Wednesday, February 4, 2015

OHE Students Predict The Winner!! The Winner of the 2015 Caldecott is Beekle!!


We had a wondrous thing happen at Oak Hills this week! After hosting our own 2015 Oak Hills Elementary Mock Caldecott contest, students overwhelming voted for The Adventures of Beekle, The Unimaginary Friend by David Santat. The American Library Association made the big announcement on Monday morning at 8:00 a.m., and Guess What?! They awarded the Caldecott (Gold) to Beekle! It is almost impossible to guess which book the Caldecott Committee will choose, and OHE students did it! Students were so excited to learn that they picked the Caldecott Award winning book!



There are times when I don't agree with the Caldecott Committee because I don't think they always pick books that children will end up choosing to read. They always pick beautifully written and illustrated books, but not necessarily the same books that children would pick. This year they hit the nail on the head!

Not only did the Caldecott Committee pick the same book for the Caldecott medal, they also picked three of our OHE Mock Caldecott books for the Caldecott Honor Medal (silver).  Sam and Dave Dig A Hole, The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus, and Viva Frida were all books that received many student votes too!! (see picture above)

Books that we didn't consider that received the Caldecott Honor included Nana and the City, The Noisy Paint Box and This One Summer (an age 14+ graphic novel).



The Newbery Award along with other prestigious awards were also announced.  The Newbery Award went to The Crossover, with the Newbery Honor Medals going to El Deafo, and Brown Girls Dreaming!

There are so many great options for our students!  I can't wait to read them all!