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Children's Literature Guide

Guide for children's literature awards winners

About the Award

The Caldecott Medal is named after the nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott. It is awarded annually to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children. The Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, names the award winner. For more information, visit https://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/awards/6/apply.

A listing of the Caldecott Medal Winners housed in the Curriculum Materials/Media Center is below. These books are organized according to the Library of Congress system of classification. 

Award Winners

Date Title / Author and Illustrator Call Number
2024 Big by Vashti Harrison Not in collection
2023

Hot Dog by Doug Salati

A summery picture book about mindfulness, featuring an overheated--and overwhelmed-- canine in need of sea, sand, and fresh air.

PZ7.1.S2476 Ho 2022
2022

Watercress by Andrea Wang; illustrated by Jason Chin

Embarrassed about gathering watercress from a roadside ditch, a girl learns to appreciate her Chinese heritage after learning why the plant is so important to her parents.

PZ7.1.W3645 Wat 2021
2021

We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom; illustrated by Michaela Goade

Water is the first medicine. It affects and connects us all... When a black snake threatens to destroy the Earth and poison her people's water, one young water protector takes a stand to defend Earth's most sacred resource. Inspired by the many indigenous-led movements across North America, this bold and lyrical picture book issues an urgent rallying cry to safeguard the Earth's water from harm and corruption.

PZ7.L6623 We 2020
2020

The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander; illustrated by Kadir Nelson

The Newbery Award-winning author of The Crossover pens an ode to black American triumph and tribulation, with art from a two-time Caldecott Honoree. Originally performed for ESPN's The Undefeated, this poem is a love letter to black life in the United States. It highlights the unspeakable trauma of slavery, the faith and fire of the civil rights movement, and the grit, passion, and perseverance of some of the world's greatest heroes. The text is also peppered with references to the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, and others, offering deeper insights into the accomplishments of the past, while bringing stark attention to the endurance and spirit of those surviving and thriving in the present. Robust back matter at the end provides valuable historical context and additional detail for those wishing to learn more.

PS3601.L35388 U53 2018
2019

Hello Lighthouse by Sophie Blackall

Explores the life of one light house as it beams its message out to sea through shifting seasons, changeable weather, and the tenure of its final keeper.

PZ7.B5319 Hel 2018
2018

Wolf in the Snow by Matthew Cordell

When a wolf cub and little girl are lost in a snowstorm they must find their way home.

PZ7.C815343 WO 2017
2017

Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat  by Javaka Steptoe

Jean-Michael Basquiat and his unique, collage-style paintings rocked to fame in the 1980s as a cultural phenomenon unlike anything the art work had ever seen. But before that, he was a little boy who saw art everywhere: in poetry books and museums, in games and in the words that we speak, and in the pulsing energy of New York City. Now, award-winning illustrator Javaka Steptoe's vivid text and bold artwork echoing Basquiat's own introduce young readers to the powerful message and art doesn't always have to be neat or clean--and definitely not inside the lines--to be beautiful.

N6537 .B233 S84 2016

2016

Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World's Most Famous Bear by Lindsay Mattick; illustrated by Sophie Blackall

A woman tells her young son the true story of how his great-great-grandfather, Captain Harry Colebourn, rescued and learned to love a bear cub in 1914 as he was on his way to take care of soldiers' horses during World War I, and the bear became the inspiration for A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh.

PZ7.1.M38 FIN 2015

2015

The Adventures of Beekle : The Unimaginary Friend by Dan Santat

An imaginary friend waits a long time to be imagined by a child and given a special name, and finally does the unimaginable--he sets out on a quest to find his perfect match in the real world.

PZ7.S23817 ADV 2014

2014

Locomotive by Brian Floca

Learn what it was like to travel on the transcontinental railroad in the 1860s.

TJ603.2 .F56 2013

2013

This Is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen

A little fish thinks he can get away with stealing a hat.

PZ7 .K678 TH 2012

2012

A Ball for Daisy by Christopher Raschka

A wordless picture book showing the fun a dog has with her ball, and what happens when it is lost.

PZ7.R1814 BAL 2011

2011

A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Phillip Christian Stead; illustrated by Erin E. Stead

Zookeeper Amos McGee always makes time to visit his friends who live at the zoo until the day he stays home because he is sick.

PZ7 .S808566 SI 2010

2010

The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney

In this wordless retelling of an Aesop fable set in the African Serengeti, an adventuresome mouse proves that even a small creature is capable of great deeds when she rescues the King of the Jungle.

PZ8.2 .P456 LI 2009

2009

The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson; illustrated by Beth Krommes

Illustrations and easy-to-read text explore the light that makes a house in the night a home filled with light.

PZ7 .S97255 HOU 2008

2008

The Invention of Hugo Cabret: A Novel in Words and Pictures by Brian Selznick

When twelve-year-old Hugo, an orphan living and repairing clocks within the walls of a Paris train station in 1931, meets a mysterious toyseller and his goddaughter, his undercover life and his biggest secret are jeopardized.

PZ7 .S4654 INV 2007

2007

Flotsam by David Wiesner

The story of what happens when a camera becomes a piece of flotsam.

PZ 7 .W6367 FL 2006

2006

The Hello, Goodbye Window by Norton Juster; illustrated by Chris Raschka

A little girl describes the magic kitchen window in her grandparents' home.

PZ7 .J984 HE 2005

2005

Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes

When Kitten mistakes the full moon for a bowl of milk, she ends up tired, wet, and hungry trying to reach it.

PZ7.H389 KI 2004

2004

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordicai Gerstein

A lyrical evocation of Philippe Petit's 1974 tightrope walk between the World Trade Center towers.

GV551 .G47 2003

2003

My Friend Rabbit by Eric Rohmann

Something always seems to go wrong when Rabbit is around, but Mouse lets him play with his toy plane anyway because he is his good friend.

PZ7.R6413 MY 2002

2002

The Three Pigs by David Wiesner

The three pigs escape the wolf by going into another world where they meet the cat and the fiddle, the cow that jumped over the moon, and a dragon.

PZ7.W6367 TH 2001

2001

So You Want to be President? by Judith St. George; illustrated by David Small

Presents an assortment of facts about the qualifications and characteristics of U.S. presidents, from George Washington to Bill Clinton.

E176.1 .S699 2000

2000

Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback

A very old overcoat is recycled numerous times into a variety of garments.

PZ7.T1115 JO 1999