Ishkabibble Books

IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR!

Fall? Yep. I like fall. But - this is also book list time. The best of (insert year) lists. Publisher's Weekly has already posted their list. The GoodReads Choice Awards for 2021 should be starting soon. And, of course, the Youth Media Awards. The Caldecott and the Newbery are the most well known. They won't be announced until January but there are all kinds of prediction lists and mock award selections happening right now. One of my favorite bloggers, Travis Jonker, runs a mock Caldecott with his students. I like his method but I don't have a classroom - so I'm going to adapt. You can see what he is doing on his blog at 100 Scope Notes if you are interested.

So - what is the Caldecott? It's a medal "...awarded to the artist of the most distinguished American Picture Book for Children published in the United States during the preceding year." (check out the Caldecott page for more information). In addition to the winner, there are usually several Honor books named. The award is named after Randolph Caldecott, a noted English illustrator for children's books in the 19th century. There is some buzz to change the name of the award to honor an American illustrator such as the late Jerry Pinkney. I like that idea but it would be a lot of work to make the change. What do you think?

The committee has fifteen members including a chair. This year's chair is Dr. Claudette S. McLinn, Executive Director at Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature. The other members are librarians and teachers. Members must devote an incredible amount of time to reading and considering books for the award. They consider technique, artistic interpretation, the way the illustrations tell the story, and that it is created for children.

Rather than comparing individual books that have been awarded in the past, I'm going to look at a few illustrators. And then look at books that are getting Caldecott Buzz! The Horn Book has a blog - Calling Caldecott - that discusses possible winners. And GoodReads has a Mock Caldecott page also if you want to check those out. There is no official list. These are just guesses.

A few of my favorites for this year include the titles below but I'm still reading!