Mock Caldecott 2026 discussion

After the Fall by Dan Santat

Grand Canyon by Jason Chin

A Different Pond Bao Phi and illustrated by Thi Bui

Dad and the Dinosaur by Gennifer Choldenko and illustrated by Dan Santat

There are some highly accredited authors this month. You can just feel the awards getting closer.

What did you think of these selections?

I am in love with After the Fall by Dan Santat. It is one of the best nursery rhyme retellings I have ever read. I completely did not see that ending coming. The illustrations are fun, bright and wonderful. I can't imagine a single child not enamored by this book.

Grand Canyon is very good. It is not a top pick for me. Dad and the Dinosaur and A Different Pond are good, too. After the Fall has the best shot at winning a Caldecott.

Just read Grand Canyon. I learned a lot! I especially liked the technique of showing specific area now and as they looked millions of years ago. The illustrations were lovely and also good at supporting the information in each section. My frustration as a public librarian with such titles is that they are hard to place. In B&T the audience is listed at grades 4-6. That group will never find it in picture books and there is too much text to place it there anyway. But in non-fiction the large format and cover art would discourage older kids from checking it out. Our copy has only checked out 2 x in almost a year.

Kate wrote: "Just read Grand Canyon. I learned a lot! I especially liked the technique of showing specific area now and as they looked millions of years ago. The illustrations were lovely and also good at suppo..."

This is all very true. I believe Grand Canyon is shelved in the science/nature section at B&N. The children who frequent that section rarely seek out a picture book. Even as part of a book report etc.

Kate wrote: "Just read Grand Canyon. I learned a lot! I especially liked the technique of showing specific area now and as they looked millions of years ago. The illustrations were lovely and also good at suppo..."

In the public library system I work for, the book is classified as 557. I am at home now and so can't see the details on how many times our copies have checked out (10 copies in our system).

After the Fall is my top pick for this year! SO many amazing details in the illustrations! And the ending!!

I find that the placement of juvenile non-fiction in our library does keep good books from finding an audience. We are very space-limited and do not have a separate area for this kind of book. I just do what I can to promote them with displays, social media, etc.

A Different Pond
This lovely story captures a very early morning when a Vietnamese refugee dad and his young son have to go fishing for dinner that night (the kitchen calendar shows 1982). The family has one car, which dad uses to get to the fishing pond, and to go to work later; but Mom has to ride a bike to work. A heart-felt portrait of the hardships faced by new refugees to the US. The lovely watercolors illuminate the story in full-page and double-page spreads, and in panels.

Grand Canyon
I thought this was an excellent exploration of the Grand Canyon for elementary age students. I really liked how the book took the reader through the different layers of the canyon; how the borders had additional information on flora, fauna, etc. I liked the die cut holes that peeked from one page to the next. The information was fascinating and the illustrations did a great job of depicting and expanding on the text.

Dad and the Dinosaur
I really liked this story and the very large sized illustrations rendered in pencil, watercolor, ink and acrylics. I liked how the boy's imagined scary creatures also appeared in the illustrations, as if they were real. I thought it was very realistic that the boy had not yet outgrown his dependence on the toy dinosaur for bravery, and that dad and son kept the dinosaur a secret from mom. I don't know if that is enough to boost it into the Caldecott realm.

I have finally read A Different Pond. I found it touching. I can imagine it being a wonderful jumping off point for a discussion of the challenges an immigrant family might face. I really liked the illustrations on the inside covers. Some items are common some not so, a good visual representation of the experience of living in an unfamiliar place. I liked the sparseness of the illustrations too as I think they lent themselves to the experience of book's characters.

Dad and the Dinosaur was sweet. Perhaps a little predictable but that might only be an issue for adult readers. Nice to have an example of male parenting too!

Loved After the Fall and hope Santat receives a sticker for it

The story of After the Fall was so surprising and delightful! Santat is very talented to create a new take on a story so entrenched in our minds. I can just imagine the look of delight on a little one's face the first time they get to the final picture.

Kate wrote: "The story of After the Fall was so surprising and delightful! Santat is very talented to create a new take on a story so entrenched in our minds. I can just imagine the look of delight on a little ..."

I agree! You should've seen the look on my face at the end of the book. I was blown away!

"After the Fall" is magnificent.

Concerning "After the Fall" I would add that, in my opinion, it is very versatile. It strongly lends itself to a group reading. Many of the illustrations span two pages which is good for a story time audience but still has the detail which makes a one on one reading fun and opens up possibilities of deeper discussion. So too for the text which tells a good story but leaves room for an audience to comment and suggest "what happens next" with the great surprise at the end to discuss as well.

Finally got a chance to review "After the Fall" by Dan Santat.

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This book was seriously fantastic. It is one that I will carry with me for a long time. I hope that when my children come to their "great fall" this book will mean as much to them as it does to me. This book will last as long as the original Humpty Dumpty story has.

My library's copy of After the Fall: How Humpty Dumpty Got Back up Again finally arrived. I was very impressed by it. Wonderful pictures and a wonderful ending. I hope the Committee is as impressed as most of us seem to be.