Mock Caldecott

   
The youth librarians of Rockland County held a Mock Caldecott event yesterday to choose the most distinguished children’s book with respect to artistic excellence.  It was quite an interesting experience: four groups were formed with 10 books each to whittle down eventually to one winner. Then the 4 winners were ranked by the entire group as a whole. The results were: winning with the most number of first place votes was “Blue Sky White Stars“, illustrated by Kadir Nelson; a picture book about patriotism whose original art was beautifully done in oils on canvas. Our honor award book with the most second place votes was “Windows“, written by Julia Denos and illustrated by E.B. Goodall. This is a story about a late afternoon- early evening stroll through the urban neighborhood of Somerville, Massachusetts. A young boy walking his dog peeks into neighbors’ windows to see the small scale theater that takes place within each. So on Monday, February 12, we will find out how close we came to the ALA Caldecott Committee’s choices for a winner! Here is a clip of the process of writing Windows, and a review of Blue Sky White Stars…