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Paddle-to-the-Sea: A Caldecott Honor Award Winner

Holling Clancy Holling
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Paddle-to-the-Sea: A Caldecott Honor Award Winner

Holling Clancy Holling
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9-12 YEARS64 PAGESENGLISH
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"Geography of the best kind made vivid by the power of imagination." Horn Book

"Geography of the best kind made vivid by the power of imagination." Horn Book Guide

Overall rating: 4.8 / 5 from 5 reviews.

AI Generated Review Summary

Summary topics

Review topics: ["book","eyes","children","trip","boy"].

Review highlights

Reviews

Nostalgic

"I read this book when I was a child and liked the adventure. Some of the words used are now not appropriate but that made for a teachable moment with our grandson."

— Chapters C. (4/5)

A must for all

"This is a wonderful trip through the great lakes and a must for every Ontarians and even Canadian - I have loved this book from childhood and have gifted it to many friends - beautifully told and illustrated"

— KXPX (5/5)

Pretty straight forward and true.

"Beautiful and well written, my young boys are loving it."

— Ricnroll (5/5)

A Review of a Classic Children’s Picture Book

"A most interesting children’s book that serves as a geography lesson for youngsters. I remember first being introduced to this book back in the 1960s during story time in my elementary school classroom and fell in love with it. It is an adventurous tale of an Indigenous boy (the author used the term Indian, which was acceptable at the time the book was written in the early 1940s) who carves a small, wooden Indian figure sitting in a canoe. He names his finished handiwork “Paddle-to-the-Sea”. As this canoe floats on water, the Indigenous boy sets it adrift into the waters of Nipigon Country in northern Ontario. The boy hopes his Paddle-to-the-Sea will encounter many adventures as it travels through the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River en route to the Atlantic Ocean and beyond. He carves on the bottom of the canoe a message that the tiny Indian figure sitting inside is named Paddle-to-the-Sea and that in the event the canoe gets marooned along the shoreline, it would be most appreciated by the wood carver if Paddle is placed back in the water by whoever finds it so he can continue his journey to the sea. Without giving out too much of the story, Paddle does experience many exciting moments on his journey to the sea such as almost getting cut up by a saw blade in a sawmill as he enters Lake Superior and the thrilling trip over the cataracts of Niagara Falls. Young children will thoroughly enjoy Paddle’s adventures and the author, Holling Clancy Holling, has beautifully illustrated his book with full-page colour pictures chronicling Paddle’s expedition through the Great Lakes, the largest body of freshwater in the world! I highly recommend this book to parents of children and even adults as well because of the educational content of the book. I purchased 3 copies over the years to give as gifts. Alas, Houghton-Mifflin has stopped making the hardcover edition of Paddle-to-the-Sea as it is no longer in print. Due to the book’s enduring popularity the softcover edition is still available. It should be noted that “Paddle-to-the-Sea” was chosen as a Caldecott Honor Book in 1942. The prestigious Caldecott Medal is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the illustrator of the most distinguished American picture book for children. This book’s author and illustrator was a runner up to that prize and hence “Paddle-to-the-Sea” has been proclaimed a Caldecott Honor Book. And speaking of runner up, the National Film Board of Canada adapted the book to a film version of “Paddle-to-the-Sea”, which was nominated for an Oscar in 1967 in the category of Short Subjects (Live Action Subjects). And for all you trivia fans, Paddle lost to another great Canadian film called “A Place to Stand”, produced by the Government of Ontario and introduced the original version of the song which was hummed and sung in Ontario classrooms in the 1960s and 1970s (Ontari-ari-ari-o) to commemorate the Centennial of Canadian Confederation in 1967. It was said that whenever the song was performed in front of Ontario Premier John P. Robarts, his eyes would always water."

— A C. (5/5)

An upstream downstream adventure story.

"I read this book as a child well more than 50 years ago and it caught my imagination. When standing on the south shores of the St Lawerence in PQ and I realized my 40+ yo Pinoy partner had no idea where the waters came from, I bought him this book. When sitting in a restaurant over looking Niagara Falls and my 90+ yo Pinay mother-in-law asked me where the water comes from I bought her this book. She liked it and has gifted it to her great-grandson, the genius. Eeryone who ever casts eyes on the Great Lakes system should read this book."

— John B. (5/5)

Q&A

  • Appropriate for: Ages 9-12 Years
  • Published date: Feb 19, 1980
  • Language: English
  • No. of Pages: 64
  • Publisher: HarperCollins
  • ISBN: 9780395292037
  • Dimensions: 8.62" W x 0.19" L x 11.0" H
Born in Jackson County, Michigan, in 1900, Holling Clancy Holling graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago in 1923. He then worked in a taxidermy department of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and spent time working in anthropology under Dr. Ralph Linton. During this period, he married Lucille Webster and within a year of their marriage accepted a position as art instructor on the first University World Cruise, sponsored by New York University. For many years, Holling C.Holling dedicated much of his time and interest to making books for children. Much of the material he used was known to him first hand, and his wife, Lucille, worked with him on many of the illustrations.

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