Mock Caldecott 2026 discussion

Run Wild by David Covell

Imagine! by Raúl Colón

Dreamers by Yuyi Morales

The Rough Patch by Brian Lies


It's not very often that all our books have only one contributor per book. What did you think of them?

The Rabbit Listened (Cori Doerrfeld) is perfect! From the gender neutral name and central character to the dilemna of a child who is caught up in a world that demands that one express one's feellings and all the child wants to do is sit and be sad. There is a perfect resolution and a perfect best friend. This one is at the top of my list. It's getting really crowded up there!

Cathy wrote: "The Rabbit Listened (Cori Doerrfeld) is perfect! From the gender neutral name and central character to the dilemna of a child who is caught up in a world that demands that one express one's feellin..."

I love it, too! I wish more ppl were taking notice of it. It is definitely Caldecott worthy!

I like Run Wild. It reminds me a lot of Chris Raschka's illustrations.

Dreamers! I can praise this book all day, night and into the next morning. Yuyi Morales' name should become as familiar to households as Eric Carle, Margaret Wise Brown and Kevin Henkes. I hope Morales has started writing her Caldecott (among other book awards) speech. Dreamers is picture book perfection. It is a profound and incredibly beautiful book. You will lose your mind over Yuri's illustrations of other picture books within Dreamers. What a fun and amazing bonus!

Dreamers
I agree with Laura's assessment--this is a beautiful book. I, too, loved the illustrations of other picture books and chapter books in the library. I just wondered if she had to get permission to do that. I was also very impressed that she painted little spine labels on each of the library books!! I also liked that she included paintings of some of the very early books that she hand made. And her bibliography was just icing on the cake.

I adore Yuyi Morales! Both as a writer, and an artist. Dreamers is absolutely gorgeous.

Imagine!
This book reminded me a bit of The Incredible Painting of Felix Clousseau by Jon Agee, because in both books, the paintings come to life, and figures in the paintings come out of the paintings.
Imagine is a wordless book in which a young boy visits the Museum of Modern Art, and as he gazes at the paintings, figures from the paintings come out of the paintings and dance with him around the museum, and around New York City. The vibrant, textured paintings are rendered in watercolors, Prismacolor pencils and lithograph pencils. The illustrations appear as full page spreads or panels, with smaller panels laid over some of the full page spreads. The effect is that of a joyous day spent with art.

The Rough Patch
I loved Brian Lies's acrylic, oil, and colored pencil illustrations. They were vivid and almost life-like, and I loved how he made Evan the fox's face so expressive.

Dreamers is my pick this year

Run Wild
I finally got a chance to see this book. I really liked the very loose and large illustrations of children running wild outside, and enjoying playing outdoors. There was a sense of freedom in the artwork that depicted what the author/illustrator was trying to convey in his book.