Mock Caldecott 2026 discussion

Just Like Millie by Lauren Castillo






Aloha Everything by Kaylin Melia George and illustrated by Mae Waite






Nana in the Country: A Young Boy Takes the Lead on the Family Farm by Lauren Castillo and illustrated by Lauren Castillo






Treehouse Town by Gideon Sterer and illustrated by Charlie Mylie


There are some great contenders this month. What are your thoughts?

I loved the Nana in the City by Castillo and am sure I will also love Nana in the country. I absolutely loved Aloha Everything! I look forward to reading Treehouse Town. Good Choices!

Aloha Everything is one of my favorite 2024 releases. In fact, it is one of my top five selections on my Caldecott potential list. Breathtaking, hand painted illustrations and rhyming poetry that make you feel like you are visiting the Hawaiian Islands. There is hula dancing, Hawaiian folklore, culture, identity and so much more. I hope everyone in this group picks up a copy of this title. It is amazing.

The illustrations for Treehouse town are detailed and exceptional. The writing is not. I have found that great writing along with amazing illustrations is what wins a book the Caldecott award.

Just Like Millie is wonderful. Classic Castillo bold and beautiful illustrations. Warm story about a little girl and her shyness and anxiety when she moves into a new home/town. A rescue dog helps her overcome her nervousness and wanting to be alone. I feel it is award worthy.

I loved Nana in the City which won Lauren Castillo a Caldecott honor over a decade ago. Nanna in the Country is just as beautiful, but I felt like it was missing something. I liked it but I don't feel it is Caldecott worthy.

Aloha Everything
I found this book at the library about a month after my husband and I vacationed on Maui for a week. This book was a great reminder of the wonderful time we had there and the fun places we went. We did attend a luau, which included performances of several different hula dances. So this book, about learning from hula, was a gem. The author is a native Hawaiian, and the illustrator was adopted from China and grew up in Hawaii. The book concludes with a note about the Hawaiian language and a glossary.

Just Like Millie
This type of story has been done before, but never as beautifully as Castillo has told and illustrated it. I love that Castillo set her story in her own hometown of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, which gives the story a more real feeling. And the illustrations are just so cozy and homey, and lovely, rendered in ink, watercolors, and pastel.

Nana in the Country
This book is just as sweet and adorable as the first book about Nana, Nana in the City, which was a Caldecott Honor. This time Nana visits her grandson at his family's farm, where her grandson teaches her such things as filling a trough with water and finding the chicken eggs. The lovely ink, watercolor, and pastel illustrations are lush and appealing.

Treehouse Town
While the rhyming text describes Treehouse Town and the activities therein, the reader can visually follow the adventures of four of the children and their dog, newcomers to the town. Each lush illustration--rendered in graphite, pencil, watercolor, and marker--is crammed with details that young readers will want to pore over. This town is full of everything, from toy stores and bands to circuses and trains. Children of every nationality and ability are depicted in every spread, along with all kinds of animals (giraffes, rhinos, raccoons, koalas, bears, tigers, and many more) and all kinds of birds. Everyone gets along brilliantly, so it is a kind of fantasy paradise. A lot of fun for youngsters who like search and find books.