Three more sleeps till we know! Yes, ALA's Youth Media Awards presentation will be livestreamed this Monday starting at 8 a.m. CST, and toward the end we will will learn the titles of the Real Committee's choices for Caldecott winner and honor books. Here is the link to the video stream.

As ever, we are beyond eager to find out which books will be announced. Will the winner and honor books be among the books Calling Caldecott covered this season? Or something that wasn't even on the radar? It's happened before.

Before that, of course, will come a TON of work on the part of the committee. Put yourself in a committee member's shoes and imagine a weekend's work of advocating, discussing, listening, compromising — and then taking it from the top again, over and over, until the winner and honor book(s) are chosen. Whew.

At Calling Caldocott we've seen the range of picture books that are eligible for the 2023 Caldecott Medal. Books for the very young, graphic novels, early readers, and whatever category the genre-busting Ain't Burned All the Bright falls into; stories humorous and profound; nonfiction that encompasses not only amazing picture-book biographies but complex examinations of such diverse entities as the color blue and the elementary particle. Calling Caldecott covered books by debut artists and by seasoned ones — including previous Caldecott winners. Real Committee members will need to simultaneously see the big picture and concentrate solely on each individual book as it is discussed behind those famed closed doors. 

So this is just to say: good luck, Caldecott committee! You got this. See you Monday!