Caldecott Medal Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Caldecott Medal

Awarded for	"the most distinguished American picture book for children"
Presented by	Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association
Country	United States
First awarded	1938; 86 years ago (1938)

The Randolph Caldecott Medal annually recognizes the preceding year's "most distinguished American picture book for children", beginning with 1937 publications. It is awarded to the illustrator by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). The Caldecott and Newbery Medals are the most prestigious American children's book awards.

Beside the Caldecott Medal, the committee awards a variable number of citations to worthy runners-up, called the Caldecott Honors or Caldecott Honor Books. The "Honor" was introduced in 1971, but some runners-up had been identified annually and all those runners-up were retroactively named Caldecott Honor Books. The number of Honors or runners-up had always been one to five, and it had been two to four since 1994, until five were named in 2013 and six in 2015. The Honor Books must be a subset of the runners-up on the final ballot, either the leading runners-up on that ballot or the leaders on one further ballot that excludes the winner.

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Randolph Caldecott, for whom the medal is named, was an English artist and illustrator. Maurice Sendak said, "Caldecott's work heralds the beginning of the modern picture book."
Thomas Handford won the second Caldecott for his book Mei Li, which was based on a girl he met in his travels.
Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire, who won the third Caldecott Medal in 1940, worked together as a writing and illustrative team.
Leo Politi (left), who won the Caldecott Medal and two honors, was called the Italian Dr. Seuss.
1965 recipient Beni Montresor wrote operas and children's books the same, "I must astonish and amaze myself first, and if I do, then the spectator will react in the same way."
Both of Chris Van Allsburg's Caldecott winners have been adapted into films.
Ed Young won the 1990 Caldecott Medal for his telling of the Chinese version of Little Red Riding Hood.
Prior to winning the Medal in 1991, David Macaulay had been disappointed not to have been recognized with the Caldecott for his earlier works.
Two time honoree Marla Frazee also wrote and illustrated Boss Baby.
Caldecott winner Dan Santat turned down the chance to work full time for Google creating their Google Doodles so he could keep pursuing children book illustration.
Brian Selznick's book The Invention of Hugo Cabret was the first novel to win the Caldecott.
Mo Willems has been honored with other ALA awards including the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Children's Video and the Geisel Award for his early readers.
Jillian Tamaki's 2015 winner This One Summer was the first and, as of 2020^[update], only graphic novel to win the Caldecott Honor.
Patrick McDonnell mentioned Jane Goodall in his syndicated Mutts comicstrip. This attracted the Jane Goodall Institute's attention and eventually led to his 2012 honor book Me... Jane.
Erin E. Stead (left) won the 2011 Caldecott for her very first book which was written by her husband, Phillip (right).
Yuyi Morales was the first Latina Caldecott recipient in 2016.
Last Stop on Market Street won its author, Matt de la Peña, a Newbery Medal while illustrator Christian Robinson (pictured) won a Caldecott Honor.
Javaka Steptoe (pictured), 2017's winner, is the son of two-time honors winner John Steptoe.
2015 Caldecott Honor recipient Mary GrandPré illustrated the covers and chapter illustrations for the United States editions of the Harry Potter books.
David Wiesner is one of only two illustrators, along with Marcia Brown, to have won three Caldecott Medals.
Jon Klassen is the second Caldecott medal recipient to also have a Caldecott honor book in the same year.
Kadir Nelson's artwork has been acquired by museums including the Smithsonian.
Sophie Blackall is the most recent multiple Caldecott Medal winner.

Caldecott Medal facts for kids

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See also