Anticipating Newbery and Caldecott Awards ~ by Patricia Toht

I LOVE this time of year! It's the week before the American Library Association's Midwinter meeting, and I'm filled with...

ALA Midwinter is where and when the winners of the Caldecott and Newbery Medals are announced, the two most prestigious honors in American children's literature.

My store from 1988-1995

Perhaps my anticipation hearkens back to my days as a bookseller. For most small, independent bookstores, if you do not have the winning titles on hand, there's a great likelihood that you'll be out of stock for quite awhile. Current stock is immediately snatched up and further copies require a reprint. So each January, I played the guessing game of which titles would win.

As a reminder, the Randolph Caldecott Medal is awarded to the best illustrated children's book of the year. The winner is usually a picture book. But sometimes a novel wins, like in 2008 when Brian Selznick's THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET took the prize. 

The John Newbery Medal is awarded to the best written children's book of the year. The winner is usually a novel. But sometimes a picture book wins, like in 2016, when Matt de la Peña's LAST STOP ON MARKET STREET won. 



Nowadays, I work in a middle school library. But I still try to guess at the winners, with the goal of having added those books to our collection before the announcement. 

An educated guess is so much better than a wild one, so here is how I go about it:

Nearly 22,000 children's books are traditionally published each year, and I'm a slow reader. To narrow the list, I rely on these sources:

1) Reviews (especially starred ones) from School Library Journal, Booklist, Kirkus, Horn Book, and Publishers' Weekly.

2) Blogs like Fuse #8, 100 Scope Notes, Nerdy Book Club, Pragmatic Mom, Brightly.


3) Bookstores, like our local Anderson's Bookshop, which holds a Mock Newbery vote for participants. They have great taste in books, so I try to read all of them.

4) Librarians and writing friends, who also have impeccable taste in books.

And then I read.

        And read.

                And read some more.

So what are my "educated" guesses?

For the Caldecott gold medal, I would love for the winner to be SOME WRITER!: THE STORY OF E.B. WHITE, written and illustrated by Melissa Sweet. In this biography of the CHARLOTTE'S WEB author, the illustrations are integral and seamlessly woven with the text, and I found myself lingering on every page to soak up the details.

For Caldecott honors, I choose two books. THEY ALL SAW A CAT, written and illustrated by Brendan Wenzel, is a brilliant take on how different creatures uniquely view a cat.  

[Confession: While I would love for SOME WRITER to win, I really think THEY ALL SAW A CAT will win.] 

BEFORE MORNING, written by Joyce Sidman and illustrated by Beth Krommes, is a lyrical wish for a snow day. (I do have a creative crush on Joyce Sidman, so I confess to my bias.)

For the Newbery gold medal, I choose THE GIRL WHO DRANK THE MOON, by Kelly Barnhill. The language in this book is luscious! And the drawing together of the individual story threads into a knot of tension before the conclusion had me reading late into the night.

For Newbery honors, I'll choose two as well. WOLF HOLLOW by Lauren Wolk, the story of a girl, a war veteran, and a bully, and how kindness and honesty triumphs amid sorrow. Lovely "sense of place" to this one. 

THE WILD ROBOT by Peter Brown maroons a robot in the wilderness and asks her to survive. I was very moved by this tussle between technology and nature, rooting for the robot with all my heart.

The awards will be announced on Monday, January 23, 2017, at 8 am ET. If you'd like to watch it live, the awards will be streamed on the I Love Libraries Facebook page.

I'm hoping my guesses are as good as the Mock Caldecott results in Colby Sharp's third grade classroom last year:

What are YOUR picks this year, readers??? 

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The Caldecott Medal by Tina Cho

I remember last January being glued to my computer screen watching the American Library Association (ALA) awards live. The Caldecott Medal was awarded to Dan Santat for The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend. I was happy because I owned a copy of that very book!

Next Monday January 11^th, 2016, the new recipient of the Randolph Caldecott Medal will be awarded. And I hope to be there virtually!

You might be like me wondering—just who was Mr. Caldecott? And how is the picture book determined? I dug into some web sites and found some nitty-gritty.

Who was Randolph Caldecott?

Randolph was born in 1846 in England and was the third child of a family of thirteen children. (His father married twice.) As a little kid he drew mostly animals. He left school at age fifteen to work in a bank. During his free time he walked and rode the countryside which is depicted in many of his illustrations. After six years he moved to another bank and attended a night school at the Manchester School of Art. Some of his illustrations landed in London newspapers and publications. At age 26, he quit his job and supported himself as an illustrator. In 1877, he did illustrations for two Christmas children’s books for Edmund Evans which were very successful and led to two each Christmas until he died in 1886. He is most famous for illustrations in Nursery Rhymes. His illustrations were unique to his time due to their humor, vitality, and sense of movement. The illustration on the Caldecott Medal is an example of this from his illustration in “The Diverting Story of John Gilpin.” Due to poor health in his old age, he and his wife took tours in warmer climates. During of tour of New York and down the coast to Florida, he took sick and passed away.

1887 Illustration from This Is the House that Jack Built

Who & what can win the medal?

*an artist who is a citizen or resident of the U.S.

*a distinguished American picture book by an American publisher

This is the definition of a picture book according to the Caldecott Manual:

1. A “picture book for children” as distinguished from other books with illustrations, is one that essentially provides the child with a visual experience. A picture book has a collective unity of story-line, theme, or concept, developed through the series of pictures of which the book is comprised

2.    A “picture book for children” is one for which children are an intended potential audience. The book displays respect for children’s understandings, abilities, and appreciations. Children are defined as persons of ages up to and including fourteen and picture books for this entire age range are to be considered.

And this is taken straight from the Caldecott Manual:

In identifying a “distinguished American picture book for children,” defined as illustration, committee members need to consider:

·         Excellence of execution in the artistic technique employed;

·         Excellence of pictorial interpretation of story, theme, or concept;

·         Appropriateness of style of illustration to the story, theme or concept;

·         Delineation of plot, theme, characters, setting, mood or information through the pictures;

·         Excellence of presentation in recognition of a child audience.

Who selects the winner?

An elite committee of fifteen members works year round to read picture books. According to the manual, in October, the first preliminary nominating ballot is due. And second ballot is due in November and the final ballot in December. In January, “late suggestions for books published in December” are offered, and awards are given.

Who won in the last five years?

2015 Dan Santat wrote and illustrated The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend

2014 Brian Floca wrote and illustrated Locomotive

2013 Jon Klassen wrote and illustrated This Is Not My Hat

2012 Chris Raschka wrote and illustrated A Ball for Daisy

2011 Erin E. Stead illustrated and husband wrote A Sick Day for Amos McGhee

Hmm, I see a pattern the past four years. Do you?

Who and which book do you think will win this year? If you’re unable to attend the ALA Mid-Winter Conference, I hope you can watch it live.

Where: Boston Convention Center

When: Monday, January 11^th

Time: 8:00 a.m. EST

For me, that’s Monday night in Korea 10 pm. So I can grab a bowl of popcorn while you grab your breakfast! See you there.