They cheered as I told them the winners for their class and for all of first grade. It was a very close race!
I showed them the sticker gold seal of the Caldecott award that I will place on the winning book:
Locomotive by Brian Floca! There were many cheers, especially from the boys! This is a non-fiction book about the creation of railroads across the U.S. and what early train rides were like.
Next I showed them how at the Astor library I label all Caldecott winners with a special sticker on the spine so they can easily find other Caldecott books. I even placed stickers on the books. It was as if I was at an award ceremony, awarding each book it's label! I also announced the three Caldecott Honor books:
Mr. Wuffles by David Wiesner
and Journey by Aaron Becker.
There were many more cheers. Another Honor winner was Flora and the Flamingo, a book that I did not purchase and we had not read. I said that we would get it in the library and we could read it at a later time.
I think our Mock Caldecott was a success, the students enjoyed it and announcing our winners with the true winner was a real treat. They were so excited! Perhaps one year our choice will also be the winner! I can't wait to do it again next year!
