Randolph Caldecott Award Winning and Honored Books
The Caldecott Medal, established in 1938, was named in honor of nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children. Learn more about this award at Caldecott Medal Home Page.
Below are the Caldecott Medla winning and Honor books awarded to Black illustrators or illustrators of books featuring Black characters. In 2024, Vashti Harrison became the first Black woman to win a Caldecott Medal (read more ▶).
2 Books Recieved Caldecott Award or Honor in 2024
Medal Winner – Vashti Harrison
Big
by Vashti Harrison, Illustrated by Vashti Harrison
- 2 Time AALBC.com Bestselling Book!
- Coretta Scott King Award Winning Book 2024
- Caldecott Medal Winner or Honor
Publication Date: May 02, 2023
List Price: $19.99
Format: Hardcover, 60 pages
Classification: Fiction
Target Age Group: Picture Book
ISBN13: 9780316353229
Imprint: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publisher: Hachette Book Group
Parent Company: Lagardère Group
Read a Description of Big
Finalist for the 2023 National Book Award
“Measuring almost 12 by 10 inches this ‘big’ children’s book is gorgeous visually, in word, and intent.” —Troy D. Johnson, Founder of the African American Literature Book Club (AALBC)
A New York Times Bestseller
A Kids’ Indie Next List Pick
A Publishers Weekly Summer Reading List Pick
An Amazon Best Book of the Month
Praised for acting like a big girl when she is small, as a young girl grows, “big” becomes a word of criticism, until the girl realizes that she is fine just the way she is.
From a New York Times bestselling and award-winning creator, this deeply moving story shares valuable lessons about fitting in, standing out, and the beauty of joyful acceptance.
Big is the first picture book both written and illustrated by award-winning artist Vashti Harrison. Big traces a child’s journey to self-love and shows the power of words to both hurt and heal. With spare text and exquisite illustrations, this emotional exploration of being big in a world that prizes small is a tender portrayal of how you can stand out and feel invisible at the same time.
Honor Book – Jerome Pumphrey and Jarrett Pumphrey
There Was a Party for Langston
by Jason Reynolds, Illustrated by Jerome Pumphrey and Jarrett Pumphrey
Publication Date: Oct 03, 2023
List Price: $18.99
Format: Hardcover, 56 pages
Classification: Nonfiction
Target Age Group: Early Reader
ISBN13: 9781534439443
Imprint: Atheneum
Publisher: Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Parent Company: KKR & Co. Inc.
Read a Description of There Was a Party for Langston
New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Jason Reynolds’s debut picture book is a snappy, joyous ode to Word King, literary genius, and glass-ceiling smasher Langston Hughes and the luminaries he inspired.
Back in the day, there was a heckuva party, a jam, for a word-making man. The King of Letters. Langston Hughes. His ABCs became drums, bumping jumping thumping like a heart the size of the whole country. They sent some people yelling and others, his word-children, to write their own glory.
Maya Angelou, Amiri Baraka, and more came be-bopping to recite poems at their hero’s feet at that heckuva party at the Schomberg Library, dancing boom da boom, stepping and stomping, all in praise and love for Langston, world-mending word man. Oh, yeah, there was hoopla in Harlem, for its Renaissance man. A party for Langston.