Caldecott and Newbery watch...

The Caldecott and Newbery medal books and honor books will be announced on Monday! During my most recent job as an elementary school librarian, I used to run out and get the medal and honor books on the day they were announced, so I could share them with the students right away.
The Caldecott medal is awarded every January to "the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children" and the Newbery medal is awarded at the same time to "the most distinguished American children's book published the previous year." Some people will tell you the Newbery medal is for a novel-length book, and it usually is, but it has been given to picture books, such as William Steig's Doctor De Soto(Newbery honor-silver medal).
In 2005, I had to call more than ten bookstores to find a copy of The Red Book. It is a wordless book, and the owner of the bookstore where I finally found a copy said she thought it would not be popular, with no words to the story. It turned out that the kids loved it! The pictures show a little girl sitting in class looking at The Red Book. She sees a little boy on a beach, and he finds a Red Book in the sand and when he opens it, he sees a city, and then the little girl. She goes outside, buys a bunch of helium balloons, and flies into the sky, dropping the red book. We see the boy and girl together on the beach, and another child picking up the red book. Through the magic of a book, a child can go anywhere...Only two more days, and we will learn the magical selections for this year.
P.S. Sometimes people will ask what books are nominated, and the answer is, there is no "short list". It is simply any books for children published during the previous year, by authors and illustrators who are citizens or residents of the United States. When I was a school librarian, the kids were upset to discover the Harry Potter books are not eligible for the Newbery Award!