The Caldecott Is Coming . . . Soon, Soon

One of my favorite blogs is Calling Caldecott. It's co-written by Robin Smith (a second grade teacher and reviewer for Kirkus and Horn Book) and Lolly Robinson (who teaches children's lit. at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and is designer/production manager for Horn Book.)

November was Picture Book Month at the Horn Book and two exceptional articles in that section of the blog are "Over and Over," an emotional tribute to Charlotte Zolotow written by her daughter, Crescent Dragonwagon; and Patricia Gauch's article "The Picture Book as an Act of Mischief."

Moving on to the reviews of possible Caldecott Medal candidates, here are a few of the books they've featured:

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Kid Lit Power

And the award goes to:
The Newbery Medal: Jack Gantos for Dead End in Norvelt
The Caldecott Medal: Chris Raschka for the wordlessly wonderful A Ball for Daisy
The Printz Award: John Corey Whaley for Where Things Come Back.

Congratulations to winners and honorees of these and other awards (such as the Alex Awards, Coretta Scott King award, Pura Belpre award). You can view the complete list on the ALA website, or follow interviews with these accomplished authors in the New York Times or Associated Press coverage.

I hadn’t finished my TBR list before the Oscar Nominees dominated the headlines.  Had our book awards been eclipsed by Hollywood in less than 24 hours? Not exactly.


Kid lit is a powerful phenomenon. I happily noted that two Best Picture nominees are based on children’s books: Hugo and War Horse. One is a 2008 Caldecott Medal winner: Hugo, based on The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick. War Horse, by Michael Morpugo was first published 30 years ago, and this historical fiction novel remains as engaging now as then. 


 No matter the perpetually changing publishing scenarios, children’s books thrive in many formats, and continue to be a great contribution to the world of entertainment and education of children and adults alike. These 2012 Youth Media Award winners and honorees deservedly enjoy a boost in sales and media coverage. Given time, some of these books will be back as movies, plays, or maybe even a Yahoo photo headline.  Good luck and best wishes to them all. 


Which unread title will you read first? (I’m starting with Dead End in Norvelt: funny and quirky so far.) Of those you read, which are your favorites?  And the million dollar question: which one will become a movie? 

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