Mock Caldecott Winner - 2026

The American Library Association awards the Caldecott Medal to the artist of "the most distinguished American picture book for children." This year, I read 9 picture books with Caldecott buzz to kindergartners and first graders, and we narrowed the list down to 2 finalists. 

With 56% of the votes, the Garden City Mock Caldecott winner is This Book is Dangerous, illustrated and written by Ben Clanton.

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

• It was funny.
  
  
• I liked when the jellyfish got scared.
  
  
• Because it goes BOOM!
  
  
• I liked when the jellyfish got chased by the snakes.
  
  
• Because of all the monsters.
  
  
• I like when the jellyfish was eaten by the whale.
  
  
• It is cool.
  
  
• I liked when the shark got spicy and his eyes turned fire.
  
  
• I liked when the shark was red.
  
  
• He got away because of the hot sauce.
  
  
• The jellyfish pops out of the shark's mouth.
  
  
• I liked when they ate waffles at the end.
  
  
• There was a narwhal in it.
  

Here are some of their illustration interpretations: 

A Little Calm Spot with K

To tie into our school's Choose Love curriculum, I shared A Little Calm Spot by Diane Alber with kindergarteners. This book introduces some of the tenets of yoga, including breathing, movement, and mindset.  

After practicing more yoga with Cosmic Kids Yoga, the kids made their own calm spots to take with them to remind them about what they learned. The googly eyes may have made the activity a little less calm, but they also make everything better.

Triangle (and Square) with K

image from goodreads.com

One of my summer projects is clearing out my photos, and I found a batch from October that I never posted! 

In K, we talked about illustration styles and read several books by Jon Klassen (one of my all-time favorites). 

In "Triangle," Triangle decides to play a sneaky trick on Square. The characters are literally a triangle and a square. And the students made their own to act out the story at home. Look at these adorable kids and their shapes! 

Not a Box! (continued) with K

One of the most important roles I have as a library teacher is cultivating my students' imaginations. In K, we read Geisel-honor Not a Box by Antoinette Portis; the main character creates all kinds of play scenarios with a simple cardboard box. 

Then the kids drew their ideas for our own continuation of the book, which is now on the shelf with some additional pages from 1st graders who came in after K and found the templates still on the tables. Here are some sample pages: