Randolph Caldecott was born on this day in 1846.  While working as a bank clerk, he began drawing for periodicals such as London Society, and, after he moved to London, Punch and Graphic. He developed a gently satirical style and achieved success with illustrations for Washington Irving’s books The Sketch Book (1875) and Bracebridge Hall (1876). A publisher saw his works with Irving and offered Caldecott the chance to illustrate a series of picture books. Hailed as his best work, these colored illustrations for 16 children's tales include The House That Jack Built, Hey Diddle Diddle, and The Grand Panjandrum Himself. The drawings made him famous, and two of these illustrated books were issued approximately every Christmas from 1878 until the year of his death in 1886.  

 

Since 1920, the American Library Association has issued a medal to honor children's book illustrators.  The Caldecott Medal for excellence in children's-book illustration by an American citizen or resident is named for him.  

Here are some recent Caldecott winners:

 

Cover ArtBig  by Vashti Harrison

ISBN: 9780316353229
The first picture book written and illustrated by award-winning creator Vashti Harrison 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.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtHot Dog by Doug Salati

ISBN: 9780593308431
This hot dog has had enough of summer in the city! Enough of sizzling sidewalks, enough of wailing sirens, enough of people's feet right in his face. When he plops down in the middle of a crosswalk, his owner endeavors to get him the breath of fresh air he needs. She hails a taxi, hops a train, and ferries out to the beach. Here, a pup can run! With fluid art and lyrical text that have the soothing effect of waves on sand, award-winning author Doug Salati shows us how to find calm and carry it back with us so we can appreciate the small joys in a day.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtWatercress by Andrea Wang; Jason Chin (Illustrator)

ISBN: 9780823446247
 A story about the power of sharing memories-including the painful ones-and the way our heritage stays with and shapes us, even when we don't see it. New England Book Award Winner A New York Times Best Children's Book of the Year A Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book While driving through Ohio in an old Pontiac, a young girl's Chinese immigrant parents spot watercress growing wild in a ditch by the side of the road. They stop the car, grabbing rusty scissors and an old paper bag, and the whole family wades into the mud to gather as much as they can. At first, she's embarrassed. Why can't her family just get food from the grocery store, like everyone else? But when her mother shares a bittersweet story of her family history in China, the girl learns to appreciate the fresh food they foraged-and the memories left behind in pursuit of a new life. Together, they make a new memory of watercress. 
 
 
 

Cover ArtWe Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom; Michaela Goade (Illustrator)

ISBN: 9781250203557
Water is the first medicine.It affects and connects us all.Water is sacred. My people talk of a black snake that will destroy the land, Spoil the water, wreck everything in its path.They foretold that it wouldn't come for many, many years.Now the black snake is here.Told from the perspective of a Native American child, this bold and lyrical picture book written by Ojibwe/Métis author Carole Lindstrom and illustrated by Tlingit artist Michaela Goade is a powerful call to action to defend Earth's natural resources--inspired by the Dakota Access Pipeline protests and similar movements led by Indigenous tribes all across North America.
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtFinding Winnie by Lindsay Mattick; Sophie Blackall (Illustrator)

ISBN: 9780316324908
Harry Colebourn's real-life great-granddaughter tells the true story of a remarkable friendship and an even more remarkable journey--from the fields of Canada to a convoy across the ocean to an army base in England... And finally to the London Zoo, where Winnie made another new friend: a real boy named Christopher Robin. Before Winnie-the-Pooh, there was a real bear named Winnie. And she was a girl!