Mock Caldecott 2026 discussion

We have whittled away at our amazing Mock Caldecott list and have these six titles left.

They All Saw a Cat 41 Points
The Night Gardener 40 Points
Some Writer!: The Story of E.B. White 25 Points

The Uncorker of Ocean Bottles 23 Points
Thunder Boy Jr. 16 Points
Before Morning 13 Points

Time for round two of our voting.

Keeping in mind the point system used by the Caldecott ("Each committee member votes for three books, with four points assigned to first choice, three points to second choice, and two points to third choice) vote for your new top three selections. After this round we will have our Mock Caldecott winner and will then decide how many honor books we would like.

List your top three (and only three) books, from the following list, in order of importance and we will tally the points.


They All Saw a Cat
The Night Gardener
Some Writer!: The Story of E.B. White

The Uncorker of Ocean Bottles
Thunder Boy Jr.
Before Morning

It's so hard to choose!

This thread will close on Wednesday, January 18th at 8:00 a.m. eastern time.

1. They All Saw A Cat
2. The Night Gardener
3. The Uncorker of Ocean Bottles

1. They All Saw a Cat
2. Some Writer!
3. Thunder Boy Jr.

1. They All Saw a Cat
2. Thunder Boy Jr.
3. Before Morning

They All Saw a Cat
Thunder Boy Jr.
The Night Gardener

The Night Gardener
Some Writer!
They All Saw a Cat

1. They all saw a Cat
2. Thunderboy Jr.

1-They all Saw a Cat
2-Night Gardner
3- Some Writer

1. Some Writer
2. They All Saw a Cat
3. Before Morning

Night Gardener
Some Writer
They All Saw a Cat

Before Morning
They All Saw a Cat
Night Gardener

Some Writer!
Night Gardener
They All Saw a Cat

1. They All Saw a Cat
2. Thunder Boy Jr.
3. Before Morning

1. The Uncorker of Ocean Bottles
2. The Night Gardener

1. They all saw a cat
2. Some Writer!
3. Before Morning

The Night Gardener
Some Writer


Only 2 for me. I honestly can't figure out why There Was a Tribe of Kids not voted on by this group.

Caren wrote: "The Night Gardener
Some Writer


Only 2 for me. I honestly can't figure out why There Was a Tribe of Kids not voted on by this group."

I voted for it. I fell in love with it the first time I saw it.

1. They All Saw the Cat
2. The Uncorker of Ocean Bottles
3. Thunderboy Junior

1. Uncorker of Ocean Bottles
2. They All Saw a Cat
3. Night Gardener

1. Before Morning
2. They All Saw a Cat
3. Night Gardener

1. Thunder Boy Jr.
2. They All Saw a Cat
3. Before Morning

1. Some Writer
2. They All Saw a Cat
3. Thunder Boy Jr.

1. They All Saw a Cat
2. The Night Gardener

The final tally is:

They All Saw a Cat -64 Points
The Night Gardener -35 Points
Some Writer!: The Story of E.B. White -29 Points
Thunder Boy Jr. -22 Points
Before Morning -18 Points
The Uncorker of Ocean Bottles -13 Points


The winner of our Mock Caldecott is:

They All Saw a Cat by Brendan Wenzel