What Do You Mean It Didn’t Make the List?!? The Greatest Gaps of the Top 100 Picture Book Poll (for Good and for Ill)

Cast your mind back a bit.  Before the top ten books of the Top 100 Picture Book Poll were listed, I asked my readers to send me their predictions.  What would make the top of the pops?  What charted the best? What, in fact, does the public really want?

The results of this informal poll about a poll within a poll were intriguing. People weren’t submitting what they liked this time around, but rather what they thought other people would like. Sometime personal and public preference coincided, but often they didn’t. And of all the people who played, only one person got all Top 10 correct. Sarah Taylor, I congratulate you.

But let’s get back to the list of what never showed up. These are the books that didn’t make the Top 100 Picture Book Poll results at all, but that someone, somewhere, felt was likely to end up in a Top Ten. Remember that the minimum number of points required to get on the Top 100 list was somewhere around 14. A final farewell tip of the hat to the following then:

The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss, ill. Crockett Johnson
How Many Guessed It Would Make the Top Ten: 7 people
How Many Points It Actually Got: 12 points

My mother had strong opinions about books, and somehow I think she did not approve of this one (I may be imagining that). To this day several books have the Mom-Not-Approved aura hanging over them ( Perez and Martina and The Wind in the Willows I cannot love you without being disloyal). I don’t think The Carrot Seed got much play in our house. – Clarissa Cooke (a fellow NYPL librarian)

This book should be issued to every kindergartner the world over and reviewed at the beginning of each school year through post-graduate studies. A powerful message of believing in what nobody else will. – Candace Ryan

Ironically if all seven people who guessed that this would make the Top Ten had submitted it on their own Top Ten lists to me, it would have made the Top 100 countdown without difficulty.  I suspect that anyone who might have voted for Crockett Johnson’s Harold and the Purple Crayon was probably disinclined to list the man on their Top Ten list twice.  As a result, Johnson’s vote got split and the victim was this story about a little boy who believes that his carrot will grow.

Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney, ill. by Anita Jeram
How Many Guessed It would Make the Top Ten: 4 people
How Many Points It Actually Got: 8 points (2 votes)

I don’t blame people for thinking this one would make the final cut.  Admittedly, people are split on this title.  Some see it as a tender tale of a father’s love for his child.  Others see it as a story where the dad is constantly proving to his kid that he’s better.  Howsoever you choose to interpret it, it does pretty well for itself.  Not well enough to make the Top 100 list, though.  And speaking of divisive picture books . . . .

Love You Forever by Robert Munsch, ill. by Sheila McGraw
How Many Guessed It Would Make the Top Ten: 4 people
How Many Points It Actually Got: 5 points

Oh ye of little faith.  This was the only book where people told me in no uncertain terms that they would “boycott” my list if this atrocity of mankind made it on.  Not that they had to worry.  It didn’t do particularly well in the end.  The most divisive children’s book on record, blood is drawn when this title is mentioned in certain company.  Even The Giving Tree doesn’t get this much attention from people who love/loathe it. Want to know what the debate really boils down to? Go on over to Collecting Children’s Books and scroll down until you see the cover.  Peter sums everything up succinctly.

The Mitten by Jan Brett
How Many Guessed It Would Make the Top Ten: 3 people
How Many Points It Actually Got: 2 points

That’s a shame and a pity.  Strangely, only three Jan Brett books were even nominated for the Top 100 poll. The Hat (2 points), The Mitten (2 points), and Trouble with Trolls (6 points).  Considering her overwhelming popularity with much of the Western world, I’m not sure what to ascribe this fall in her fortunes to.  Are people sick of Ms. Brett?  Do they feel she has lost her way?  I do not know.

Jamberry by Bruce Degan
How Many Guessed It Would Make the Top Ten: 3 people
How Many Points It Actually Got: ZERO!

This is the first book listed here to get at least three people convinced that it would appear on the Top 10 of the 100 Best Picture Books… and yet it wasn’t nominated even once.  Strange strange, most strange indeed.  It’s an adorable book, I can attest.  But when push comes to shove, I guess people don’t think of it.

Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
How Many Guessed It Would Make the Top Ten: 3 people
How Many Points It Actually Got: 8 points

Don’t weep for Henkes, oh you fans of his assorted books.  As it is the man got on the Top 100 list three times with his Lilly, his Chester, and his Kitten.  And if you look at how he stacked up as a whole, this guy split his own vote way way too often.  Whether it was Julius, the Baby of the World with 4 points (2 votes), Owen with 1 point, Sheila Ray the Brave at a whopping 7 points, or Wemberly Worried coming in at 5, Henkes got himself some sweet sweet loving from his fans.

How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? by Jane Yolen, ill. Mark Teague
How Many Guessed It Would Make the Top Ten: 3 people
How Many Points It Actually Got: 7 points (2 votes)

Yolen got on the list at a cool #16 for Owl Moon.  Teague, unfortunately, doesn’t appear to have made the list at all.  This is a true pity since not only was he nominated for his pairing with Ms. Yolen but also his work on Sweet Dream Pie by Audrey Wood (6 points).  Ah well.

A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond, ill. by Peggy Fortnum
How Many Guessed It Would Make the Top Ten: 2 people
How Many Points It Actually Got: Zero

So is Paddington not as beloved as I thought he was?  He was the last one I added to my top-ten list, and the one I didn’t think of originally and only added after checking award lists and “most-bought-books” lists.  If there’s one I’d have to drop out, I suppose it would be the bear from Darkest Peru.  But it seems inconceivable that he’s nowhere in the top 100. – Robin Parry

Instead of just writing “2 people guessed” on this one I should say “2 passionate people guessed”.  Two passionate people who had a hard time believing that Paddington wouldn’t make the list at all.  My confusion I guess is over whether or not this is a picture book.  I guess that it must be, but no one sent me in a vote saying as much.

Clifford the Big Red Dog by Norman Bridwell
How Many Guessed It Would Make the Top Ten: 2 people
How Many Points It Actually Got: Zero

Don’t look so blue, Clifford.  You’ve been around since my own youth, but it was only recently that you sold out and went all Hollywood on us.  I guess some folks don’t much care for your current incarnation.  Or maybe they just never felt  your books had much going for them aside from the big doggie gimmick.

Freight Train by Donald Crews
How Many Guessed It Would Make the Top Ten: 2 people
How Many Points It Actually Got: 4 points

How do you know I didn’t tamper with any of these results on purpose?  Because if I had, Freight Train would have been on the Top 100.  No bones about it.  When a parent walks in with a toddling tot and asks desperately for “Train books, train books, for the love of GOD do you have any train books????” what are my go-to selections?  Two Little Trains by Margaret Wise Brown (not nominated), The Train Goes Clickety-Clack by Jonathan London (not nominated), and good old Freight Train by Donald Crews.  Time was you couldn’t have conducted a Top 100 poll without Mr. Crews dominating it.  Now I fear his books are falling by the wayside.  Hopefully we’ll see a resurgence in his popularity before long.

Yo? Yes! by Chris Raschka
How Many Guessed It Would Make the Top Ten: 2 people
How Many Points It Actually Got: 2 points

Poor Mr. Raschka.  With only your shiny Caldecott Medal to offer you comfort for not appearing on my list.  Weep not, Mr. Raschka!  Yo? Yes may not have made the cut, but Charlie Parker Played BeBop came awfully close with 10 points from two voters.  One more voter and it might have crested the Top 100.  Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps…

Horton Hears a Who! by Dr. Seuss
How Many Guessed It Would Make the Top Ten: 2 people
How Many Points It Actually Got: 11 points (3 votes)

With the exception of The Carrot Seed, this book comes the closest to having the most points on this little list.  Seuss had a nasty habit of creating a wide array of delightful picture books, however.  As a result, he split his vote over and over and over again.  Note the following:

And to Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street – 9 points
Bartholomew and the Oobleck – 4 points
Dr. Seuss’s Sleep Book (1962) – 12 points (3 votes) (originally on the Top 100 list and then removed later for insufficient votes)
If I Ran the Circus – 2 points
If I Ran the Zoo – 3 points
Oh, the Places You’ll Go – 1 point
On Beyond Zebra – 9 points
Scrambled Eggs Super – 3 points
Yertle the Turtle – 8 points

Let that be a lesson to you, children.  Never succeed.  You’ll just make things worse for yourself in the end.

Honorable Mentions Suggested by Just One Person Apiece

Ten, Nine, Eight by Molly Bang: 1
A Visitor for Bear by Bonny Becker, ill. by Kady MacDonald Denton: 1
The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson, ill. by Axel Scheffler: 1
Petunia by Roger Duvoisin: 1
Drummer Hoff by Ed Emberly: 1
The Three Billy Goats Gruff by Paul Galdone: 1
The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordecai Gerstein: 1
Oxcart Man by Donald Hall, ill. by Barbara Cooney: 1
Where’s Spot? by Eric Hill: 1
Paddle-to-the-Sea by Holling Clancy Holling: 1
Rosie’s Walk by Pat Hutchins: 1
Little Red Riding Hood by Trina Schart Hyman: 1
What Do You Say, Dear? by Sesyle Joslin, ill. by Maurice Sendak: 1
Leo the Late Bloomer by Robert Kraus, ill. by Jose Aruego: 1
Pat the Bunny by Dorothy Kunhardt: 1
The Poky Little Puppy by Janette Sebring Lowery: 1
Shortcut by David Macaulay: 1
There’s a Nightmare in My Closet by Mercer Mayer: 1
Zen Shorts by Jon J. Muth: 1
Sam, Bangs, and Moonshine by Evaline Ness: 1
Marshmallow by Clare Turlay Newberry: 1
The Day Jimmy’s Boa Ate the Wash by Trinka Hakes Noble ill. Steven Kellogg: 1
Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister: 1
Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco: 1
Nothing Ever Happens on My Block by Ellen Raskin: 1
My Friend Rabbit by Eric Rohmann: 1
Grandfather’s Journey by Alan Say: 1
Cars and Trucks and Things That Go by Richard Scarry: 1
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick: 1
The Sneetches and Other Stories by Dr. Seuss: 1
Sheep in a Jeep by Nancy E. Shaw, ill. Margot Apple: 1
Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback: 1
Many Moons by James Thurber, ill. by Louis Slobodkin: 1
There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly by Simms Taback: 1
Lyle Lyle Crocodile by Bernard Waber: 1
Noisy Nora by Rosemary Wells: 1
Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson, ill. by Jane Chapman: 1
Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young: 1
Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present by Charlotte Zolotow, ill. Maurice Sendak: 1

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