Mock Caldecott Contenders - Batch 1

Each January, the American Library Association awards the Caldecott Medal to the artist of "the most distinguished American picture book for children." Who will win in 2017? Well, first- and second-graders are going to make their pick in library, and we'll see how our choice lines up with the national award.

So far, we've read these titles:

School's First Day of School

Written by Adam Rex,
Illustrated by Christian Robinson

Robinson garnered a Caldecott Honor in real life last year (for the same book - Last Stop on Market Street - that also won the Newbery), so I started out with his latest. The activity kit from publisher MacMillan includes a coloring sheet for kids to draw a portrait of a school. Here are a few by Garden City students:

Thunder Boy Jr.

Written by Sherman Alexie,
Illustrated by Yuyi Morales

Morales also received a Caldecott Honor last year for Viva Frida. In this book, she portays a young boy who doesn't like his name; he wants his own name, different from his dad's. It turns out that many Garden City students have ideas for new names for themselves, including:

Bloom
Alex
Explorer Boy
Daisy
Mister Destructive
Pretty Girl
Jack
Shark
DJ
Rose
Scarlet
Dave
Veronica

Little Elliot, Big Fun

Written and illustrated by Mike Curato

This is the third Little Elliot book, and it's my favorite of the series. Poor Elliot is on his first trip to the boardwalk, and he is NOT having fun for the first 2/3 of the book. Finally, his friend Mouse comes up with the perfect activity for them, leading to a pull-out 4-page spread that made the kids say "Wow!"