Caldecott Medal Winners

Once upon a time three pigs built three houses, out of straw, sticks, and bricks. Along came a wolf, who huffed and puffed… So, you think you know the rest? Think again. With David Wiesner at the helm, it’s never safe to assume too much. When the wolf approaches the first house, for example, and blows it in, he somehow manages to blow the pig right out of the story frame, and the perplexed expression on the wolf’s face as he looks in vain for his ham dinner is priceless. One by one, the pigs exit the fairy tale’s border and set off on an adventure of their own. (2002 Caldecott Medal Winner)

Children will delight in Kitten’s mistake. They know that what she thinks is a bowl of milk is really the moon’s reflection. Mostly black and white (and shades of gray) illustration expressively depict Kitten. Children enjoy the visual and verbal patterns throughout. (2005 Caldecott Medal Winner)

Rabbit always thinks of things to do even though they often lead to trouble. When Mouse’s toy airplane gets stuck in a tree, Rabbit’s animal ladder is sure to release it — with very funny results in this 2003 Caldecott Medal-winning book.

The window at Nanna and Poppy’s house looks like a regular window, but it’s really a doorway to the child’s world and a celebration of the special bond between grandparents and grandchildren. Celebrate family with this 2006 Caldecott Medal-winning book.

Image and text combine in a unique presentation to tell the story of an orphan boy who lives between the walls of a Paris train station and repairs its clocks. Monochromatic illustrations change perspective and move in and out, and alternate with text to tell this mysterious, breathtaking, and riveting tale. Winner of the 2008 Caldecott Medal. (2008 Caldecott Medal Winner)

The well-known fable about how the smallest creature — a mouse — saves the majestic lion is a tale of kindness returned. Here it is effectively recast as a wordless story in a new setting. Stunning illustrations are expressive and emotive, evoking Africa’s Serengeti while retaining the tale’s power. (2010 Caldecott Medal Winner)

Every day, Amos McGee goes to his job at the City Zoo where he’s attentive to each of his animal friends’ special needs. One day, however, Amos doesn’t feel well and must miss work and so his friends visit to take care of him. Gentle, expressive illustrations expand this touching tale. (2011 Caldecott Medal Winner)

How a small white dog with black ears loses his orange ball to another hound but finds friendship instead comes to life through the author/illustrator’s signature illustrations. (2012 Caldecott Medal Winner)

The narrator, a very small fish, snitches a much larger fish’s hat and hides out where he thinks no one can see him. The wordless conclusion is humorous and satisfying in this stylized, expressively illustrated book sure to generate conversations among readers. (2013 Caldecott Medal Winner)

Being brave is fun! In 1974, French acrobat Philippe Petit cast a tightrope between the two towers of the World Trade Center and spent an hour walking, dancing and performing high-wire tricks up in the sky. This picture book captures the poetry and magic of the event, using lyrical words and lovely paintings that present the detail, daring and – in two dramatic foldout pages – dizzying drama of Petit’s feat. (2004 Caldecott Medal Winner)

Readers learn how something can be made from almost nothing as Joseph transforms his amazing, but tattered, coat, into a jacket, a vest and a scarf. When there is only a button left remaining, he uses his imagination to find one more use. (2000 Caldecott Medal Winner)

Celebrate Presidents’ Day with some unexpected trivia. Often humorous, sometimes poignant anecdotes and political cartoons introduce U.S. Presidents as never before seen. First published in 2000 (and winner of the 2001 Caldecott Medal), the 2012 revised edition continues to delight and is current through Barack Obama. 

They met in the middle, the workers who built the railway across the United States. The narration speaks directly to readers which follows two unnamed children journey to California. Combined with richly detailed illustration, this dramatic, informative journey is the winner of the 2014 Caldecott Medal. (2014 Caldecott Medal Winner)

This magical story begins on an island far away where an imaginary friend is born. He patiently waits his turn to be chosen by a real child, but when he is overlooked time and again, he sets off on an incredible journey to the bustling city, where he finally meets his perfect match and-at long last-is given his special name: Beekle. (2015 Caldecott Medal Winner)

A spare, patterned text and glowing pictures explore the origins of light that make a house a home in this Caldecott Medal-winning 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. (2009 Caldecott Medal Winner)

A bright, science-minded boy goes to the beach equipped to collect and examine flotsam — anything floating that has been washed ashore. Bottles, lost toys, small objects of every description are among his usual finds. 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. (2007 Caldecott Medal Winner)

A mother tells her child the story of the real Winne, the true story of how a young veterinarian left his native Canada to fight during the First World War. The bear cub he found became a part of his military before finding a more permanent home and inspired a childhood classic. Gentle illustrations depict the fondness between the man and bear and that shared by mother and child pictured in spot illustrations. Factual information about Harry Colebourn is included as an album. Another book about how Winnie-the-Pooh came to life is presented by Sally Walker in Winnie: The True Story of the Bear Who Inspired Winnie-the-Pooh with gentle watercolor illustrations. (2016 Caldecott Medal Winner)

Jean-Michel Basquiat, an American artist born of a Haitian father and a Brooklyn born mother of Puerto Rican decent, became known as an artist whose work effectively made social commentary. The original illustrations call to mind Basquiat’s visual style while presenting his life and unique work, which broke old tenets of art to became popular in the 1980s.