Caldecott Medal and Honor titles 2000 to 2025

 

The Medal shall be awarded annually to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children published by an American publisher in the United States in English during the preceding year. There are no limitations as to the character of the picture book except that the illustrations be original work. Honor books may be named. These shall be books that are also truly distinguished.

A “picture book for children” as distinguished from other books with illustrations, is one that essentially provides the child with a visual experience. A picture book has a collective unity of story-line, theme, or concept, developed through the series of pictures of which the book is comprised.

 A “picture book for children” is one for which children are an intended potential audience. The book displays respect for children’s understandings, abilities, and appreciations. Children are defined as persons of ages up to and including fourteen and picture books for this entire age range are to be considered.

Each book is to be considered as a picture book. The committee is to make its decision primarily on the illustration, but other components of a book are to be considered especially when they make a book less effective as a children’s picture book. Such other components might include the written text, the overall design of the book, etc.

The committee should keep in mind that the award is for distinguished illustrations in a picture book and for excellence of pictorial presentation for children. The award is not for didactic intent or for popularity

I was curious to see how many of the previous Caldecott winners and Honor titles I had read and hopefully talked about here on this blog. My friend and I are constantly frustrated that either a Caldecott book does not arrive here in Australia or if it does the price is so high no school library could ever expect add this book to their collection. This means I have not seen, for example, the 2025 winner Chooch Helped and while I have read Watercress (2022) I am very keen to see this one again so I can talk about it here in some depth.

Hot Dog

Knight Owl

Mel Fell

Wonder Walkers

We are Water Protectors

Bear came along

Hello Lighthouse

Thank you, Omu!

A Different Pond

The right word

Extra Yarn

Green

First the egg

Knuffle Bunny and Knuffle Bunny Too

Olivia

In a Village by the Sea by Muon Van illustrated by April Chu

We talk about the magic that happens when you share a book with a child - thinking about the story and the possibilities of hearing rich lyrical language but the other really special part of a picture book can be the way it gives a child an experience of fabulous art and that is certainly the case with this book In a Village by the Sea. It would be wonderful to share this book with a group of children or as part of a library storytelling session and you could also share this book with an art class. You will want to talk about the famous painting: The Great Wave off Kanagawa.

I discovered this book in the library where I work as a volunteer because we were gathering books about 'mini beasts'. I was curious about why this book appeared on their curated list. I guess because it contains a cricket but this book is SO much more. I hope you can find this book but it was published in 2015 so you will need to hunt in a library. (note: one online seller here in Australia does list this book but it is over AUS$40). 

The way the text works is similar to A Dark Dark Tale by Ruth Brown and also Zoom by Istvan Banyai. 

Zoom

Here is part of the text from In a Village by the Sea:

"In a fishing village by the sea there is a small house. In that house, high above the waves is a kitchen. In that kitchen is a bright glowing fire. In that fire is a pot of steaming noodle soup."

I would use the term cinematic to describe the way the illustrations in this book are presented - we start with a view of the village looking over the ocean from a small fishing boat. Come a little closer and you can see one house in the village with a dog looking in the window. 

Closer now we see the dog walking into the kitchen. Next page there is a steaming pot of noodles and then we see mother preparing the spices to flavour her soup. 

Closer still the baby is yawning in his basket by the fire. Now turn the page and the view completely changes - we are above the scene and can see the kitchen, the table and soup ingredients, the baby and his mother. But the dog has heard a noise under the floorboards so we zoom down again to a close view of the dog's nose and a cricket with several paint brushes - his image almost fills the page. What is he painting? And how does this relate to the mother, her child and their father who is fishing out at sea?

The intense illustrations, done in pencil and digitally colored, set human and animal characters into seascapes and interior scenes in an almost timeless Vietnam and extend the story far beyond the words. Kirkus Star review

Awards:

★ Northern California Book Awards Children’s Literature, Younger Readers Winner

★ Huffington Post Best Picture Books Best Surprise Winner

★ New York Public Library’s 100 Notable Titles for Reading and Sharing Selection

★ New York Public Library Best Books for Kids Selection

★ Junior Library Guild Selection

★ Kirkus Reviews Best Picture Books Selection

★ Cybils Award Finalist

★ Kirkus Reviews Starred Review

★ Publishers Weekly Starred Review

Companion books:

The Baker by the Sea

Here are two other books by Muon Van:

If you were Night

Wishes

The Hotel Witch by Jessica Miller

A fun, whimsical tale about love, family, determination,

and the power of imagination. Reading Time

Publisher blurb: Sibyl is the apprentice hotel witch at the splendid Grand Mirror Hotel. She is busy each day drawing useful spell patterns to keep the hotel guests happy: spells to shine shoes, spells to remove dust and spells to return lost belongings like hats and gloves to their owners. But Sibyl dreams of other possibilities – wonderful possibilities like her mother returning from the Black Mountains, and like Grandma letting her draw spell patterns from the Book of Advanced and Dangerous Magic. When Grandma gets stuck in last Tuesday, somewhere on the hotel’s thirteenth floor, Sibyl is left to take charge of all the hotel magic – and to solve a mysterious and perplexing problem. Can she find a way to open the Book of Advanced and Dangerous Magic? And will it contain the spell she needs?

Have you noticed that when you read a book about a young witch you keep anticipating that all her spells will go badly wrong and end in disaster. I certainly did that in this book and yes, that does happen a couple of times, but it is in a minor way even though Sibyl is so easily distracted. I cheered when Sibyl does make her wand work in absolutely perfect ways - some small and one, almost a case of life and death when the Shadowmancer takes nearly every shadow and Sibyl is left to fight this evil woman alone. The changing descriptions of the Shadowmancer are also perfect examples of foreshadowing.

Check out this interview with Joy Lawn and Paperbark words. I think readers aged 9+ will enjoy The Hotel Witch - it has 278 pages and uses a larger font. All the extra quirky characters are fun too - Ahmed the elevator attendant, Alphonso the hotel cat and Dora the concierge not to mention the crazy hotel guests. The hotel rooms are also quirky and fun to imagine. The way Sibyl finds the right spell is a delightful detail in this story and not one I have encountered in a story previously - I will leave you to discover this for yourself. You might need to purchase your own magic wand after reading The Hotel Witch - I would certainly like one.

Jessica Miller has written a wonderful story that will keep the audience captivated and enchanted.  This novel will appeal to those lovers of fantasy and adventure. The Hotel Witch is filled with excitement and mystery, friendship, love and self-belief. Read Plus

The Hotel Witch deals with themes of family and friendships, but there is a real focus on learning to work with the things about yourself that others may deem a flaw and how to use these things in a way to benefit you so that they turn into a strength rather than a flaw. This is a lovely, magical book about overcoming obstacles and accepting yourself for who you truly are. A must read for any magic lovers out there who are looking for a bit of fun. Story Links

I picked up The Hotel witch in a school library partly because I liked the cover, I do enjoy stories set in hotels and I recognised the author name because I previously read these two:

Elizabeth and Zenobia

The Republic of Birds

Andrew McLean Aussie Bites and Aussie Nibbles

It is Christmas and the tradition is to give the garbage men (garbos) a gift such as some beer. The me of the title is Mickey. He agrees to help some older kids collect beer left out for the garbos. Sebby is his duck - the one on the cover. Sebby or Sebastian made so much noise when the kids left their house at 4.30am Mickey thought the only solution was to bring him along. 

The older boys are so greedy and they pinch way more than they can carry and of course there is a disaster and all the bottles are smashed. But Mickey still has some under his shirt. It is impossible to carry beer and a duck so his brother puts Sebby into a nearby garbage bin. Oh no Sebby is picked up by the garbos and he is heading for the tip or perhaps the garbos think he is a gift for their Christmas dinner! And there is another name in the title - Stee - that is Stephanie. She is the one who eventually is able to help Mickey retrieve his precious duck. I wonder if this book (1988) would be published today. It does contain a lot of beer and beer drinking and the dad even drives the kids home after he shares a beer with the guys at the tip. 

Andrew McLean posted a picture of the cover of Sebby, Stee, the Garbos and Me by Jane Godwin - Andrew did the cover and internal illustrations.

Here is what he said in his post:

Sebby,Stee,the Garbos and Me(was) a Puffin Aussie Bites paperback book. Written by Jane Godwin and illustrated by me. Published in 1988. ...  Jane Godwin wrote a wonderful adventure story that begins when Sebby starts quacking loud enough to wake everyone up, Mike can’t just leave him behind so off they set together and that’s when the adventure begins. ...  The cover is one of few that I have done with soft pastels on dark pastel paper. ...  The book sold very well and earned more than some picture books that I might have worked on for months.

Image source Instagram

Here is an interview with Andrew McLean. 

The library I visit each week still has nearly all the Aussie and Nibbles titles. I have talked about these two wonderful series previously. Next year a new series will be published here in Australia called 'Your Kids Next Read' aimed at younger readers. I have every finger and toe crossed that they will be just as fantastic and contain the truly wonderful stories as we previously had in the Aussie Bites and Aussie Nibbles. And of course I am hoping for fantastic illustrations and covers!

I went hunting for more titles from these two series illustrated by Andrew McLean:

Crusher Kevin

Bio from Walker Books: Andrew McLean grew up in the Victorian country town of Bairnsdale. He trained as a painter and teacher, and taught in secondary schools before becoming a lecturer in painting and drawing at Caulfield Institute of Technology. He has been a full-time artist now for more than thirty years. Andrew and his wife Janet have created many picture books together, and Andrew also illustrates books written by other authors. Many of his books have been award winners: he has won the CBCA Book of the Year Award three times.

Here is an image I found with lots of the books from these two series. I am sure you will see some you recognise:

School Library Journal 25 most influential children's books 21st Century

The 21st century has brought children’s literature more diversity and a willingness to explore difficult and complex topics. In addition, in the last five years, the publishing world—and the young readers it serves—have dealt with a global pandemic and a new, orchestrated censorship campaign seeking to remove books, particularly those that include the LGBTQIA+ community or discuss race and identity.

Through it all, children’s authors and illustrators have created titles that teach empathy, reflect the lives of the most marginalized, and share everyone’s story. They have created books that change and save lives, along with those that entertain, connect, and create lifelong readers. And we wanted to know what our readers thought were the most influential titles of the last 25 years.

This year, 2025, we seem to have been presented with lots of lists like this. I cannot imagine the enormity of this task to identify only 25 and to use the qualifier 'most influential' and this list also sets the parameter of ages 0-12. 

• Did they limit themselves to one book per author?
• This was created via readers survey - are they just readers who subscribe to SLJ
• Just US titles?
• I'd like a definition of 'influential'.

We asked for the most influential books of the last 25 years in two age categories: 0–12 and 12–18. Apologies to the many respondents who wished the question created separate lists for age groups or genres, picture books, middle grade, graphic novels, etc. But we wanted the books that stood out against all others—not just ones like them. In all, 1,638 individual titles were named for ages 0–12 and 1,657 for 12–18. We’ve pulled the top 25 for each category.

I have added Refugee by Alan Gratz and Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson to my own to read list. 

I have read or blogged many of the other 25 titles:

Wonder

The One and Only Ivan

The Wild Robot

The War that Saved my Life

Front Desk

Starfish

Out of my Mind

Ghost

Because of Winn Dixie

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

Inside out and Back again

(Amari and the Night Brothers) read but not blogged

(Smile) read but not blogged

Picture books - read but not blogged - The Day the Crayons Quit; Kitten's First Full Moon; The Book with No Pictures; Last Stop on Market Street; and Don't let the Pigeon drive the Bus.