Our school's Mock Caldecott list - 11.18.21

It's November which means it's time for Mock Caldecott!  Excited to be celebrating books in person this year with our young readers!  Every winter, our 2nd-4th grade readers get to listen to and then do some further analyzing of books that are worth of Caldecott consideration.  It's always so hard to narrow books down and this year was no exception!  I'm grateful to have had a Caldecott selection committee (my fabulous colleagues Laura, Angie, and Terry) to help me get the list down to 12 books.  Here are the 12 books that our 2nd-4th grade students will be taking a look at this winter!

• Watercress - illustrated by Jason Chin, written by Andrea Wang

• Mel Fell by Corey Tabor

• Strollercoaster - illustrated by Raul the Third, written by Matt Ringler

• Have You Ever Seen a Flower by Shawn Harris

• Wishes - illustrated by Victo Ngai, written by Muon Thi Van

• Inside Cat by Brendan Wenzel

• Shy Willow by Cat Min

• Outside, Inside by LeUyen Pham

• Bright Star by Yuyi Morales

• Milo Imagines the World - illustrated by Christian Robinson, written by Matt de la Peña

• The People’s Painter - illustrated by Evan Turk, written by Cynthia Levinson

• We Shall Overcome by Bryan Collier

Our school will have a school-wide book celebration following the ALA Youth Media Awards where they will learn the winners of our school-wide vote and what the actual Caldecott committee selected.  Yay for books!

Selecting next year's Mocks 6.14.19

                                          


I love our whole-school Mock unit.  Every class participates in a Mock - Geisel, Caldecott, Newbery. There's a lot of prep work before we even get to start reading.  The hardest part?  Selecting the books that will be read by the students and teachers.  Last year I started something new.  Our school goes up to the 4th grade.  It's their last year to participate in the Mocks.  They are always sad about that so to extend their experience with it, I invite the 4th graders to help me select next year's books.  

The last few weeks of school, when things start winding down, the 4th grade teachers read books during their #classroombookaday time that have some Caldecott buzz.  The students are familiar with the criteria so they are ready to help select the books.  Last year was my first year trying this out - and I'm so glad I did!  Their top choice last year was one I didn't think they would really relate to... Sophie Blackall's Hello Lighthouse.  Good thing I listened to them and kept that book in!  

Here's what the teachers read with the students:




Carl and the Meaning of Life
by Deborah Freedman


The Undefeated
illustrated by Kadir Nelson
written by Kwame Alexander


My Heart 
by Corinna Luyken


Going Down Home With Daddy
illustrated by Daniel Minter
written by Kelly Starling Lyons


Sea Bear:  A Journey for Survival
by Lindsay Moore


Another
by Christian Robinson


My Papi Has a Motorcycle
illustrated by Zeke Peña
written by Isabel Quintero


¡Vamos! Let's Go to the Market
by Raúl the Third


You Are Home: An Ode to the National Parks
by Evan Turk


All of these selections had students who loved the book and illustrations for one reason or another, but the top three choices were:

1.  ¡Vamos! Let's Go to the Market
2.  You Are Home
3.  Sea Bear

Not sure what other picture books that will be published later in the year will also make it into our official 2020 Mock Caldecott, but I will absolutely keep these three in!


Now, onto our future Mock Newbery list!  Just like our Mock Newbery Club, I had 4th graders who chose to join this club.  These kids choose to join and we meet 1-2 times each month over their recess time!  We called our meetings Mock Newbery Selection Committee and they knew they were reading books that may be chosen for next year's Mock Newbery Club.

Books on their list included:


Extraordinary Birds
by Sandy Stark-McGinnis


Over the Moon
by Natalie Lloyd


Shouting at the Rain
by Lynda Mullaly Hunt


The Bridge Home
by Padma Venkatraman


The Unsung Hero of Birdsong, USA
by Brenda Woods


August Isle
by Ali Standish


The Lost Girl
by Anne Ursu


New Kid
by Jerry Craft


Caterpillar Summer
by Gillian McDunn


Maybe a Mermaid
by Josephine Cameron


We didn't start meeting until the end of April which left only 5 weeks to read.  Not all of the books were read due to timing.  In the future, I would start the club earlier, if possible.  

Books they were very passionate about included:

1.  August Isle
2.  The Unsung Hero of Birdsong, USA
3.  New Kid


It looks like we're going to have a great 2020 Mock season!  What books are on your lists... so far?

Our 2019 Mock Caldecott list 11.13.18

        

One of my favorite things we do at our school is celebrate books.  While we do this year round in many different ways, it's the Mock season that is the most fun.  We have finally whittled down our list and have our 2019 Mock Caldecott selections ready to read with our 2nd-4th grade classrooms!  Here's what we'll be reading this year:

Dreamers

by Yuyi Morales

The Day You Begin

written by Jacqueline Woodson

illustrated by Rafael López

Imagine

written by Juan Felipe Herrera

illustrated by Lauren Castillo

Thank You, Omu

by Oge Mora

Blue

by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

Drawn Together

written by Minh Lê

illustrated by Dan Santat

Otis and Will Discover the Deep

written by Barb Rosenstock

illustrated by Katherine Roy

What Do You Do With a Voice Like That?

written by Chris Barton

illustrated by Ekua Holmes

a house that once was

written by Julie Fogliano

illustrated by Lane Smith

Adrian Simcox Does Not Have a Horse

written by Marcy Cambell

illustrated by Corinna Luyken

Hello Lighthouse

by Sophie Blackall

Alma and How She Got Her Name

by Juana Martinez-Neal

Julián is a Mermaid

by Jessica Love

Zola’s Elephant

written by Randall de Sève

illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski

What If…

written by Samantha Berger

illustrated by Mike Curato

When I cultivated our list this year I took in consideration:

• number of female illustrators vs male
• illustrations that are representative of diverse readers
• diverse illustrators
• stories that young readers will enjoy

I'm really excited about this list and can't wait to get started with our readers at school!