Children’s Literature: Caldecott Winners from the Past 15 Years

After sharing my tips for choosing a good children’s book last week, I thought I would introduce you to the Caldecott Award.

If you’ve been around Children’s Literature at all, you’ve probably heard books referred to as “Caldecott Winners” or “Caldecott Honor Books”. Here is what the Caldecott Award is all about:

“The Caldecott Medal was named in honor of nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children. ”  –ALSC website

Although a book is awarded this honor based on its illustrations, the Caldecott winners are normally well-written and extremely engaging for young children.

Here are the Caldecott Winners for the last 15 years. Go here to find the complete list of Caldecott winners since 1938 (along with each year’s honor books).

 

2012

A Ball for Daisy by Chris Raschka

2011

A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip C. Stead

2010

The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney

2009

The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson

2008

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

2007

Flotsam by David Wiesner

2006

The Hello, Goodbye Window by Norton Juster

2005

Kitten’s First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes

2004

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordicai Gerstein

2003

My Friend Rabbit by Eric Rohmann

2002

The Three Pigs by David Wiesner

2001

So You Want to Be President? by Judith St. George

2000

Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback

1999

Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin

1998

Rapunzel by Paul O. Zelinsky

1997

Golem by David Wisniewski

Have you read any of these books? Which is your favorite?

9 Comments

  1. Im a bit surprised at how many of those I have not heard of. I remember specifically picking Caldecott award books when I was a kid…looks like I have some catching up to do!

  2. My daughter loved “A Sick Day for Amos McGee”. My favorite of these so far is “Kitten’s First Full Moon”. I’ve not checked out this year’s winner yet, so we’ll have to see how it stands.

  3. I absolutely LOVE Caldecott books! During my time as a teacher I wrote several cross-curricular units to go along with some of the stories. Those units were my favorite lessons to teach. :)

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