Features & Opinion
My wife, Robin Smith, knew children's literature well — she co-founded this blog, served on many book award committees, and reviewed for The Horn Book Magazine and Kirkus Reviews — and she taught second graders for 24 years. Daily, she read picture books to them. Robin died in 2017 at the age...
The wait is over! The 2020 Caldecott Medal Selection Committee has made its choices: one winner and three honor books. The winner is: The Undefeated, illustrated by Kadir Nelson and written by Kwame Alexander: The honor books are: Bear Came Along, illustred by LeUyen Pham and written by Richard T. Morris: Double Bass...
We want to take a moment here at Calling Caldecott, as we wrap up our book coverage, to extend our thanks. Mind you, we aren’t entirely done here at the blog. We promise we have more posts in store for you. I mean, OF COURSE we do! The Caldecott announcement is...
The votes are in! And the results yielded a mock winner and four honor books. Our readers chose Oge Mora's Saturday as the winner. Bear Came Along, illustrated by LeUyen Pham; My Papi Has a Motorcycle, illustrated by Zeke Peña; Truman, illustrated by Lucy Ruth Cummins; and The Undefeated, illustrated by Kadir Nelson, received the next highest number of...
It's that time again! Time to weigh in officially on our UNofficial mock Caldecott vote. This year we once again mimic the Real Committee's actual process in some ways, and not in others. This year, we asked our readers to submit mock nominations in November and December — seven in all,...
¡Vamos!: Let's Go to the Market by Raúl the Third with color by Elaine Bay was on the Horn Book’s 2019 Fanfare list and received a starred review in the Magazine. Sometimes these decisions involve debate and discussion. Other times — like this one — consensus is clear: Yes! Beginning with the...
On the paper jacket for Grace Lin's A Big Bed for Little Snow, a companion to her 2019 Caldecott Honor book A Big Mooncake for Little Star, we see a grinning boy atop a blue-gray, cloudlike bed. The boy's grin exudes mischief, and feathers float in the air. Has he been jumping on the...
As an international academic and educator who has lived in the United States for a little over four years, I have often wondered about the following statements under the “Terms, Definitions, and Criteria” section of the Caldecott awards: “The award is restricted to artists who are citizens or residents of...
Home in the Woods is a story of loss and love, hope, hard work, and healing. It is a book of green and gentleness, softness and loyalty, perseverance and hardship, love and courage. In fact, I find myself so smitten by the art and artistry that I thought for a long...
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