Mock Caldecott 2026 discussion

Someone Builds the Dream by Lisa Wheeler




Watercress by Andrea Wang




Wonder Walkers by Micha Archer


I am really excited by a few of these, what did you think of them?

Watercress is my favorite book of the bunch. Typical Jason Chin Caldecott worthy illustrations. Wonder Walkers is very pretty and Someone Builds the Dream is entertaining and detailed. Ben Rothery is a U.K author/illustrator, I believe. Hidden Planet doesn’t qualify for a Caldecott.

Watercress
This story is based on the author's memories of her own family. The Chinese-American author/MC has to deal with her feelings of shame and embarrassment of her family--for their collecting watercress from the side of the road (in front of everybody!) and for their necessarily frugal ways. She is very anxious to be able to "fit in" with her American friends and neighbors, and does not want to be viewed as different. An excellent book for revealing the feelings of the children of immigrants. Beautiful paintings by award-winning Jason Chin. I also hope it gets some Caldecott love.

Laura wrote: "Watercress is my favorite book of the bunch. Typical Jason Chin Caldecott worthy illustrations. Wonder Walkers is very pretty and Someone Builds the Dream is entertaining and detailed. Ben Rothery ..."

Ah, you are correct! Thank you for pointing that out. I have removed it from our list this month.

You can still view it on our bookshelf under "ineligible."

Wonder Walkers speaks to readers in a way asking them to put phones and devices aside. Archer uses collages to design her pages. She has drawers filled with handmade papers and cutting and painting tools. Archer designed a house from paper in order to get proper perspective for the houses in her final scene at nightfall. Worthy of Caldecott? Yes! Archer's illustrations are a gentle reminder for us to take care of our world and be stewards of the land.

Watercress suggests the importance of sharing one’s family history with its young but also cherishing time to build new memories as a family. The illustrator focuses on the style of life in rural America for an Asian family but uses the art technique of Chinese painting to give a look of the 70s. The dreams of China, in this story, have a washed muted look. It blends the life of today for the family and a long hard look at yesteryear for the family in China to true beauty.

Someone Builds the Dream - Great read-aloud. Children will want to read it again and again. Each page offers so much detail. How fun to compare the first two pages with the last two pages. It’s like a Count the Changes Challenge! The text and illustrations honor diversity, disabilities, and men and women – all featured as a major part of the teamwork to build a dream.

Wonder Walkers
A very beautiful book with lyrical text asking such questions as, "Do mountains have bones?" and "Are trees the sky's legs?" As Carol noted, the gorgeous illustrations are collages made from tissue paper and patterned paper the author/illustrator created with her own homemade stamps. No digital manipulation of these great paintings.

Someone Builds the Dream
A celebration of all the behind-the-scenes people who take dreams and plans and build or make them into a reality. I really liked the paintings, which were described as: created by hand on illustration board using acrylics, colored pencils, and whatever dust and dog hair happened to be floating around the studio.

July books??

I enjoyed all three of these books. I love that Someone Builds the Dream celebrates the unsung workers, not just the visionaries; the engaging, rhyming text and colorful, diverse pictures will undoubtedly appeal to youngsters. Watercress has a touching storyline as well as Jason Chin's gorgeous and intricate (as always) illustrations depicting the heavy emotions of that story - definitely a worthy contender. My personal favorite of the bunch, however, is Wonder Walkers. I fell in love with Micha Archer's work after she visited our local library and explained her artistic process (mentioned already by others) - each page is so creative and beautiful, a work of art on its own merit, but also collectively, they challenge the readers to look for the mystery and poetry in the natural world around them. I would love to see Archer honored for the thought, imagination, and care that she puts into her work.

I appreciated the artwork, messages, and representation in Someone Builds a Dream and Watercress. But the artwork in Wonder Walkers was very special, and yes, distinguised in my view. It enhanced the text and was, well...wonder-full.