On Saturday my library hosted our very first Mock Award Event. I decided to do a Mock Caldecott because I wanted to start everyone out with some lighter reading and picture books are always fun to talk about with all ages! I had flyers made up with our shortlist, spread the word to librarians and teachers, and told patrons as they came into the library about the event. I was also very lucky that a friend of mine who had served on the Caldecott Committee was able to come down and facilitate our discussion. I really was expecting a small crowd-I thought I'd be lucky with a turn out of five people. We'd never done a Mock Awards program and I wasn't sure if it would go over well.
So imagine my surprise when we packed out the room with 41 people!!! We had all ages-kids, parents, college students, teachers, librarians-it was great. Hearing the feedback from everyone was awesome and the kids had such great things to say about each book!
I gave the group a shortlist of 14 titles to read and discuss and at the beginning we voted to eliminate half the titles to make our discussion a bit smoother. From there we talked about the books we had left-we got our list down to 9 books to talk about. Then after all the books had been talked about, we voted and came up with one winner and three honor books. Our Mock Caldecott picks were:
Winner:
So imagine my surprise when we packed out the room with 41 people!!! We had all ages-kids, parents, college students, teachers, librarians-it was great. Hearing the feedback from everyone was awesome and the kids had such great things to say about each book!
I gave the group a shortlist of 14 titles to read and discuss and at the beginning we voted to eliminate half the titles to make our discussion a bit smoother. From there we talked about the books we had left-we got our list down to 9 books to talk about. Then after all the books had been talked about, we voted and came up with one winner and three honor books. Our Mock Caldecott picks were:
Winner:
Honor Books:
We'll see how well we match up to the Real Committee when the ALA Youth Media Awards are announced on January 28th!
I wish my library did this. I'm so excited to watch the YMA webcast I can hardly think of anything else. I like what the group picked out, though I'm rooting for Extra Yarn to at least get an honor. That book finally got me to get serious about my desire to learn how to knit.
ReplyDeleteThat is a great idea...I'll suggest that to my kids' librarian. Thanks also for this great list of PBs.
ReplyDeleteI have read all of these except Step Gently Out. I will have to fix that. My favorite of these is "And Then It's Spring." I have not yet purchased my own copy of that one but it's something I definitely need to do. Thanks for sharing your results.
ReplyDeleteSuch a cool idea! That's awesome that you had such a big turnout.
ReplyDeleteI keep hearing Green on everyone's list for the Caldecott. I think you and your group might be prescient!
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping Red Knit Cap Girl will get a nod!
Sarah, how did you facilitate the reading of the titles? Did you have multiple copies of each book? Did you divide the participants into groups to read and discuss? Did the attendees have to read them before the event? I'm inviting my staff and some of our neighboring librarians over for a casual Mock Caldecott party on Saturday, but it's something I'd love to try with my patrons at the library, too!!!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE LOVE LOVE "Step Gently Out!"
ReplyDeleteI haven't read "Green" Yet. I will now!
Green is definitely high on my list! I loved it and every student loved it. Teachers were amazed to find how we could incorporate it in our STEM lesson on transformation.
ReplyDeleteThis is very cool--I'm more focused on YA but I love seeing some of the top new picture books (helps me pick out books for my little niece!) A few of these titles also made the list at another blog I follow, 100 Scope Notes. Now I'm really excited to see what the Caldecott committee decides.
ReplyDeleteAbby-I had a shortlist of 14 titles that I had chosen before the event. We had this list available to patrons and staff in hopes that everyone would read the books beforehand. I'm not sure if everyone did or not (but I know of several that did and had lots of fun going through the list) At the beginning of the event, we had everyone take a book and browse through it and we held up the books at the start and voted to narrow down the list of 14 to our discussion titles. I was able to get two copies of each book for the discussion and I could have easily had four or five copies of each one. It was a blast and I can't wait to do it again!
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