This past Saturday, a lovely and lively group of picture-book-loving librarians, students, and authors spent the afternoon in mock committee mode. We discussed 14 titles in all, none of them eligible for the actual award, evaluating them against the terms and criteria used by the official Caldecott Medal awards committee. After nearly two hours of discussion, two rounds of balloting, and many cookies, we ended up with a clear winner and three outstanding honor books.

CaldeNott Honors go to:

Hicotea

Hicotea: A Nightlights Story by Lorena Alvarez (Nobrow)

Small in the City by Sydney Smith (Neal Porter Books)

Stormy: A Story about Finding a Forever Home by Guojing (Schwartz & Wade)

And the 2020 CaldeNott Award goes to:

The Moose of Ewenki by Gerelchimeg Blackcrane, illustrated by Jui Er (Greystone Kids)

Many thanks to Keary Bramwell, for all her work to make the BCLC CaldeNott awards a success, and to the “committee members” for making the awards process so much fun!