Caldecott Winners

Praised for acting like a big girl when she is small, as a young girl grows, "big" becomes a word of criticism, until the girl realizes that she is fine just the way she is.

This hot dog has had enough of summer in the city! Enough of sizzling sidewalks, enough of wailing sirens, enough of people's feet right in his face. When he plops down in the middle of a crosswalk, his owner endeavors to get him the breath of fresh air he needs. She hails a taxi, hops a train, and ferries out to the beach. Here, a pup can run!

While driving through Ohio in an old Pontiac, a young girl's Chinese immigrant parents spot watercress growing wild in a ditch by the side of the road. hey stop the car, grabbing rusty scissors and an old paper bag, and the whole family wades into the mud to gather as much as they can. At first, she's embarrassed. Why can't her family just get food from the grocery store, like everyone else? But when her mother shares a bittersweet story of her family history in China, the girl learns to appreciate the fresh food they foraged—and the memories left behind in pursuit of a new life. Together, they make a new memory of watercress.

Water is the first medicine. It affects and connects us all. Water is sacred. My people talk of a black snake that will destroy the land, Spoil the water, wreck everything in its path. Told from the perspective of a Native American child, this bold and lyrical picture book written by Ojibwe/Métis author Carole Lindstrom and illustrated by Tlingit artist Michaela Goade is a powerful call to action to defend Earth's natural resources--inspired by the Dakota Access Pipeline protests and similar movements led by Indigenous tribes all across North America.

From New York Times bestselling-author Kwame Alexander comes this powerful and important ode to black history: the strength and bravery of everyday people and the grit, passion, and perseverance of some of the world's greatest artists, athletes, and activists.

Explores the life of one lighthouse as it beams its message out to sea through shifting seasons, changeable weather, and the tenure of its final keeper.

A girl is lost in a snowstorm. A wolf cub is lost, too. How will they find their way home?

Jean-Michel Basquiat and his unique, collage-style paintings rocketed to fame in the 1980s as a cultural phenomenon unlike anything the art world had ever seen. But before that, he was a little boy who saw art everywhere: in poetry books and museums, in games and in the words that we speak, and in the pulsing energy of New York City.

A woman tells her young son the true story of how his great-great-grandfather, Captain Harry Colebourn, rescued and learned to love a bear cub in 1914 as he was on his way to take care of soldiers' horses during World War I, and the bear became the inspiration for A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh.

An imaginary friend waits a long time to be imagined by a child and given a special name, and finally does the unimaginable--he sets out on a quest to find his perfect match in the real world.

Learn what it was like to travel on the transcontinental railroad in the 1860s.

A tiny minnow wearing a pale blue bowler hat has a thing or two up his fins in this underwater light-on-dark chase scene.

A wordless picture book showing the fun a dog has with her ball, and what happens when it is lost. This story is about what it is like to lose something special, and find a friend.

Amos McGee, a friendly zookeeper, always made time to visit his good friends: the elephant, the tortoise, the penguin, the rhinoceros, and the owl. But one day, he woke with the sniffles and the sneezes. Though he didn't make it into the zoo that day, he did receive some unexpected guests.

In this wordless retelling of an Aesop fable set in the African Serengeti, an adventuresome mouse proves that even small creatures are capable of great deeds when she rescues the King of the Jungle.

A spare, patterned text and glowing pictures explore the origins of light that make a house a home in this bedtime book for young children. Naming nighttime things that are both comforting and intriguing to preschoolers--a key, a bed, the moon--this timeless book illuminates a reassuring order to the universe.

Orphan, clock keeper, and thief, Hugo lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station, where his survival depends on secrets and anonymity. But when his world suddenly interlocks - like the gears of the clocks he keeps - with an eccentric, bookish girl and a bitter old man who runs a toy booth in the train station, Hugo's undercover life, and his most precious secret, are put in jeopardy.

A bright, science-minded boy goes to the beach equipped to collect and examine flotsam--anything floating that has been washed ashore. But there's no way he could have prepared for one particular discovery: a barnacle-encrusted underwater camera, with its own secrets to share . . . and to keep.

Looking through the kitchen window, a little girl and her doting grandparents watch stars, play games, and, most importantly, say hello and goodbye.

When Kitten mistakes the full moon for a bowl of milk, she ends up tired, wet, and hungry trying to reach it.

A lyrical evocation of Philippe Petit's 1974 tightrope walk between the World Trade Center towers.

Something always seems to go wrong when Rabbit is around, but Mouse lets him play with his toy plane anyway because he is his good friend.

The three pigs escape the wolf by going into another world where they meet the cat and the fiddle, the cow that jumped over the moon, and a dragon.

Presents an assortment of facts about the qualifications and characteristics of U.S. presidents, from George Washington to Bill Clinton.

A very old overcoat is recycled numerous times into a variety of garments..

A biography of a self-taught scientist who photographed thousands of individual snowflakes in order to study their unique formations.

A retelling of the German folktale in which a beautiful girl with long golden hair is kept imprisoned in a lonely tower by a sorceress.

A saintly rabbi miraculously brings to life a clay giant who helps him watch over the Jews of sixteenth-century Prague.

The children at Napville Elementary School always ignore Officer Buckle's safety tips, until a police dog named Gloria accompanies him when he gives his safety speeches.

When the Los Angeles riots break out in the streets of their neighborhood, a young boy and his mother learn the values of getting along with others no matter what their background or nationality.

A Japanese American man recounts his grandfather's journey to America which he later also undertakes, and the feelings of being torn by a love for two different countries.

Mirette learns tightrope walking from Monsieur Bellini, a guest in her mother's boarding house, not knowing that he is a celebrated tightrope artist who has withdrawn from performing because of fear.

Frogs rise on their lily pads, float through the air, and explore the nearby houses while their inhabitants sleep.

Four brief "stories" about parents, trains, and cows, or is it really all one story? The author recommends careful inspection of words and pictures to both minimize and enhance confusion.

Three sisters staying home alone are endangered by a hungry wolf who is disguised as their grandmother.

For his visiting grandchildren, Grandpa demonstrates some of the songs, dances, and jokes he performed when he was a vaudeville entertainer.

On a winter's night under a full moon, a father and daughter trek into the woods to see the Great Horned Owl.

A city janitor and his treasured canine companion are transported by a large colorful bird to an island in the sky, where their comfortable paradise existence threatens to turn them into birds as well.

A magical train ride on Christmas Eve takes a boy to the North Pole to receive a special gift from Santa Claus.

Retells the segment from Spenser's The Faerie Queene, in which George, the Red Cross Knight, slays the dreadful dragon that has been terrorizing the countryside for years and brings peace and joy to the land.

A biography of the man whose fascination with flying machines produced the Blériot XI, which crossed the English Channel in thirty-seven minutes in the early 1900s.

Shadow lives in the forest... It goes forth at night to prowl around the fires. It even likes to mingle with the dancers...

Left on their own for an afternoon, two bored and restless children find more excitement than they bargained for in a mysterious and mystical jungle adventure board game.

Twenty original fables about an array of animal characters from crocodile to ostrich.

Describes the day-to-day life of an early nineteenth-century New England family throughout the changing seasons.

Though she is fond of her people, a girl prefers to live among the wild horses where she is truly happy and free.

Retells in pictures how a pair of every manner of creature climbed on board Noah's ark and thereby survived the Flood.

Explains some traditions and customs of 26 African tribes beginning with letters from A to Z.

A retelling of a traditional West African tale that reveals how the mosquito developed its annoying habit.on.

An adaptation of the Pueblo Indian myth which explains how the spirit of the Lord of the Sun was brought to the world of men.

A Cornish version of Rumpelstiltskin. The spinning and knitting the devil agrees to do for her win Duffy the Squire's name and a carefree life until it comes time for her to guess the devil's name.

While chasing a dumpling, a little lady is captured by wicked creatures from whom she escapes with the means of becoming the richest woman in Japan.

After the old woman cuts off his tail when he steals her milk, the fox must go through a long series of transactions before she will sew it back on again.

Recounts how most African folk tales came to be called "Spider Stories."

In a moment of fright, Sylvester the donkey asks his magic pebble to turn him into a rock but then can not hold the pebble to wish himself back to normal again.

When the Czar proclaims that he will marry his daughter to the man who brings him a flying ship, the Fool of the World sets out to try his luck and meets some unusual companions on the way.

A cumulative folk song in which seven soldiers build a magnificent cannon, but Drummer Hoff fires it off.

Relates the experiences of a little girl as she learns to tell the difference between make believe and real life.

In this Scottish folk song, a generous family always has room for another person and invites in everyone who passes by.

A well-mannered little boy, frequently invited to visit the king and queen, always asks to bring a friend--and the friends are always wild animals--and always well-behaved.

A naughty little boy, sent to bed without his supper, sails to the land of the wild things where he becomes their king.

The adventures of a little boy in the city on a very snowy day.

As it changes from mouse, to cat, to dog, to tiger, a hermit's pet also becomes increasingly vain.

The Russian folktale about an old woman's endless search for the Christ child.

Ceci anxiously awaits her first posada, the special Mexican Christmas party, and the opportunity to select a piñata for it.

A sly fox tries to outwit a proud rooster through the use of flattery.

Follows the activities of two children spending their summer vacation on an island off the coast of Maine.

Briefly describes the value of a tree.

Illustrates the well-known American folk song about the courtship and marriage of the frog and the mouse.

Cinderella leaves behind a glass slipper in her haste to flee the palace before the fairy godmother's magic loses effect.

A hound rescues a schoolgirl from the Seine, becomes a beloved school pet, is chased away by the trustees, and returns with a surprise.

Johnny Orchard brings home a playful bear cub that soon becomes huge and a nuisance to the neighbors.

Two dogs each claim a bone they have found and ask passersby for help in deciding ownership.

Katy's Easter morning discovery renews the tradition of the Easter egg tree.

Sad when the swallows leave for the winter, young Juan prepares to welcome them back to the old California Mission at Capistrano on St. Joseph's Day the next spring.

Despite their elaborate preparations for the winter, the animals and birds are delighted by a surprise banquet after a big snow.

When it begins to look, feel, and smell like snow, everyone prepares for a winter blizzard.

Depicts the changes that occur on a small island as the seasons come and go, as day changes to night, and as a storm approaches.

A collection of traditional American nursery rhymes, finger games, skipping rhymes, jingles, and counting-out rhymes.

An illustrated bedtime prayer which gives thanks for the many aspects of a child's world.

Though many try, only the court jester is able to fulfill Princess Lenore's wish for the moon.

A country house is unhappy when the city, with all its buildings and traffic, grows up around her.

Story about a mallard family who make their home near a pond in the Public Garden in Boston.

Relates the story of the author's grandparents and parents, who, though not famous, helped build the United States.

Text and illustrations present the life of the boy born on the Kentucky frontier who became the sixteenth president of the United States.

After spending an eventful day at the fair held on New Year's Eve, Mei Li arrives home just in time to greet the Kitchen God.

Dorothy Lathrop's Animals of the Bible won the very first Caldecott Medal when it was originally published in 1937.