Mock Caldecott Time!

For the first time, we've decided to have a Mock Caldecott at my library. To make it happen, I've joined forces with the energetic Alison Morris, whose knowledge of children's literature I greatly admire. Alison works at First Book and is married to graphic novelist Gareth Hinds.

The first step for us was creating a list of semi-finalists; that list contained 33 titles. We then narrowed it down to 15 finalists, which we will discuss at our Mock Caldecott event on Saturday, January 24, from 1-4 p.m. at the Takoma Park Maryland Library, located at 101 Philadelphia Ave. in Takoma Park, Md. We hope you'll join us! We only ask that you register, so we have an idea of how many folks to expect (and how many cookies to purchase!). The library owns copies of all the finalists, and we ask Mock Caldecott participants to read as many as they can ahead of time. Because some of the finalists may be checked out, however, we also plan to have a second "reference" copy of each book; these books can be read at the library, but not checked out. We plan to have this "reference set" available by this weekend. Other local library systems also likely will have copies of the books.

This Mock Caldecott is an "adults-only" event, aimed at adults who love children's literature. We have another forum where kids can make their voices heard -- our monthly Caldecott Club, which has become a family book club connecting kids, parents and books. Our next meeting is Monday, Jan 12 at 7 p.m., where we'll choose our 2015 Caldecott winner. We'll vote on the finalists from each of our club meetings from July through December after looking briefly again at each one.We'll also decide whether to have any honor books. There's no registration required for this event, and we will be serving lemonade and cookies.

So, without further ado, here are our finalists, for both the Mock Caldecott and the Caldecott Club. I'm listing the Caldecott Club finalists first, since that event happens first, and then the Mock Caldecott finalists; you'll see that, not surprisingly, there is some overlap.


CALDECOTT CLUB FINALISTS AT THE TAKOMA PARK MARYLAND LIBRARY
(presented in the order of the months they were chosen):

JULY FINALIST:
Bad Bye, Good Bye, written by Deborah Underwood and illustrated by Jonathan Bean

AUGUST FINALIST:

Froodle, written and illustrated by Antoinette Portis

SEPTEMBER FINALIST:

Quest, written and illustrated by Aaron Becker

OCTOBER FINALIST:

The Iridescence of Birds, written by Patricia MacLachlan and illustrated by Hadley Hooper

NOVEMBER FINALIST:

Sam & Dave Dig a Hole, written by Mac Barnett and illustrated by Jon Klassen

DECEMBER FINALIST:

Blizzard, written and illustrated by John Rocco

MOCK CALDECOTT FINALISTS AT THE TAKOMA PARK MARYLAND LIBRARY
(presented in alphabetical order by authors' last names)

Sam & Dave Dig a Hole, written by Mac Barnett and illustrated by Jon Klassen

The Baby Tree, written and illustrated by Sophie Blackall

The Right Word, written by Jen Bryant and illustrated by Melissa Sweet

Nana in the City, written and illustrated by Lauren Castillo

Draw!, written and illustrated by Raul Colon

Firebird, written by Misty Copeland and illustrated by Christopher Myers

A Dance Like Starlight, written by Kristy Dempsey and illustrated by Floyd Cooper

The Farmer and the Clown, written and illustrated by Marla Frazee

Extraordinary Jane, written and illustrated by Hannah E. Harrison

Firefly July, edited by Paul Janeczko and illustrated by Melissa Sweet

The Iridescence of Birds, written by Patricia MacLachlan and illustrated by Hadley Hooper

Viva Frida, written and illustrated by Yuyi Morales

A Boy & a Jaguar, written by Alan Rabinowitz and illustrated by Ca’Tia Chien

The Noisy Paint Box: The Colors and Sounds of Kandinsky’s Abstract Art, written by Barb Rosenstock and illustrated by Mary GrandPre

Bad Bye, Good Bye, written by Deborah Underwood, illustrated by Jonathan Bean