Mock Caldecott

What are the Youth Media Awards?

You’ve probably heard about the Newberry, given to children’s book authors, and the Caldecott, given to children’s book illustrators. There are other Youth Media Awards as well. These include:

Coretta Scott King Award for African American authors and illustrators
Michael L. Printz Award for Young Adult Literature
Pura Belpre Award for Latino writers and illustrators
Robert F. Sibert Award for information books
Schneider Family Book Award for books about the disability experience for children and adolescents
Theodor Seuss Geisel Award for beginning readers
and a few more awards

How the Youth Media Awards are Handed Out

There aren’t any nominations, the committees that choose the books are made up of ALA members and have their own way of selecting them. The main criteria are that the book has to be published in the previous year, in this case, books published in 2025, and be exemplary. The committees spend a few days discussing books and determining which ones should be chosen for each award. There is usually one main winner and a few more honor winners. You will notice on past winning books that the winner and honor awards are usually different colors.

Mock Caldecott at St. Philip the Apostle School

Leading up to the awards at the end of January, libraries and schools across the country participate in mock youth media awards. Most schools choose to look at books for either the Newberry or the Caldecott. Remember, the Newberry Award is given to a children’s book author, and the Caldecott is given to a children’s book illustrator. At St. Philip the Apostle School, we hold a Mock Caldecott so that every student from TK to 8th grade can look at the same books.

This year we have 24 books in contention. With the aid of blogs like Watch. Connect. Read. and School Library Journal’s 100 Scope Notes Ms. Natalie has chosen these books based on their storytelling through illustrations. Each class that participates in the Mock Caldecott is instructed to consider the books based on the following criteria:

Identify the type of artwork used to illustrate the story.
How well do the illustrations tell the story?
- Is the style and medium a good fit for the tone and feeling of the storyline or theme?
- If it’s a happy or cheerful book does the art reflect that?
- If it’s a serious or sad book does the art match that mood?
- If it’s modern does the style match the setting?
- ETC.
How well do the illustrations help you understand the story?
- Do you get insight into the story because the art is there?
- Can you better understand the characters and what they want because of the artwork?
- Are there additional details that are shown through the art that you wouldn’t get if you were just reading the text without any art?
Are the illustrations easy for the intended audience to understand?
- The award isn’t for the most popular book but it does need to have children as the primary audience.

Because there are no nominations, it is likely that the book that St. Philip students choose isn’t the book the ALA Caldecott committee chooses. In fact, it is possible that the book chosen to win the Caldecott isn’t even a book that our students looked at. But don’t be sad if that happens, all that means is we have another wonderful book to read as a school.

Mock Caldecott Instructions

Wait for your class with Ms. Natalie and Mrs. Kamal to receive full instructions. During class, you will read the Mock Caldecott book. Once you have finished reading a book, use the following link to rank the book based on the criteria discussed in class.

A Book of Maps for You by Lourdes Heuer

A Gift of Dust by Martha Brockenbrough

Anything by Rebecca Stead

A Place for Us by James Ransome

Broken by X. Fang

Cat Nap by Brian Lies

Cranky, Crabby Crow (Saves the World) by Corey R. Tabor

Don’t Trust Fish by Neil Sharpson

Every Monday Mabel by Jashar Awan

Fireworks by Matthew Burges

In the World of Whales by Michelle Cusolito

Let’s Be Bees by Shawn Harris