News from the Library

TDS students in Lower School are participating in a 2020 Mock Caldecott unit with Ms. Phillips in the library. They are reading, evaluating, and discussing twelve 2019 picture books that are getting buzz as Caldecott contenders. Maybe our students will pick one of the actual winners!

[su_spoiler title=”Spoiler Alert: The winners were announced on Monday!” style=”simple” class=”spoiler-margin”]The American Library Association on January 27 announced the top books, video, and audio books for children and young adults—including the Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, Newbery, and Printz awards—at its Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia.

Students will be reading and voting for their top picks through mid-March, so don’t spoil the surprise![/su_spoiler]

If you’re unfamiliar with the Caldecott Medal, it’s an award given every year to the creators of the most distinguished American children’s picture book. The Association of Library Services to Children, a division of the American Library Association, awards one Caldecott Medal and several runner-up Caldecott Honor Medals each year. You may have noticed these gold and silver medals on winning books!

Ms. Phillips has chosen 12 new books to read to each TK-5th grade class, differentiating conversation/response activities for age. These titles are ones that have been both highly acclaimed in current reviews and will further our school’s diversity and inclusion initiatives.[su_row][su_column size=”1/3″][/su_column][su_column size=”1/3″][/su_column][su_column size=”1/3″][/su_column][/su_row] Throughout the Mock Caldecott experience, students have been highly involved in reading for deep meaning and the subtleties of literature, expressing opinions and ideas with peers, reading about people’s lives that might be similar or different from their own, and building excitement and appreciation about new literature and authors.

They are also getting the opportunity to discuss what makes a book “distinguished” and rate each book based on the Caldecott criteria. It’s pretty short criteria, actually, but it talks about Caldecott books being a VISUAL experience, with the story or theme developing primarily via pictures, rather than resting mostly on the text. See the Caldecott criteria here.

Here are the 12 Caldecott Book hopefuls on our score sheet this year. These titles are all be available for check out in the library and some will be coming to the book fair in February!

Ask your child which Caldecott competitor is their favorite so far and why. Furthermore, stop by the library anytime to view these great books yourself!

Jennifer Phillips
Librarian