I’ve been making books for enough years now where it’s sort of like there’s never, in terms of awards it’s, there’s never any idea that you can have like, if it’s going to win or if it’s not going to win. It seems so very, the stars really have to align in those situations.
I did feel like I was doing something new and exciting for me you know, I felt like I was in uncharted territory which an exciting place to be when you feel good about the work that you’re making. So I felt energized about that, and I felt you know, I do like to share works in progress online so I was sharing some of the drawings you know before they were finished.
You know some of the wolf drawings and the general, you know reception was pretty strong like on Facebook or Twitter or whatever. But it’s such a hard thing to predict you know how a committee is going to, what their personal tastes are going to be.
My work is, it’s loose and it’s scratchy and it was wordless, you know some people don’t like wordless picture books. So I wondered is it going to be polarizing in those ways.
But when I was told, when I got the Caldecott call, when they said it was a medal like I, I was confused like I thought they meant, I meant it was the honor but I said is that the gold one because like I wasn’t sure if, if I was hearing it right.
No, I just, I never assumed, I never expected it but it’s pretty surreal still actually that it’s happened.