Annal:2004 Orbis Pictus Award
From AwardAnnals
Results of the Orbis Pictus Award in the year 2004. For a ranked list of books, try an honor roll:
An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793
- 2004 Horn Book-nonfiction winner
- 2004 Orbis Pictus winner
- 2004 Sibert winner
- 2004 Newbery honor
- 2003 NBA–Youth finalist
- Score: 42.54
1793, Philadelphia. The nation’s capital and the largest city in North America is devastated by an apparently incurable disease, cause unknown…
In a powerful, dramatic narrative, critically acclaimed author Jim Murphy describes the illness known as yellow fever and the toll it took on the city”s residents, relating the epidemic to the major social and political events of the day and to 18th-century medical beliefs and practices. Drawing on first-hand accounts, Murphy spotlights the heroic role of Philadelphia”s free blacks in combating the disease, and the Constitutional crisis that President Washington faced when he was forced to leave the city—and all his papers—while escaping the deadly contagion. The search for the fever”s causes and cure, not found for more than a century afterward, provides a suspenseful counterpoint to this riveting true story of a city under siege.
Thoroughly researched, generously illustrated with fascinating archival prints, and unflinching in its discussion of medical details, this book offers a glimpse into the conditions of American cities…
Empire State Building: When New York Reached for the Skies
Elizabeth Mann, Alan Witschonke
- 2004 Orbis Pictus honor
- Score: 6.54
From start to finish, Mann tracks the wonders of architecture, engineering, and construction that went into the creation of the tallest building in the world for the time. Fascinating profiles describe the individuals who dreamed of and built this architectural marvel. Archival photographs recreate the heady world of the steelworkers out on the girders, high above the city streets.
In Defense of Liberty: The Story of America's Bill of Rights
- 2004 Orbis Pictus honor
- Score: 6.54
When the Delegates to the Constitutional Convention signed the Constitution, they knew it was not perfect. They were concerned their government might be too powerful and not respect the rights of its citizens. So at the first session of the United States Congress in 1789, they voted on a set of ten amendments, aimed to preserve and protect the rights and liberties of all citizens. These ten amendments comprise the Bill of Rights. As our country has grown, American citizens have continued to rely on this landmark document as a means to defend the liberties of all, across boundaries of race and gender, age and class, religion and ethics. Focusing on examples of ordinary citizens who have had the courage to challenge their government and raise their voices at injustice, Russell Freedman's compelling text is essential reading for every American.
- 2003 Golden Kite-nonfiction winner
- 2004 Orbis Pictus honor
- Score: 16.53
Famous in his time as a painter, prankster, and philosopher, Leonardo da Vinci was also a musician, sculptor, and engineer for dukes, popes, and kings. What remains of his work - from futuristic designs and scientific inquiry to artwork of ethereal beauty - reveals the ambitious, unpredictable brilliance of a visionary, and a timeless dreamer.
Robert Byrd celebrates this passionate, playful genius in a glowing picture book replete with the richness and imagination of Leonardo’s own notebooks. Twenty lavish spreads, including side drawings, supplemental texts, and quotes from Leonardo’s writings, highlight distinct periods and make the master’s art, jokes, explorations, and inventions wonderfully vivid and accessible. A striking tribute to an irrepressible mind and to the potential within all who are curious.
Shutting Out the Sky: Life in the Tenements of New York, 1880-1924
- 2004 Orbis Pictus honor
- Score: 6.54
Acclaimed author Hopkinson recounts the lives of five immigrants to New York’s Lower East Side through oral histories and engaging narrative. We hear Romanian-born Marcus Ravage’s disappointment when his aunt pushes him outside to peddle chocolates on the street. And about the pickle cart lady who stored her pickles in a rat-infested basement. We read Rose Cohen’s terrifying account of living through the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, and of Pauline Newman’s struggles to learn English. But through it all, each one of these kids keeps working, keeps hoping, to achieve their own American dream.
- 2004 Orbis Pictus honor
- Score: 6.54
Who would solve one of the most perplexing scientific problems of all time?
This dramatic picture-book biography brings to life — with illustrations that glow with wit and inspiration — the fascinating story of the quest to measure longitude. While the scientific establishment of the eighteenth century was certain that the answer lay in mapping the heavens, John Harrison, an obscure, uneducated clockmaker, dared to imagine a different solution: a seafaring clock. How Harrison held fast to his vision and dedicated his life to the creation of a small jewel of a timepiece that would change the world is a compelling story — as well as a memorable piece of history, science, and biography.
