Usually I don't write about the Caldecott Unit at the Lower School until after it's over and the children have voted for the book that they believe deserves the gold Caldecott Medal. But this year the children are all abuzz with the Caldecott books and Week 1/Book 1 brought a lot of excitement to the library. Before I tell you about Book 1, let me briefly explain about the Caldecott Medal. Each year, since 1937, this award has been given by the American Library Association to the best illustrated picture book of the preceding year. In the Aaron Kushner Library we have been doing this unit for over 24 years. The children symbolically don their "Caldecott Glasses" and focus on the countless details that one can see while looking at the picture books. We look at style, placement, size, color, font and much more. We look for the books where the illustrations match the text like a glove closely fits on your hand during the winter time. Then we vote.
Class ended with the words, "But remember, don't make your mind up yet because we have three more books to look at!"