Mock Caldecott Winner 2025: The Squish!

The American Library Association awards the Caldecott Medal to the artist of "the most distinguished American picture book for children." This year, I read 8 picture books with Caldecott buzz to kindergartners and first-graders, and we narrowed the list down to 2 finalists. 

With nearly 60% of the vote, the Garden City Mock Caldecott winner is The Squish, illustrated and written by Breanna Carzoo. 

Students shared their reasons for their choice, and explanations included: 

• It was cute. 
  
  
• He kept getting squished but getting back up. 
  
  
• Because the sand castle’s arms moved. 
  
  
• It was funny. 
  
  
• The sand castle kept falling down. 
  
  
• He broke and then he built himself again. 
  
  
• I liked the giant castle. It is about bringing yourself up.
  
  

Here are some of their illustration interpretations:

And the Winner Is ... (Mock Caldecott edition)

The American Library Association awards the Caldecott Medal to the artist of "the most distinguished American picture book for children." This year, I read 10 picture books with Caldecott buzz to kindergartners and first-graders. 

For our Garden City Mock Caldecott, 

135 students chose from among

3 finalists, and

1 came out on top with 

80 votes (59%):

100 Mighty Dragons, All Named Broccoli, 

illustrated by Lian Cho and written by David LaRochelle. 

Here are some reasons why: 

• All of them were named Broccoli
  
  
• Dragons are my favorite
  
  
• It's "mathy"
  
  
• Because I like the Mario and Luigi ones
  
  
• All the dragons went away
  
  
• 100 is my favorite number
  
  
• It had Elvis in it
  
  
• At the end 100 baby dragons come to join the one lonely dragon named Broccoli
  
  
• It has more activity and details than the other books
  
  
• She has so many babies
  
  
• Because of the flames
  
  
• It is very silly
  
  
• I like dragons because they breathe fire out of their mouths
  
  
• There was a million dragons!
  
  
• Because the 100 grow up and the 1 left becomes a mom
  
  
• It had my sister's name in it.

And some student art inspired by the book:

And OUR Caldecott Winner Is ...

The American Library Association awards the Caldecott Medal to the artist of "the most distinguished American picture book for children." This year, kindergartners and first-graders chose a title for the Garden City Caldecott: Off-Limits by Helen Yoon.

Here are some reasons the kids voted for it:

We Have a Winner!

The American Library Association awards the Caldecott Medal to the artist of "the most distinguished American picture book for children." This year, I read 13 picture books to first and second graders for our Garden City Mock Caldecott. 

81 students chose from among

4 finalists, and

1 came out on top with 

46 votes (57%):

Snail Crossing, written and illustrated by Corey R. Tabor

Here are some reasons why: 

• I liked the part where the snail was trying to get the cabbage.
• The snail made friends with the ants.
• Because it is so cute to me.
• The snail is very slow. 
• It is very, very funny. 
• I love the part that the snail and the ants go into the snail's shell.
• He almost got run over.
• Because it has a snail that has a home inside its shell.
• It teaches you to be kind.

Mock Caldecott Results

The American Library Association awards the Caldecott Medal to the artist of "the most distinguished American picture book for children." In the spring, first- and second-graders listened to about a dozen picture books that were published in 2019. Our voting process was interrupted by COVID, but we finally had a chance to select a winner from the list of four finalists this fall.

The winner: Who Wet My Pants?, illustrated by Zachariah O'Hora (our Mock Caldecott winner last year for Niblet and Ralph!) and written by Bob Shea (our Mock Caldecott winner in 2014 for Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great). 

Here are some reasons why the kids chose it:

• It is really funny and silly
• Because he screams
• He doesn't realize that everywhere he goes is water
• Because he always says WHO WET MY PANTS!!!!!!!
• It was really funny to me and I like funny books
• I loved when he was so mad
• Because I'm a Brownie like Scouts, and this is like Scouts
• He was blaming all of his friends, but at the end he was like, "If you guys did it, I would forgive you."

Full voting results: