Mock Caldecott 2026 discussion

January is finally here! It's time to compile a list of the best of the best in 2016.

Here's how you can help.

List your top picks for the Caldecott award. The top ten to fifteen books that are mentioned the most will make it to the first round of voting.

I will close this thread on Sunday, January 8th, at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time.

The All Saw A Cat and The Night Gardener

Kristen wrote: "January is finally here! It's time to compile a list of the best of the best in 2016.

Here's how you can help.

List your top picks for the Caldecott award. The top ten to fifteen books that are m..."

The Lost House by Cronin
They All Saw a Cat by Wenzel
There is a Tribe of Kids by Smith
Some Writer by Sweet
Thunder Boy Jr. by Alexie
Spot, the Cat by Cole
The Night Gardener by The Fan Brothers
Jazz Day The Making of a Famous Photograph by Orgill
A Child of Books ill. by Oliver Jeffers
The Uncorker of Ocean Bottles ill. by Erin Stead

What an incredible year in picture books! I sure hope the Caldecott Committee bestows as many honor awards as allowed. So many amazing selections.

My top books:

They All Saw a Cat
Before Morning
Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat
The Storyteller
Are You an Echo?: The Lost Poetry of Misuzu Kaneko
Thunder Boy Jr.
Freedom in Congo Square

A Child of Books
Before Morning
Henry & Leo
The Storyteller
Du Iz Tak?
They All Saw a Cat
Freedom in Congo Square

The Uncorker of Ocean Bottles
Samson in the Snow
Some Writer!: The Story of E.B. White
Before Morning
Ideas Are All Around
A Child of Books
Thunder Boy Jr.
A Morning With Grandpa
The Night Gardener
There is a Tribe of Kids

Are We There Yet? by Dan Santat
Cricket Song by Anne Hunter
Ideas Are All Around by Philip Stead
Thunder Boy Jr. by Sherman Alexie

Radiant Child
Voyage in the Clouds
Freedom in Congo Square
Jazz Day
Giant Squid
We Found a Hat
There is a Tribe of Kids
Du Iz Tak
Princess & the Warrior
Thunder Boy Jr.

Nanette's Baguette
They All Saw a Cat
School's First Day of School
The Storyteller

There is a Tribe of Kids by Lane Smith

Then way below it:

The Night Gardener by Fan

Cricket Song by Liu

Arctic White by Smith

The Uncorker of Ocean Bottles by Cuevas (Though, my students are totally uninterested in.)

ABC Dreams by Krans

Spot, the Cat by Cole

The Night Gardener--Fan Brothers
Leave Me Alone!--Vera Brosgol
Snow White--Matt Phelan
Henry & Leo--Zagarenski
A Hungry Lion--Lucy Ruth Cummins

Snow White by Phelan
They All Saw a Cat by Wenzel
Uncorker of Ocean Bottles by Stead
Jazz Day by Orgill

Are We There Yet (Santat)
There is a Tribe of Kids (Smith)
They All Saw A Cat (Wenzel)

...it's so hard to choose

My top 5 are :
1 Before Morning by Joyce Sidman
2 Maybe Something Beautiful by F. Isabel Campoy
3 Daniel Finds a Poem by Micha Archer
4 Solving the Puzzle Under the Sea by Robert Burleigh
5 Henry & Leo by Pamela Zagarenski

My top books:
Some Writer
Jazz Day
Before Morning
A Child of Books
When Green Becomes Tomatoes
Leave Me Alone!
They All Saw a Cat
ABC Dreams
We Found a Hat
Sound of Silence
Uncorked of Ocean Bottles
Henry & Leo

I have to add, "Freedom in Congo Square". It's too awesome not to mention.

Ada's Violin
Daniel Finds a Poem
Don't Call Me Grandma
Freedom in Congo Square
Freedom over Me
Ideas Are All Around
The Marvelous Thing that Came from a Spring
Maybe Something Beautiful
The Night Gardener
Radiant Child
They All Saw a Cat
The Uncorker of Ocean Bottles

And Some Writer & Phelan's Snow White!

Here are my top 10 picks:

1. Are We There Yet? Santat
2. The Cat from Hunger Mountain Young
3. They All Saw A Cat Wenzel
4. Maybe Something Beautiful Lopez
5. Freedom in Congo Square
6. Uncorker of Ocean Bottles E. Stead
7. Samson in the Snow P. Stead
8. Some Writer Sweet
9. Henry & Leo
10. A Child of Books

Some Writer!: The Story of E. B. White
They All Saw a Cat
Radiant Child
A Child of Books
The Night Gardener
Before Morning
The Bear and the Piano

Here is our final list:

They All Saw a Cat
There Is a Tribe of Kids
Some Writer!: The Story of E.B. White
Thunder Boy Jr.
The Night Gardener
Jazz Day: The Making of a Famous Photograph
A Child of Books
The Uncorker of Ocean Bottles
Before Morning
Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat
Freedom in Congo Square
Henry & Leo