures appear somewhat abstract, closer and repeated observation reveals recognizable objects, such as a harmonica, a teakettle, and oatmeal with raisins. "A shelf full of glass jars," has a single brown horizontal line, broad streaks of light blue for the bottles, and oranges and yellows for the colors and reflections. The pictures can be busy, but they're never garish or messy. There's a child-like pairing of soft colors with overworked crayons (as if Raschka is covering a mistake), and these both melt and collide with each other. Somehow, Raschka imparts uniformity and even precision within this cacophony, as when he shows the girl and her grandfather seeing their reflection in the Window at night. The girl and her grandparents enjoy a very protective but fun relationship, and she delights in their ways. "Poppy chases me with the hose [a garden hose] and I yell, 'Stop it Poppy, stop it!! When he does I ask him to do it again." At the conclusion, the girl informs us that the Hello-Goodbye window is "right where you need it." To me, it represents a healthy combination of structure and discovery. This is a book that quietly honors the big and small things that go into a relationship, and does so in a near-perfect pitch of child-style.

I liked all the pictures. My faivorit picture was the one weth the girl looking thrugh the window. I loved the book!

The Caldecott Awards are my Oscars. Every year I sit perched on the edge of my seat just waiting and hoping and wondering what the hands down picture book winner of the year is going be. Last year I predicted correctly who was gonna get it and this year I had some pretty good guesses. So when the announcement was made that first time picture book author (and "Phantom Tollbooth" god) Norton Juster had won for his eclectic little "The Hello, Goodbye Window", I plucked that puppy straight from my to-be-read pile of library books and snuggled down for a read. Obviously the editor of the book, once they realized they had a bona fide original Juster on their hands, ran and got the most award-worthy illustrator they could find. Enter Chris Raschka. Always a bridesmaid never a bride, Raschka's garnered himself enough New York Times Best Illustrated Book mentions, Horn Book Globe wins, and even a Caldecott HONOR, but never the sweetest plum of all. Now in 2006 all that has changed. Ha ha! The Caldecott has fallen smack dab onto "The Hello, Goodye Window" and the result is a lovely pairing between two greats, producing a story that is, if nothing else, sweet. A young girl is first pictured on the dedication page hugging her mother and father goodbye. Then she skips off on the title page as her loving parents wave her off. The child is going to her grandparents' home. When visiting she always makes sure to pass the Hello, Goodbye Window. "It looks like a regular window, but it's not". The girl ticks off the reasons why it's so spectacular. You can play games through it, "frighten" your own grandparents, or tap on it and then hide with glee. Then we see the child as she plays in her Nanna and Poppy's home. There are things to draw and Poppy (who can only play `Oh, Susannah' on his harmonica) will serenade you as he sits, stands, or drinks a glass of water (though she confesses that, "I've never seen him do that"). The window itself? It can be a mirror at night, a window to her imagination (be it a T-Rex outside or the Queen of England), and when the child leaves it's that last place to say good-bye. Juster mentions on his bookflap that as a grandfather he's, "just warming up". If this book is anything to judge by, he has a good grasp on the subject. What "The Hello, Goodbye Window" does best is synthesize the loving relationship a preschooler can have with his or her own grandparents. Poppy in this book often teases his little granddaughter in a way that is sometimes so realistic and familiar that you're shocked at how well it plays out on the page. That's some good writing, it is. At one point Poppy and child are looking at the window at night like it's a mirror. It looks like the two are outside looking in and the grandfather demands, "What are you doing out there? You come right in and have your dinner". Delighted, the child insists that she's inside with him and not outside at all. In the accompanying picture we see her