Our 2026 mock vote winner—by a lot more than a whisker—is: 

Cat Nap, written and illustrated by Brian Lies. 

And our one honor book is: 

Fireworks, illustrated by Cátia Chien, written by Matthew Burgess. 

Congratulations to Brian Lies and Cátia Chien, and to all of you Calling Caldecott voters! Thanks so much for playing along with us. There were so many amazing picture books to choose from—the Real Committee has their work cut out for them. 

Brian Lies, of the New York Times-bestselling Bat books (starting with Bats at the Beach), received a 2019 Caldecott Honor for The Rough Patch. Cat Nap is real departure for the author/illustrator; as our contributor Marva Anne Hinton said: “I love an ambitious picture book, and Brian Lies's Cat Nap is that and then some.” Illustrating Kitten's museum adventures in not just one or two different styles but nine (and recreating actual artwork from nine different eras) is quite an accomplishment, which Calling Caldecott readers clearly appreciated. 

Cátia Chien has been illustrating picture books for almost a decade and was paired with Matthew Burgess once before for The Bear and the Moon, published in 2020. Her illustrations for Fireworks are nothing short of dazzling. Contributor Brian E. Wilson said: “Employing a wide array of mixed media (pastels, pencils, paint, scratch board), Chien builds on the text with inventive abandon and a sense of child-like wonder. The book emerges as an immersive sensory experience.”   

Getting into the weeds—er, numbers (which Kitty doesn’t entirely understand...much thanks to Mark Brandt, our parent company’s market research analyst, for his analytic brain): Cat Nap finished strong with 42 first-place votes. Fireworks was close with 36 votes for the #1 spot. Using our scoring system (which mirrors the process laid out in the Caldecott manual), Cat Nap earned 137 points; Fireworks had 119 total points. 

If any other books were close to 119 points, we might have had more than one honor book, but there was a wide gap (57 points) between the second- and third-place titles. Nothing else came close to these two top vote-getters. 

Awan's Every Monday Mabel (62 points), Kang's Our Lake (46 points), and Cordell's To See an Owl (46 points) placed fourth and fifth (tie), and if the numbers were different, we might have had more than one honor book. On the Real Committee, a particularly persuasive person might be able to sway enough of their fellow members to narrow the gap and widen the pool of honor books—always a good thing! (Though the manual specifically says: “There is no requirement that Honor Books be named.”) 

As we say every January, please remember that these results have absolutely no bearing on what the Real Committee decides. This mock vote is a lot of fun, but the work of selecting the winner of the 2026 Caldecott Medal and any honor books will really start this weekend in Chicago. We know all readers of this blog will be tuning into the livestream YMA announcements on Monday at 10 a.m. CT. 

Again, thank you to everyone who participated in this mock vote. We will be back on Friday to tie-up some loose ends, and we’ll see you again on Monday after the announcements!