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. A Black woman yet to win a Caldecott Medal (read more ▶).
2 Books Recieved Caldecott Award or Honor in 2023
Honor Book – Janelle Washington
Choosing Brave: How Mamie Till-Mobley and Emmett Till Sparked the Civil Rights Movement
by Angela Joy, Illustrated by Janelle Washington
Publication Date: Sep 06, 2022
List Price: $19.99
Format: Hardcover, 64 pages
Classification: Nonfiction
Target Age Group: Middle Grade
ISBN13: 9781250220950
Imprint: Roaring Brook Press
Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
Parent Company: Holtzbrinck Publishing Group
Read a Description of Choosing Brave: How Mamie Till-Mobley and Emmett Till Sparked the Civil Rights Movement
A Caldecott-honor winning picture book biography of the mother of Emmett Till, and how she channeled grief over her son’s death into a call to action for the civil rights movement.
Mamie Till-Mobley is the mother of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old boy who was brutally murdered while visiting the South in 1955. His death became a rallying point for the civil rights movement, but few know that it was his mother who was the catalyst for bringing his name to the forefront of history.
In Choosing Brave, Angela Joy and Janelle Washington offer a testament to the power of love, the bond of motherhood, and one woman’s unwavering advocacy for justice. It is a poised, moving work about a woman who refocused her unimaginable grief into action for the greater good. Mamie fearlessly refused to allow America to turn away from what happened to her only child. She turned pain into change that ensured her son’s life mattered. Timely, powerful, and beautifully told, this thorough and moving story has been masterfully crafted to be both comprehensive and suitable for younger readers.
Honor Book – Jason Griffin
Ain’t Burned All The Bright
by Jason Reynolds, Illustrated by Jason Griffin
Publication Date: Jan 11, 2022
List Price: $19.99
Format: Hardcover, 384 pages
Classification: Nonfiction
Target Age Group: Middle Grade
ISBN13: 9781534439467
Imprint: Atheneum
Publisher: Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Parent Company: CBS Corporation
Read a Description of Ain’t Burned All The Bright
Prepare yourself for something unlike anything: A smash-up of art and text for teens that viscerally captures what it is to be Black. In America. Right Now. Written by #1 New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Jason Reynolds.
Jason Reynolds and his best bud, Jason Griffin had a mind-meld. And they decided to tackle it, in one fell swoop, in about ten sentences, and 300 pages of art, this piece, this contemplation-manifesto-fierce-vulnerable-gorgeous-terrifying-WhatIsWrongWithHumans-hope-filled-hopeful-searing-Eye-Poppingly-Illustrated-tender-heartbreaking-how-The-HECK-did-They-Come-UP-with-This project about oxygen. And all of the symbolism attached to that word, especially NOW.
And so for anyone who didn’t really know what it means to not be able to breathe, REALLY breathe, for generations, now you know. And those who already do, you’ll be nodding yep yep, that is exactly how it is.