1979 Medal Winner: The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses by Paul Goble (Bradbury)
Honor Books:

• Freight Train by Donald Crews (Greenwillow)
• The Way to Start a Day, illustrated by Peter Parnall; text: Byrd Baylor (Scribner)



1978 Medal Winner: Noah's Ark by Peter Spier (Doubleday)
Honor Books:

• Castle by David Macaulay (Houghton)
• It Could Always Be Worse, retold and illustrated by Margot Zemach (Farrar)

1977 Medal Winner: Ashanti to Zulu: African Traditions, illustrated by Leo & Diane Dillon; text: Margaret Musgrove (Dial)
Honor Books:

• The Amazing Bone by William Steig (Farrar)
• The Contest, retold and illustrated by Nonny Hogrogian (Greenwillow)
• Fish for Supper by M. B. Goffstein (Dial)
• The Golem: A Jewish Legend by Beverly Brodsky McDermott (Lippincott)
• Hawk, I'm Your Brother, illustrated by Peter Parnall; text: Byrd Baylor (Scribner)



1976 Medal Winner: Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears, illustrated by Leo & Diane Dillon; text: retold by Verna Aardema (Dial)
Honor Books:

• The Desert is Theirs, illustrated by Peter Parnall; text: Byrd Baylor (Scribner)
• Strega Nona by Tomie de Paola (Prentice-Hall)

Verna Aardema's books are retellings of African animal tales. Her books are known for their lyric quality verse and the onomatopoeia and sound effects words that pepper the text. Different artists have been assigned to Aardema's books. Editors have kept the work fairly consistent—bright colors, large shapes, folk art; Highly stylized. The major differences in art have been collage style all the way to pen and ink markers (felt pen over watercolor-Marcia Brown). She incorporates energetic characters that maintain traditional folk names such as, "Fish Eagle," "Crocodile," "Kudu," and "Mama Baboon."

Aardem's plots center around simple biological and environmental conundrums—a crocodile with a toothache; a mosquito in a man's ear, etc. They are didactic and usually involve some folk advice or fable style, very similar to Aesop. The most famous work, Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears, should be considered. The artwork is far above many of the other titles—perhaps being the reason it was so popular. "Mosquito" contained all of the elements of Aardema's other books, but the rhythm is far better than most.

Aardema's text employs repetitive active verbs, sound words, playful typography to elongate words by playing with letter kearning. Books are also given a one-page historical page for background on storytelling, Africa, and folk tales. Her books are often printed with glossaries to explain foreign language terms. She also worked on the Masai and Mexico.

The type of story that Aaredema tells are "Porquoi" or French why?—why and animal or character ends up with a particular physical feature or attribute.

She is one of my absolute favorite children's picture book writer.

Titles

• Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain, illustrated by Beatriz Vidal, Dial, 1981 (Add a line book)
• Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears, illustrated by Diane Dillon, Dial, 1976 [Caldecott Winner]
• Who's in Rabbit's House?, illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon, Dial, 1977 (1969)
• Tales from the 3rd Ear, Dutton
• Pedro and the Padre, illustrated by Friso Hentsra, Dial, 1991
• Borreguita and the Coyote, illustrated by Petra Mathers, Knopf, 1991 Borzoi book
• The Lonely Lioness, illustrated by Yumi Heo, Knopf, 1996 former Borzoi book, The 3rd Ear
• How the Ostrich Got its Long Neck, illustrated by Marcia Brown, Scholastic, 1995
• "Leelee Goro," collected in Misoso: Once Upon a Time Tales from Africa, Knopf, 1994
• Jackel's Flying Lesson
• Traveling to Tondo
• Behind the Back of the Mountains



1975 Medal Winner: Arrow to the Sun by Gerald McDermott (Viking)
Honor Books:

• Jambo Means Hello: A Swahili Alphabet Book, illustrated by Tom Feelings; text: Muriel Feelings (Dial)



1974 Medal Winner: Duffy and the Devil, illustrated by Margot Zemach; retold by Harve Zemach (Farrar)
Honor Books:

• Three Jovial Huntsmen by Susan Jeffers (Bradbury)
• Cathedral by David Macaulay (Houghton)



1973 Medal Winner: The Funny Little Woman, illustrated by Blair Lent; text: retold by Arlene Mosel (Dutton)
Honor Books:

• Anansi the Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti, adapted and illustrated by Gerald McDermott (Holt)
• Hosie's Alphabet, illustrated by Leonard Baskin; text: Hosea, Tobias & Lisa Baskin (Viking)
• Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs, illustrated by Nancy Ekholm Burkert; text: translated by Randall Jarrell, retold from the Brothers Grimm (Farrar)
• When Clay Sings, illustrated by Tom Bahti; text: Byrd Baylor (Scribner)



1972 Medal Winner: One Fine Day, retold and illustrated by Nonny Hogrogian (Macmillan)
Honor Books:

• Hildilid's Night, illustrated by Arnold Lobel; text: Cheli Durán Ryan (Macmillan)
• If All the Seas Were One Sea by Janina Domanska (Macmillan)
• Moja Means One: Swahili Counting Book, illustrated by Tom Feelings; text: Muriel Feelings (Dial)



1971 Medal Winner: A Story A Story, retold and illustrated by Gail E. Haley (Atheneum)
Honor Books:

• The Angry Moon, illustrated by Blair Lent; text: retold by William Sleator (Atlantic)
• Frog and Toad are Friends by Arnold Lobel (Harper)
• In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak (Harper)



1970 Medal Winner: Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig (Windmill Books)
Honor Books:

• Goggles! by Ezra Jack Keats (Macmillan)
  Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse by Leo Lionni (Pantheon)
• Pop Corn & Ma Goodness, illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker; text: Edna Mitchell Preston (Viking)
• Thy Friend, Obadiah by Brinton Turkle (Viking)
• The Judge: An Untrue Tale, illustrated by Margot Zemach; text: Harve Zemach (Farrar)