Mock Caldecott 2026 discussion

The awards are in February this year which will give us a little more time to talk about them. Perhaps even get in some last minute reading! Meanwhile it's time to make our lists! List, on this thread, your 5 favorite books that are eligible for the 2018 Caldecott awards. The top 15 books that get mentioned the most will make it onto our voting poll. From there we will vote on which one gets our pick for a Caldecott medal!

This list was incredibly hard. So difficult to pick just 5 favorites. Another glorious year for picture books and their magnificent illustrators!

1. Before She Was Harriet by Lesa Cline-Ransome
2. After the Fall ... Dan Santat
3. A Perfect Day by Lane Smith
4. Frida Kahlo and Her Animalitos by Monica Brown
5. Big Machines: The Story of Virginia Lee Burton by Sherri Duskey Rinker

Blue Sky, White Stars
After the Fall
Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors
Life
All the Way to Havana

The Antlered Ship
After the Fall: How Humpty Dumpty Got Back up Again
A Perfect Day
The Hawk of the Castle: A Story of Medieval Falconry
Little Fox in the Forest

The Antlered Ship
After the Fall
Mighty Moby
Out of Wonder
Grand Canyon

After the Fall
A Perfect Day
I Wrote You A Note
Big Cat Little Cat
Little Fox in the Forest

Life
Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth
All the Way to Havana
The Antlered Ship
Out of Wonder

After The Fall
Wolf in the Snow
Blue Sky, White Stars
Red and Lulu
Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut

(It's hard to narrow it down to 5 this year...I could have gone with 10).

So many beautiful books to choose from!


1. The Book of Mistakes
2. Blue Sky White Stars
3. After the Fall
4. The Antlered Ship
5. Her Right Foot

SOOOOO Hard to narrow it down!

After the Fall illustrated by Dan Santat
Red & Lulu illustrated by Matt Tavares
Wolf in the Snow illustrated by Matthew Cordell
Over and Under the Pond illustrated by Chris Silas Neal
A Boy, a Mouse and a Spider illustrated by Lauren Castillo

After the Fall
A Perfect Day
A Wolf in the Snow

Just 3 for me.

Here are my favorites:
The Unexpected Love Story of Alfred Fiddleduckling by Timothy Basil Ering
Life by Cynthia Rylant and illustrated by Brendan Wenzel.
After the Fall by Dan Santat

This was a hard one!

After the Fall: How Humpty Dumpty Got Back up Again

A Perfect Day

The Antlered Ship

Triangle

Little Fox in the Forest

This House, Once
Hey Black Child
Tony
Little Fox in the Forest
Wolf in the Snow

It was hard to narrow it down to five.

1. After the Fall: How Humpty Dumpty Got Back Up Again
2. A Perfect Day
3. Egg
4. The Rooster Who Would Not Be Quiet
5. This House, Once

A Greyhound, A Groundhog
Over and Under the Pond
When's My Birthday?
All ears, All Eyes
A Different Pond

(Gosh, I love this group.)

This Is How We Do It: One Day in the Lives of Seven Kids from around the World
Big Cat, Little Cat
Grand Canyon
A Greyhound, A Groundhog
Life (Cynthia Rylant/Brenden Wenzel)

The Little Cat Who Ran Away and Learned his ABCs
Big Cat, Little Cat
After the Fall: How Humpty Dumpty Got Back up Again
Blue Sky White Stars
Life on Mars

Ohhh - I should never read others' comments before I make my own list. And there are some mentioned here that I'm still waiting to read.

Muddy: The Story of Blues Legend Muddy Waters illus by Evan Turk (but no one else has mentioned this...is Turk, perhaps, not eligible? His publisher's website says he's originally from Colorado.)

A Different Pond illus by Thi Bui; her website says she was born in VietNam, but from her CV, appears to live in the U.S.

Claymates illus by Lauren Eldridge; I certainly hope this is eligible. It's a huge hit with my students.

After the Fall illus by Dan Santat

The Book of Mistakes illus by Corinna Luyken

Wolf in the Snow
After the Fall
Blue Sky White Stars
Big Cat, Little Cat
Life

Margaret Boling wrote: "Ohhh - I should never read others' comments before I make my own list. And there are some mentioned here that I'm still waiting to read.

Muddy: The Story of Blues Legend Muddy Waters illus by Evan..."

Evan Turk is eligible. His work is stellar.

Ack, I forgot how much I liked The Unexpected Love Story of Alfred Fiddleduckling! Is it too late to add that one, too?

Wolf in the Snow by Matthew Cordell

Big Cat, Little Cat by Elisha Cooper

Grand Canyon by Jason Chin

Egg by Kevin Henkes

A Different Pond by Bao Phi & Thi Bui

Life by Cynthia Rylant and illustrated by Brendan Wenzel
Antlered Ship
Grand Canyon
Egg
The Unexpected Love Story of Alfred Fiddleduckling

I finally got my hands on ‘Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut’ and I am envisioning many shiny medals on its cover!

Mighty Moby - Ed Young
Blue Sky White Stars - Sarvinder Naberhaus
Tony - Ed Galing
Wolf in the Snow - Matthew Cordell
A Different Pond - Bao Phi

1. Life
2. After the Fall
3. A Perfect Day
4. The Rooster Who Would Not Be Quiet
5. Big Cat, Little Cat

Silent Days, Silent Dreams (Allen Say)
The Mediterranean (Armin Greder)
Leaf (Sandra Dieckman)
Hortense and the Shadow (O'Hara Sisters)
Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress (Christine Baladichino)

Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress was published in 2014, and is therefore not eligible for the 2018 Caldecott award. Furthermore, the illustrator was born in and lives in Canada, and so would not be eligible.
According to GoodReads, Mediterranean will be published later this year in June. The author/illustrator was born in Switzerland and migrated to Australia, so he would not be eligible for a Caldecott award.

Here is our list:

1. After the Fall: How humpty Dumpty Got Back up Again
2. A Perfect Day
3. Blue Sky, White Stars
4. Life
5. The Antlered ship
6. Little Fox in the Forest
7. Grand Canyon
8. Big Cat, Little Cat
9. Wolf in the Snow
10. The Unexpected Love Story of Alfred Fiddleduckling
11. Egg
12. A Different Pond