Mock Caldecott 2020 with Printable Score Sheet

Here is everything you need for a Mock Caldecott 2020! Get your Free Printable Score Sheet and Picture Book List to get started.

For the last two years my kids and I have done a Mock Caldecott project together in January. We gather a large stack of picture books rumored to be Caldecott contenders and then read and rank all of them, making our own predictions about winning titles. You can see our predictions for 2018 here, and our 2019 predictions here. 

We've enjoyed this activity so much that this year I started thinking about it in December. I got so excited that I put together our own Mock Caldecott 2020 with Printable Score Sheets and a mighty fine book list, if I do say so myself. 

We'd love to have you join us for a Mock Caldecott 2020 this month! 

The Caldecott Award

The Caldecott is awarded to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children published in the preceding year, as determined by a panel of judges. The official winner this year will be announced on Monday, January 27th at the American Library Association award ceremony. 

In order to be eligible for the Caldecott award, the artist must be an American resident or citizen and the book must be published in the United States, or a U.S. territory. 

The criteria the panel of judges use to determine the most distinguished picture book are as follows: 

1. Excellence of execution in artistic technique
2. Excellence of pictorial interpretation of story, theme, concept
3. Appropriateness of style of illustration to the story, theme concept
4. Delineation of plot, theme, characters, setting, mood or information through pictures
5. Excellence of presentation in recognition of a child audience 

Mock Caldecott 2020

For this Mock Caldecott 2020, I have a list of Picture Book titles rumored by all the best librarians to be Caldecott contenders. I also created simple printable score sheets along with a sheet to tally them up and score the top five. 

The criteria I used is based on the official criteria, but it's a little more kid friendly: 

1. Art technique (is it good art?) 
2. Does the art match the story? (In simple terms, if it's a happy book do the pictures reflect that? Or, if it's a sad book, do the pictures convey sadness?) 
3. Is the art important to the story? (Does the art show you additional details or ideas that you can't get by reading the words alone?) 
4. Is the presentation creative? 
5. Is it appealing/engaging to kids? (Will kids like this book?) 

We have our stacks of books here and we're ready to get started! I sincerely hope that the official winner is one of the books on our Mock Caldecott list, but every now and then a surprise book wins and that's fun too! 

We'll be back here on Friday, January 24th to share our predictions before the official ALA announcement. 

Everything You Need for Your Own Mock Caldecott 

Whether you're doing a Mock Caldecott project at home, in a classroom, or in a library, it's such a fun and unique way to get kids excited about reading. Not only does it help kids to read critically and learn how to identify the elements of a great picture book, but it's also just fun to be a judge in a book contest. And honestly, I have as much fun doing this as my kids do! 

If you want the full book list, 35 titles, and printable score sheets, click here. I used thicker paper and printed on both sides so it was only 5 pieces of paper. 

If you just want the Mock Caldecott Book List, click here.

For a shorter version with only 16 titles, click here. 

And, if you just want a BLANK score sheet to fill in your own book choices, click here. 

If you're participating in our Mock Caldecott 2020, be sure to comment here or tag me on social media @somethewiser . I'd love to see and share your predictions and favorites!