Score

Beauty Woke - nice cultural heritage story for Puerto Rico. Yet, illustrator, Paula Escobar, lives in Bogotá, Colombia. Question eligibility for Caldecott.

Thanks for catching that, Carol! I always try to check the background of the writer and illustrator first, but somehow that slipped through the cracks. I will remove it.

A Good Place by Lucy Cousins
Unfortunately, Lucy lives in England and is not eligible for a Caldecott Award (although she might be eligible for a Greenaway Award).

My bad. Thanks, Beverly!

Hi, all,

To whomever added Love, Violet, I believe that the illustrator lives in Canada, so I'm not sure that this sweet book is eligible.

Also, All from a Walnut looks intriguing (I've requested it from my library), but I believe that the illustrator lives in Italy.

If I'm wrong, I stand corrected; otherwise, you simply have to remove your vote for those books, and they will be removed.

I think the Loujain book is fine because the illustrator lives in Michigan.

Thanks!

Hi Beth,
Tiny Cedric by Sally Lloyd-Jones was published in November 2021.

Thanks, Beverly. I voted for Tiny Cedric because it was hilarious and fun to read. Like you, I noticed on Goodreads that the publication date was Nov 21, but when I checked Amazon, it said Feb 8 of 2022. Google and Barnes & Noble also have the later date. I think this may have been one of those books that was projected to be published in 2021 and didn't actually go to print until this year, so I'm going to keep it on the list for now.

Beth wrote: "Thanks, Beverly. I voted for Tiny Cedric because it was hilarious and fun to read. Like you, I noticed on Goodreads that the publication date was Nov 21, but when I checked Amazon, it said Feb 8 of..."

That's fine, but the verso of the title page shows copyright dates of 2021. I do not know if the Caldecott Committee would be able to consider it or not.

You're right that it will be up to the committee to decide, and it may well be that they will base their decision solely on the date printed inside the book and not on any other factors. On the other hand, the Caldecott criteria discusses publication factors and mentions: "A book might have a copyright date prior to the year under consideration but, for various reasons, was not published until the year under consideration." As you said, they will have to decide what reasons to consider worthy of overlooking the copyright year in the book. In the meantime, I feel badly for any authors and illustrators who have seen their work's availability be affected by current supply chain issues.

Karl James Mountford is German-born and lives in Wales. The Circles in the Sky is ineligible.

Beth wrote: "Hi, all,

To whomever added Love, Violet, I believe that the illustrator lives in Canada, so I'm not sure that this sweet book is eligible.

Also, All from a Walnut looks intriguing (I've requeste..."
Thanks, Beth. I removed All from a Walnut and Love, Violet! Very good to catch this. Nice books though...

Joe wrote: "Karl James Mountford is German-born and lives in Wales. The Circles in the Sky is ineligible."

Thanks for noticing that, Joe! I added this title because the wonderful Betsy Bird had put it on her predictions list so I didn't even look into his citizenship status. Everything I've checked seems to confirm your observation so I will remove it, though I hope I get to read it at some point.

Carol wrote: "Beth wrote: "Hi, all,

To whomever added Love, Violet, I believe that the illustrator lives in Canada, so I'm not sure that this sweet book is eligible.

Also, All from a Walnut looks intriguing (..."

Thanks, Carol. Both books are worthy reads. I especially loved All from a Walnut.

The Talk by Alicia Williams: the Goodreads page says that the expected publication is January 2023. So is this title eligible for this year's Caldecott?

Beverly wrote: "The Talk by Alicia Williams: the Goodreads page says that the expected publication is January 2023. So is this title eligible for this year's Caldecott?"

According to other online sources, such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble, the expected availability date for The Talk is October 18, so we shall see if that actually happens!

Hi, Everyone,

As most of you probably know, the Caldecotts were awarded on Monday as follows:

Medal:
**Hot Dog / Doug Salati (currently #11 on our list - it was #12 when the announcements were made)

Honors:
*Ain't Burned All the Bright / Jason Reynolds - illustrated by Jason Griffin (#20) - also won Boston Globe-Horn Book Picture Book Medal
*Berry Song / Michaela Goade (#3)
*Choosing Brave / Angela Joy - illustrated by Janelle Washington (#30) - also won Sibert Honor & Coretta Scott King New Talent Illustrator Award
*Knight Owl / Christopher Denise (#1)

I'm pleased to say that all five of these books were on our Mock Caldecott list when the awards were announced. Most were in the top 20, except for Choosing Brave, which I didn't add until the fall; it was at #32 when announcements were made. As you can see, two of the honor books are currently in our top 5, and the winning book has moved to #11. Clearly, we did a great job of predicting Caldecott books. Congrats! I appreciate your input and recommended books over the year.

I've added some titles that received other 2023 awards for picture books and/or illustrations that meet the Caldecott requirement of residency in the US, so I hope you will find this list to continue to be a resource as you look for picture books to recommend to young readers.

In the meantime, I have started a 2024 Mock Caldecott list that I would welcome you to check out and add worthy picture books that you encounter over the next year: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

Thanks and happy reading!
Beth

Great job, Beth! This was an outstanding Mock Caldecott List! Looking forward to the 2024 list!