Do you Want to Build a Caldecott Club? Reflections on our 2019 Mock Caldecott

First posted January 25, 2020

There is something magical about hosting a continuing series of programs about picture books for children in 2nd grade through 6th grade. Each session is an opportunity to get to know the young people we serve, a chance to try a new literacy or management approach, a chance to show them a picture book that will ignite something unseen within. But I’m getting ahead of myself...

For the past three months, I have had the opportunity to host our Caldecott Club program at Lincolnwood Public Library. I had volunteered at Brian Wilson’s Evanston Public Library Caldecott Club in 2016, while he was on the committee, which made me hope that one day, if I worked at a public library, I could run my own picture book program. When I landed my dream job at Lincolnwood Public Library in 2017, I was excited to propose starting a Caldecott Club as a replacement for our New Book Tuesday drop-in program in January and February. I’m lucky that Brian shared his expertise and insights with me as I planned the program, sharing what he learned from running his Mock Caldecott program for two years. I also connected with Holly Jin at Skokie Public Library who shared resources that the library created to make the criteria accessible to kids, as well as fancy Caldecott Club badges. Our program grew over time with kids from second grade through middle school. Last year, our Caldecott Club became an official program, with registration and everything. You can read my reflections about last year’s program here. This year we decided to expand this program into an 9-session series (twice a month) with even more books to discuss based on feedback from the kids who kept asking for more Caldecott Club sessions even after our Voting Party.

Mock book award programs can be customized to the individual needs of the children you’re working with, as well as your own personality and style, which makes them amazing programs to offer. So pick and choose what’s helpful for you. And I’m always happy to chat, share materials and resources I’ve created, and pay forward the support I’ve been given.

Planning the Caldecott Club
With an extra month for our club, I planned five sessions to discuss four books each session. We then had our Voting Party in January where we discussed the books the kids had voted as their favorites at each session and chose our winner(s). Our sessions took place every other Thursday from October through December, with our finale in January after the kids returned from their winter break. We’re lucky that the school district is right across the street, so our kids could come over right after school, often doing their homework before joining Caldecott Club. Since it’s a public library program, generally kids who attend Caldecott Club are eager to take part in the experience.

New Friends
Thanks to the incredible collaboration between Caldecott Medalist Dan Santat and Kohls Cares, I was able to bring in a new friend to join each of our sessions. The adorable, lovable imaginary friend, Beekle, joined each session. Remember that you are never too old for stuffed animals. All of our kids were obsessed with Beekle - and eventually I had to make Beekle more of a spectator than participant. But he’s always front and center in our photo opps. Dear Kohl’s Cares, please bring Beekle back in stock. I will be sending this singular Beekle, who has seen our awesome kids talk books for these many months, home with a lucky raffle winner at our Youth Media Awards viewing party on Monday.

I am so grateful for my colleague, Ms. Gaby, who started joining our sessions and supporting us with technology and management help. She helped us display the scanned books and helped keep time, which I will always struggle to manage. She also brought her own insights and calming presence to our sessions. She is truly unflappable, which helps make me chill when things don’t go the way I expect. I am so glad she has joined our Caldecott Club! Hosting a Caldecott Club is an opportunity for all kinds of collaboration, so consider colleagues (consider ones outside of your school/library/department/work) who would be excellent partners to geek out about picture books.

Finding Books

There are so many excellent, beautiful picture books published each year, so selecting books for Caldecott Club is a struggle and a joy. I chose books that I thought showed the genius of picture books, using a range of media, formats, structures, and content. I also wanted to share books that kids would enjoy, that spoke to their interests and personalities, considering the criteria that the book “displays respect for children’s understandings, abilities, and appreciations.” I also tried to be mindful of Christine Taylor-Butler’s research about gender inequity in the Caldecott award and aimed to provide a range of representation in the books we discussed. Listening to her essay and interview on the Kidlitwomen* Podcast was very eye-opening. I tried to do a mini-audit with the books that I selected to consider whose voices were being shared in our discussions. I keep thinking about how when you study a book closely, you become connected to it. When I see the books we’ve discussed in our Caldecott Clubs in the library, I see the children who discussed them & said brilliant things. So the books I spotlight should be good ones, ones that help them discuss and question the world around them, see things in new ways, open up conversations, amplify their voices, and ensure they see themselves reflected in the books we examine. I’ve been thinking a lot about the Diversity in Children’s Books 2018 Infographic as we do this work.

Citation: Huyck, David and Sarah Park Dahlen. (2019 June 19). Diversity in Children’s Books 2018. sarahpark.com blog. Created in consultation with Edith Campbell, Molly Beth Griffin, K. T. Horning, Debbie Reese, Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, and Madeline Tyner, with statistics compiled by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center, School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison: http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/books/pcstats.asp. Retrieved from https://readingspark.wordpress.com/2019/06/19/picture-this-diversity-in-childrens-books-2018-infographic/.

I’ve also been thinking a lot about the recent Reading While White post, “Newbery, Caldecott and Perspectives on Excellence” by Megan Schliesman, which I think can inform our work doing mock discussions too.

The Books

The books I selected for our 2020 Caldecott Club are:

The Very Impatient Caterpillar by Ross Burach

How to Read a Book by Kwame Alexander, illustrated by Melissa Sweet

The Little Guys by Vera Brosgol

Carl and the Meaning of Life by Deborah Freedman

Bear Came Along by Richard T. Morris, illustrated by LeUyen Pham

A Stone Sat Still by Brendan Wenzel

Another by Christian Robinson

Music for Mister Moon by Philip and Erin Stead

When Aidan Became a Brother by Kyle Lukoff, illustrated by Kaylani Juanita

¡Vamos! Let's Go to the Market by Raúl the Third, Colors by Elaine Bay

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

At the Mountain's Base by Traci Sorell, illustrated by Weshoyot Alvitre

A Big Bed for Little Snow by Grace Lin

Saturday by Oge Mora

Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story by Kevin Noble Maillard, illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal

Going Down Home with Daddy by Kelly Starling Lyons, illustrated by Daniel Minter

The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander & Kadir Nelson

Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry, illustrated by Vashti Harrison

Where Are You From? by Yamile Saied Méndez, illustrated by Jamie Kim

The Proudest Blue by Ibtihaj Muhammad with S. K. Ali, illustrated by Hatem Aly

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Talking Books

During each session, we reviewed what the Caldecott award was and what makes a good picture book to develop common kid-created language to use to evaluate the picture books. I’d bring out a box of books, like the grown-up committee receives, and one of our kids would open it and help hand out the books. We then did picture walks through each of the books and voted for their top two favorites that would go to our voting party. I felt called to action after reading Best Friends by Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham where young Shannon doesn't see herself reflected in the texts they're studying so she doesn't think she could be a writer. I shared photographs of every author and illustrator, so kids could see the creators behind the works we studied and see themselves reflected.

To plan for our discussions, I did a deep dive into the research about each book, reading reviews, articles, and interviews, listening to podcasts (often multiple times), watching videos and webinars, and exploring Twitter conversations. I immersed myself in the books, writing copious notes and questions, so I could integrate the information into the discussion based on what the kids said. Often the kids would ask a question or share an opinion that would provide the perfect opportunity to add information about the illustrator’s craft, process, or reason for telling this story. I worked hard to be equally effusive about every book so the children could form their own perspectives about them. (The same goes if you don’t love a book as much as the kids. It’s their award, after all.) I think it’s really important if you’re hosting a mock award program to center kids’ voices, which will support their visual literacy and critical thinking. Often a question will provoke a much richer discussion than a lecture from me about what the book means. Before Caldecott Club began, I finally read Megan Dowd Lambert’s brilliant book, Reading Picture Books with Children: How to Shake Up Storytime and Get Kids Talking About What They See, which offered many new strategies (and reinforced the ones I was already using) to do this important work. I know I improved our picture walks and discussions because of this book. I highly recommend it!

Hosting Kyle Lukoff!!!

I had no idea that when I walked in (feeling harried and late) to the ALSC (Association for Library Service to Children) Pre-conference, I would chance upon beloved children’s author, Kyle Lukoff, who has written one of my favorite books, When Aidan Became a Brother, illustrated by Kaylani Juanita. I made my painfully shy self introduce myself to Kyle and let him know how much I loved his book. Fast forward to September and Kyle reached out to let me know that he’d be in town and was available to visit our library. We had selected When Aidan Became a Brother for our Mock Caldecott, so the timing was perfect. We had a fantastic Junior Justice League session where I shared When Aidan Became a Brother and we made posters and clouds to welcome Kyle to our library. We also discussed it in Caldecott Club, so many of our kids had several chances to explore Kyle’s lovely and literary writing and Kaylani’s gorgeous digital illustrations.

And then Kyle came to visit our library and I tried to unsuccessfully remain calm. Kyle shared a read aloud of When Aidan Became a Brother with our kids, sharing a scanned version of the book at the same time, helping make it more accessible for our group. (I totally stole this idea to scan in the book for subsequent Caldecott Clubs, so thanks, Kyle!) He answered their many, many questions patiently - and with the expertise from his many years working with children. (Seriously, I wish I could just hang out at his school library and learn from him.) Yes, I did borrow some of his management techniques to use with our group, and of course they worked. (Did I use his clap twice strategy with middle schoolers during zombie night last week? I sure did.) Our kids were particularly fascinated by how Kyle didn’t talk with Kaylani Juanita in the process of making Aidan but communicated through their editor, Cheryl B. Klein. Kyle showed us some behind-the-scenes secrets of things that changed in the revision process - and beautiful details that Kaylani added in her illustrations. After our whirlwind conversation, the kids had the chance to do a drawing activity that Kyle shared where they could decorate their dream room. The independent children’s bookstore, Booked, kindly joined us to sell Kyle’s books, which he signed for our audience. He even signed a super special Caldecott Club copy, which I’ll raffle during our Youth Media Awards celebration. I know I will always remember this wonderful experience with Kyle. And I’m not the only one. I overheard one of our Caldecott Club kids explaining our program to a friend and he shared a joyful recap of our visit with Kyle, expressing pride in knowing the author of one of the best books. Connecting with children’s book creators can be life-changing - and I’m so grateful for this opportunity. Thank you, Kyle!!

Extra Session

I added an extra session to our program series to enable us to review the books before our party. But our kids had other ideas and I wanted to honor their requests. They were eager to learn what it was like to be a grown-up member of the Caldecott committee. I reached out to Sarah Bean Thompson, who I served on the Odyssey committee with, and who had been on the 2016 Caldecott committee, and she kindly agreed to Skype with us. I had the kids write down questions for her beforehand and Sarah did her best to answer all of their pressing questions. Well, the questions that she could answer. Sarah also beautifully validated the fantastic work we’ve been doing in our program. She told us that she’s read the kids’ comments in our blog posts, and our discussions are just like the grown-up committee – as we find a book that rises to the top.

She told us that one of the cool things about the Caldecott committee was that many of the people had Caldecott clubs and take the feedback from the kids and share what they said. I truly appreciate Sarah demystifying the Caldecott selection process and empowering the kids’ experiences as evaluators. After our Skype session, we did an activity that the kids had been asking for: we made art! I set up several stations with art materials related to the medium that the authors used such as watercolor, collage, found books, and colored pencils. They were encouraged to make their own version of the book covers with the art supplies, and naturally, the kids gravitated to making their own original watercolor art. I played the Hair Love short film while we made art, which really is the perfect soundtrack for creativity. It was really fun to have a more chill session that was based off the kids’ interests.

The Party: What Worked and What Didn’t

Gaby and Lisa, our newest YTS staff member, were instrumental in setting up and running this program. I could not have done it without them! I learned so much from last year’s party, as well as Mr. Brian’s Evanston Public Library Voting Party. While I had the kids introduce the books last year, which has its benefits, I decided that I needed to share them myself in order to manage the program better. (In the future, it would definitely be fun to have other staff lead these discussions, too.) While it was a bit of a rocky transition into the program; we ended up having more friends than expected and had to do some table shifting. But once we started our discussion, the kids were incredibly engaged and attentive. (You can read the entire recap here.) I had scanned in all of the books into PowerPoint, so everyone could see the pages at the same time - and of course, the kids were super interested in doing close readings, telling Ms. Gaby and Ms. Lisa to move the slides back and forth. Let me pause there - the kids led us in close readings, not me. They had so much experience during our picture walks and discussions that they had the confidence to apply these strategies and model them for others. Throughout our discussion, I connected what they said to the Caldecott criteria, helping amplify how their positive or negative comments related to our goal to select the most distinguished picture book. Each discussion began with what we liked about the art, following the CCBC book discussion guidelines. Then, we shared what didn’t work about the art. (Next time, I would also add what Mr. Brian did and ask if anyone had a convincing argument for why we should choose the book for our Caldecott winner.) During our discussion, I added several movement breaks in our discussion during our Voting Party and it made a huge difference as I could see the kids’ energy waning. I learned quickly that 11 books is TOO many to discuss at our Party, which I communicated during the program to the kids, committing to improving this for the future Caldecott Club. I think 8 books really is the ideal number of titles to discuss within a 90-minute program, especially when you need to ballot, tally, and celebrate.

At the end of the discussion, the kids were given ballots to select their 1st, 2nd, and 3rd favorite books. Once they completed it, they were given an evaluation form to give us feedback and when they completed that, they got a prize bag. While I worked on doing math with the ballots, Ms. Gaby and Ms. Lisa hosted our raffle with the kids, which was so incredibly kind of them since I know it was super stressful. I think kids just had too many choices of things they could pick - and there were so many kids there to pick to get prizes. Next time, I’m definitely leaving out the raffle at our party and saving it for our Youth Media Awards viewing party. Still, I know the kids really loved the raffle, so I’m grateful that they handled it for me. I’m also grateful for the wonderful art-themed prizes that Dr. Shira Roth gifted to our group, encouraging our young friends to create original art. In the future, I am going to do what Mr. Brian does and leave the room to do the maths with the ballots and then return with the results. Staying in the room meant I looked available to talk about the raffle, which I was not. Once I had figured out the math, I announced the winners, which was very exciting and loud. We then made a quick “the call” video for our winner, Vera Brosgol, author of The Little Guys, which Ms. Emily kindly filmed in the midst of all the chaos. We then distributed Calde-cookies, which are exactly what they sound like, and are delicious. We then had to clean up and set-up for the next program, but many kind people helped with the transition. Thanks, friends!

Seeking Excellent, not Perfection

I spend hours preparing for Caldecott Club, trying to imagine every unexpected comment or situation, when it’s clearly impossible. When things do not go as planned, I tend to overthink what I could have done differently or what I did wrong. I am trying to reframe my approach to programming (and let’s be honest, life) to focus on excellence, not perfection. I can always get better at all the things - and learning from mistakes is how that happens. A program series is a fantastic place to try new things and see what works better. I have changed my program set-up repeatedly, beginning with vertical rows of tables, which didn’t work because kids had their backs to me and each other, then a large horizontal row of tables, which worked better but the kids couldn’t see each other, to finally a large conference table set-up, which magically worked better and enabled everyone to engage with each other. We also moved to the other side of the room that had the TV monitor, which made the picture book images much clearer and easier to see. I also added movement breaks into our program to stretch up and down and get our wiggles out after we discuss two books. I think it’s also important to let kids opt out of this experience and find ways to make it accessible for kids. Just taking a deep breath in and out can help us all relax and prepare ourselves to continue the program. These movement breaks were also essential for some of the management issues I had during this program.

Caldecott Club is one of the most school-like programs I host, so it can be challenging for the kids when they’ve already spent a whole day at school. I worked to better communicate my expectations with the kids throughout the series, which included raising our hands, staying in our seats, and listening to each other. Kids are always able to decide to leave the program if they determine it’s not for them, which I think is an important choice to have. There’s no pressure to stay in a program they’re not interested in. At the same time, I know that children are children - and a 90-minute program is HARD! (I can pretend that it’s a 60-minute program, but let’s be honest, it always goes until 5pm.) So I tried to make the environment, structure and organization of the program a better fit for them. For some sessions, I selected books that were too long to give them equal time, so I know I need to plan my pairings better so we don’t feel rushed in our discussion. I have to accept that we may not be able to explore every spread in detail in order to move forward in the program and keep the kids engaged. Transitions always pose a challenge for kids (and grown-ups, let’s be honest), so I want to find better ways for them to come into the program and switch between the discussion, voting and closing. I think if I create better, clearer procedures, it will be better for them. I also think it’s okay for a program to be a little chaotic as long as everyone’s safe and having fun - and clearly, I need to resist my urge to control everything. I know it’s important to be human with young people and honestly say that I don’t know things, which of course, I don’t, and follow up later with the information - as well as show I’m learning every day how to be their librarian. Hosting this program is an act of humility - and I will always learn more each time.

Creating a Calde-Community

Our kids developed a beautiful community together, welcoming new friends who joined us at later sessions and helping them catch up. They were eager participants during the program - and often asked me when the next session would take place. This year, some of our Caldekids even made promotional videos, revealing the upcoming selections. It was really fun to help them act as content creators and engage them in new ways. It was especially special when the books’ authors/illustrators noticed and commented. Our group also expressed their strong identity as a Caldecott Club. They are a committee who also evaluates books like the grown-up one is doing. (Fun fact: I got the lanyards that the kids used to hold their Caldecott Club badges at the ALSC pre-conference... the more you know...)

We often don’t know the impact of our programs or how these books will connect with young readers. But I believe that this program can help them feel good about being at the library, form a community together, share stories that are affirming and engaging and fun, and focus on the beauty within. It is no small thing.

And the party doesn't end yet. I'm super excited to host a curated viewing party for the Youth Media Awards on Monday, January 27 from 3:30-5:00 with our Caldecott Club. Other friends are welcome to join us! The livestream will take place at 7am CST and you can watch it here. Then, inspired by Mr. Brian, we're going to have a reaction session on Thursday to discuss the results and share our impressions of the entire program series. It will give the kids a chance to give more feedback and reflect on Caldecott Club. The more reflection, the better.

Resources:

A librarian always shares their resources :) Here are a series of resources I found and used while preparing for our Caldecott Club that you may want to check out.

The Very Impatient Caterpillar by Ross Burach

Booktalk Video

The Very Impatient Caterpillar by Ross Burach | Scholastic Spring 2019 Online Preview

Mr. Schu Reads Cover Reveal

Publisher’s page

Princess Abigail the STORY Teller’s Read Aloud
Storytime with Ryan and Craig Read Aloud

PW KidsCast: A Conversation with Ross Burach

How to Read a Book by Kwame Alexander, illustrated by Melissa Sweet

Publisher’s Weekly Cover Reveal: ‘How to Read a Book’

Publisher’s page
Melissa Sweet Shows How to Read a Book

How to Read a Book (7 Impossible Things)

Book Page Book Review (Julie Danielson)