Mock Caldecott 2026 discussion

The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus by Jen Bryant

Little Elliot, Big City by Mike Curato

Flashlight by Lizi Boyd

Stella's Starliner by Rosemary Wells

Here we have another handful of great reading, but are they Caldecott worthy?

Little Elliot, Big City is as scrumptious as the cupcakes that LIttle Elliot craves. Softly muted paintings tell the story of Little Elliot, a small, polka-dotted elephant who lives in a 1940s era New York City. From the cars, furniture, and clothing, the reader can see fashions from several decades ago. And the illustrations tell more of the story than the short, sweet text. I do think this lovely story is award material.

Beverly wrote: "Little Elliot, Big City is as scrumptious as the cupcakes that LIttle Elliot craves. Softly muted paintings tell the story of Little Elliot, a small, polka-dotted elephant who lives in a 1940s era ..."

It's on my short list too.

Patty wrote: "Beverly wrote: "Little Elliot, Big City is as scrumptious as the cupcakes that LIttle Elliot craves. Softly muted paintings tell the story of Little Elliot, a small, polka-dotted elephant who lives..."

Do you have any thoughts to add about the book?

Stella's Starliner: This is a great story about perception. One set of kids think Stella's family is poor because they live in a trailer, which the kids call a tin can. Another set of kids think her family's rich because she lives in a silver house. Wells' characters are foxes, weasels and bunnies. Her illustrations were created with watercolor, gouache, pastel, ink, and colored pencil in her signature style, but the pages are infused with shimmering, shiny silver accents. The illustrations and text work very well together. Most of the illustrations are framed in boxes, but there is one lovely double-page spread. Very nice, but I don't know whether it will be considered award worthy.

The Right Word: Fantastic, extraordinary, magnificent, terrific, wonderful, and many other synonyms of which I can not think right now! The text highlights events in Roget's interesting and multi-faceted life, from his childhood through the publication of his thesaurus. Melissa's mixed-media collages are eye-opening, eye-catching, stupendous, marvelous, ingenious, creative, etc., etc. She used different sorts of papers, leather book binding materials, watercolors, ink, and pencil. Many of her illustrations involve lists of words from Roget's 1852 Thesaurus. Some illustrations are set in frames or panels. The book has a very busy look to it, much like a scrapbook or a journal. This book should be considered for a Sibert mention, or perhaps a Caldecott mention.

Beverly wrote: "Stella's Starliner: This is a great story about perception. One set of kids think Stella's family is poor because they live in a trailer, which the kids call a tin can. Another set of kids think he..."

I think you hit the nail on the head, Beverly. I enjoyed the story and the mixing of sort of classic illustrations with the silver embellishments, but it wasn't--dare I say--stellar? :)

'Flashlight' was a beautiful example of a wordless picture book done amazingly well. The 'story' seems timeless & familiar, so much so that I wonder if this concept has been done before?

Little Elliot: Big City: I really liked this one once I read it. It seemed so simplistic but I warmed up to as I read. This is a beautifully illustrated story about finding your own strengths and building bridges by being thoughtful. I'll be buying this one for my school library!

While I see the benefit of Flashlight as a wordless book, and it it beautiful I feel like there have been too many "wonderful, beautiful, wordless picture books lately." So, it didn't hit a bit note for me.

I found Flashlight to be very precious. In general, I am a big fan of wordless and nearly wordless picture books. Although it's harder (for me to imagine, at least) to share wordless books in a big, storytime setting, I really love the way they can be used to foster children's narrative skills and creativity.

The color pallet was really striking and refreshing and worked well to drive the story forward. The one distraction for me I think was the cutouts between pages, they got to be predictable (leaves, hole in the tree, rock) and it just didn't excite me when I went to turn the page.

So I honestly didn't get much of the story on my first read through, just some whimsical woodland creatures. In that regard, to me, the way the boy was drawn didn't quite seem to fit in (could it have been his likeness to Lord Voldemort, perhaps). He just seems so flat almost, in comparison to the perspective we get from the woods.

Ha ha! Kelly, I'm not going to be able to read this again without thinking of a mini-Voldemort! It is quite a resemblance now that you say it.

I do agree Lisa - there definitely seems to be a run of wordless books at the moment. I did think this is one of the better offerings of late though. Which ones did you prefer? With such choice at the moment, I'd love to build my collection.

Helen, if you're interested in wordless, check out "The Farmer and the Clown" by Marla Frazee.

Also, Fox's Garden by Princesse Camcam. GORGEOUS. Although I don't think it's eligible for a Caldecott award.

Wow! I think this is our strongest group of contenders yet. Rosemary Wells is one of my all time favorites, and Stella's Starliner is right up there with the Yoko books, addressing the way children react to differences amongst their peers. It has been a while since I picked up Flashlight, but I remember really enjoying the visual concept and the style of the illustrations. I absolutely loved everything about The Right Word - the design, the collages, the subject, and the storytelling. I can't wait to take it to school on Monday. Little Elliot is a sweet story, and I like the color palette and style, but seems the least likely to be amongst the winners. I would not be surprised to see any of the other three receive recognition, though.

Helen wrote: "Ha ha! Kelly, I'm not going to be able to read this again without thinking of a mini-Voldemort! It is quite a resemblance now that you say it..."

Just glad I'm not crazy!

It's definitely the year of the wordless picture book...love, love, love, Fox's Garden, The Farmer and the Clown, Flora and the Penguin, The Girl and the Bicycle...I know I'm forgetting something!
While I like Flashlight, it doesn't quite call Caldecott for me. I agree Stella's Starliner is a tender story, that will help kids understand how people live differently, but again it does not seem Caldecott worthy.
Just picked up Roget and Little Elliot.

Thanks for all the suggestions! Cheers!

And how about Quest by Peter Brown?

Becky wrote: "And how about Quest by Peter Brown?"

Are you thinking of Quest by Aaron Becker?
I thought it was terrific!

Oh yes!! HaHa! I read it to my students at the same time I read My Teacher is a Monster by Brown. Sorry for the confusion. We loved My Teacher too, though of course it couldn't have been more different.

I agree - 'Quest' is pretty stunning, as is 'Journey'. Thank you for all the suggestions - I see I'm going to have to give the old credit card a bit of a workout at the local bookshop!

The Right Word--A wonderful picture book biography. Sweet's illustrations make the book come to life for me. I knew nothing of Roget before reading this book. The timeline, author's note, and bibliography give additional information.

Little Elliot Big City--Sweet picture book that will appeal to my youngest students. Not enough of a story for it to be award worthy.

I was disappointed because the simplicity of Journey was wonderful, but this book is too much. I loved Journey last year along with one of my teachers, and we were excited to see Quest. She came to me after reading the book and she just shook her head "This should have been more than one story." We did not like Quest, but we still love Journey.

Lisa wrote: "I was disappointed because the simplicity of Journey was wonderful, but this book is too much. I loved Journey last year along with one of my teachers, and we were excited to see Quest. She came ..."

I understand what you're saying, but my 3rd grade Mock Caldecott Club were entranced with it and pointed out many things I missed. Definitely a book for older readers.

Becky wrote: "Lisa wrote: "I was disappointed because the simplicity of Journey was wonderful, but this book is too much. I loved Journey last year along with one of my teachers, and we were excited to see Ques..."

Becky, Can you tell me more about how you run your Mock Caldecott?

Hands down ~ Flashlight! I LOVED it! It is so unique. It is also very interactive with the holes that carry the "story" from page to page. This was a book that when it came into the library I didn't have the time to look at it, also it didn't "call" to me to make the time, but I am glad I finally gave it a read. I am going to do a storytime/flannelboards of many of these books.
I had a tough time coming up with a second choice. I felt the illustrations for Stella's Starliner were pretty with the silver weasels in Stella's dream and the silver end papers but the story fell very short.
The Right Word had lots of visual excitement but the story wasn't interesting. I feel a Caldecott has to be the WHOLE PACKAGE!