The Caldecott Award, a prestigious award honoring the best picture book for children, is given every year by the American Library Association (ALA). A committee made up of 15 individuals within the library field spend all year looking through submissions to select the best of the best. This year, Aurora Public Library (APL) assistant director of children’s services, Sophie Kenney, had the privilege to be part of the process!
Sophie shares she was chosen to be part of this selection process through her involvement with the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of ALA. There were more than 1,000 children’s book submissions that had to be reviewed over a 10-month period.
What exactly makes a book eligible? Any English picture book is qualified to submit for review. Although there are submissions, it is part of Sophie’s role to seek books to and encourage the illustrator to apply. Sophie said, “I had to actively look at blogs and other platforms to see what’s available and trends that there are. It was extremely helpful in my role to keep up to date with this information, but it also gave me some great ideas I can implement in programming storytimes, school visits, and other outreach initiatives.”
Every month committee members would make suggestions until the 10-month period had concluded. Starting in October 2019 committee members would make formal nominations. A total of seven nominations were decided on between October and December 2019. Then, it was the big moment to decide the one. In January, the committee met at the ALA Mid-west Conference were they had three days to deliberate and come to an agreement. Sophie said, “It was really insightful to have people from all over the world, at different points in their careers come together. It opens your eyes how each book can be perceived different based on a person’s experience. It’s amazing how each book moves people differently and helps you understand the book better.”
The winner of the Caldecott award is, The Undefeated illustrated by Kadir Nelson, written by Kwame Alexander which was announced late January who will be honored at the annual ALA conference in June. Sophie shares that she is happy with the overall selection which shows not only the diversity of children’s publishing today, but the diversity within illustrators. She said, “they’re all great books” and encourages you to check out the winning book along with the remaining three honored books: Bear Came Along, illustrated by LeUyen Pham, written by Richard T. Morris; Double Bass Blues, illustrated by Rudy Gutierrez, written by Andrea J. Loney; and Going Down Home with Daddy, illustrated by Daniel Minter, written by Kelly Starling Lyons.
Miriam Meza-Gotto is communications manager for Aurora Public Library.