You know what I call a really good picture book illustrator when they’re from another country? Inconvenient, that’s what. Inconvenient… in terms of winning Caldecott Awards. Yes, alas, our dear and beloved highest attainable medal for children’s picture book illustration is still caught up on that persnickety little rule about the book having to be illustrated by an American resident or a citizen. This is a holdover from the days when America was seen as the little country needing a leg up in the children’s book world. These days? I just think the award could stand a little competition. Or, at the very least, the occasional Canadian!*

In lieu of that, that’s why I love my Caldenotts. Each one of these books has what it would take to be a contender, if they could. Alas, it’s just not an option (unless we kidnap some of their creators and force them to move to the States, of course).

You can find the PDF of the entire list today here.

Oh, and if you’re interested in previous years and their Caldenotts take a gander at these:

• 2024
• 2023
• 2022
• 2021
• 2020
• 2019
• 2018
• 2017
• 2016

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2025 Caldenotts

FEATURED TITLE:

I Am We: How Crows Come Together to Survive by Leslie Barnard Booth, ill. Alexandra Finkeldey

You may have seen them. You may have heard them. But how well do you know them? Crows introduce themselves to you, and you may never be the same. This book is a classic case of informational fiction. Now Booth’s text is just fantastic. Accurate but with just the right hints of creepy and wild. Never scary, I’d say. Just vaguely unnerving and eerie. Meanwhile this Alexandra Finkeldey character needs to pack her bags and move to America ASAP, or else how are we going to give her a Caldecott? It chaps my hide that this book is ineligible, when it has these incredible otherworldly two-page spreads and evocative colors. This book would also, I would like to note, be an incredible readaloud to a group. The pictures just pop from a distance. The colors! The sense of place and season! And then all this lovely backmatter (including a Selected Sources section that’s better than at least half the straight nonfiction we see in a given year). Irresistible. 

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Cat Nap by Brian Lies

My inclusion of this book in this category may seem peculiar on the outset. After all, Brian Lies has won Caldecott Honors before. He’s no stranger to ALA awards. And this ambitious outing, in which he replicates the art of everything from clay hieroglyphics to illuminated manuscripts to painting involving gold leaf, is certainly worthy. My concern, then, is because Brian is replicating art that is not his own. Such nitpicking has, you can be sure, sunk many a fine picture book from winning Caldecotts in the past. There is a stipulation in the rules, you see, that states that all the art in a picture book must be original. Then again, all the art in this book IS original, because Brian made his own version of The Metropolitan Museum of Art inclusions. And back and forth we go. What we can all agree upon is the fact that it’s a delight. Reminding me of nothing so much as Ursula Murray Husted’s graphic novel A Cat Story (in which two kitties weave in and out of classic art) Lies’s premise is, on the outset, simple. Like any proper Tom & Jerry cartoon, a small kitten notices a mouse slipping into a poster for the Met and follows. The two slip in and out of a variety of different styles. What’s remarkable about this is the sheer amount of work Brian pored into each piece. If you didn’t know he made them all himself, you might make the mistake of thinking there was some computer trickery at work. Not at all. Indeed, Brian eschews any and all trickery and the book is a delight of a read as a result. Very cat-centric. Very cutesy. Very demure. Kids and parents will adore it, though maybe not for the same reasons. 

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Dawn by Marc Martin

[Previously seen on the Simple Picture Books list]

When the sun comes up, what are all the fish, birds, bugs, and mammals up to? A deeply evocative, radiantly lovely ode to the earliest hours of the day. Veeeery simple too. Marc Martin was the fellow behind the art in the book We Are Starlings, so his style may be somewhat familiar to you already. This book is seemingly less ambitious. It’s just dawn on a pond and all the critters that are affected by the rising sun. Yet it’s also big and evocative, peppered with a word here and there but no overarching storyline. The star of the show is clearly the watercolors, which can be jaw-dropping at times. There are action sequences (hope you don’t have a fondness for flies) but for the most part it’s steady and strangely moving. Nature appreciation at its finest.

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Gather Grateful by Megan Litwin, ill. Alexandra Finkeldey

[Previously seen on the Holiday List]

This is the holiday book so pretty it’s actually ending up on some Best of the Year lists too. As potentially problematic holidays go, Thanksgiving is certainly well behind Columbus Day, but it often leaves folks a bit baffled as to how to go forward with it. For the children’s book publishing industry, the general attitude has been to view the day almost exclusively as one devoted to giving thanks and showing gratitude. As such, the books they put out try to acknowledge that, but as with any message, it’s easy to get bogged down in the good intentions and forget how to make a decent story. Full credit to Gather Grateful then. Alexandra Finkeldey, an inconveniently Canadian illustrator, has done quite a few books already, but I really feel that she put her back into rendering the autumn on this pages as autumn-y as possible. For example, the two-page spread of the title pages just shows a landscape of darkened houses in gray/blue and these trees and leaves and ground of a kind of vibrant russet brown/orange. I know I often talk about two-page spreads I’d like to frame and put on my walls, but this is a definite contender right here. That blue/gray and russet brown/orange filter continues throughout the rest of the book, showing animals gathering different things for the months ahead while down below human families are gathering together for meals and companionship, stories and singing, and more. “Gather outside. Gather in. Cozy time can now begin.” Oh right. It also rhymes, which isn’t necessary but is rather nice once you ease into the cadence of it. A clever take on several old themes, brought together expertly. 

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The Glasshouse by Helene Druvert, translated by Jill Phythian

I like books that make people gasp. It does the heart good. Proves to them that picture books are much more than just Goodnight Moon (no shade on the Moon, but you know what I mean). Druvert’s book is a particularly gaspable affair too. Much of this has to do with the fact that it’s doing something I don’t see very often: layering die-cuts. It doesn’t sound like much, but imagine if you took a Bruno Munari book and then made it, well… gorgeous. That’s what you get with The Glasshouse. The story is the kind of fantasy where kids stumble on a beautiful greenhouse and restore the plants inside, Secret Garden-style. No adults ever come across it. The plants inexplicably have had plenty of water and the hoses work just fine. More children come and pretty soon you have a Selfish Giant type situation with kids in trees. It’s sweet and simple, but it’s the lure of the art that’ll have ‘em coming back for more.

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The Interpreter by Olivia Abtahi, ill. Monica Arnaldo

Can a kid have a job? Sure! Cecilia has two. There’s the job of being a kid and the job of interpreting for her parents. But what happens when one job overwhelms the other? Ye gods! What a fantastic book! Now you may not recognize it right off the bat, but that illustrator Monica Arnaldo is the same person who created Mr. S two years ago (a.k.a. The funniest picture book of its year). This book is funny too but with a remarkably serious core. The idea of a kid having an actual job (I was getting serious Bea and Mr. Jones vibes from the suits) as an interpreter to her parents is both funny and desperately serious. Author Olivia Abtahi’s tone is just absolutely on point. It has a really good message without blaming anyone. This is for all those kids overwhelmed by the adult duties they’re obligated to take on. So why is it on this list? Alas, Monica lives in Canada these days. And speaking of Canadians…

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Island Storm by Brian Floca, ill. Sydney Smith

“Now take my hand and we’ll go see the sea before the storm.” Two children venture forth as terrifying clouds creep ever closer. Will they make it home safe in time?  Lest you forget, Brian Floca knows how to write a picture book, people. It feels like a bit of a flex that he’s so good at it that he can get someone like Sydney Smith to illustrate one of his own as well. Consider this almost the emotional opposite of Downpour by Yuko Ohnari. Where in that book the rain is comforting, here it’s a distinct threat. As a reader, you’re torn between wanting the characters to soldier on, and a desperate need for them to get back home to warmth and safety. Smith is at his finest when the storm truly does arrive, this terrifying black mass enveloping the sky, plunging the world into wet darkness. I also got a hint of Where the Wild Things Are at the end, with the warmth and the comfort mom can provide. I read a lot of picture books that fade in the memory over time. I don’t think that this book is in any danger of that.

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The Paper Bridge by Joelle Veyrenc, ill. Seng Soun Ratanavanh, translated by Katy Lockwood-Holmes

What, to your mind, is the greatest picture book that incorporates cut paper in a three-dimensional way? For me, there are any number of them, and how could you possibly choose between them (though when pressed I might go with Fox’s Garden by Princess Camcam, but that’s neither here nor there)? Sometimes the best picture books are the ones where the format is justified by the text. And the best example of this that I’ve seen in 2025 in terms of cut paper is The Paper Bridge. Originally published in France, the publication page informs us that the illustrations were created “using the art of kirigami (paper cutting and folding). Artwork was hand-crafted with pencil and watercolour on paper and cardboard, which was hand-cut and arranged into scenes and these were then photographed.” Whew! The end result is undeniably lovely. In this story, on the top of a jagged mountain, is the village of Paperlee where everything and everyone is made of paper. All well and good until huge winds come and start wrecking havoc. It turns out that the winds are being caused by the people not made of paper on the neighboring mountain. Will the people of Paperlee be able to plead their case? They will, but only with the help of one small child. You might consider pairing it with that beautiful book that uses paper in new ways (only, in its case, die-cuts) the aforementioned The Glasshouse by Helene Druvert. 

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The Search for Carmella: What Mystery Lurks in the Deep? by Chloe Savage

British Chloe Savage lives to disappoint. Disappoint her characters, that is. If you saw The Search for the Giant Arctic Jellyfish then you know that the entire book was a very The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou take on scientists attempting to find said jellyfish. One might argue that searching for the octopus Carmella is very much along the same lines, but I would argue that the tone and the feel are a bit different. This book is far more about how the stories we hear in our youth can inform our jobs later in life. It’s also about the science you can find when you’re looking for something else. Then there’s the subtle story of Dr. Rose and her relationship with Anne (whom I took to be non-binary) and how that develops. The art is a bit less tiny and Where’s Waldo-y than Savage’s last book. Indeed, Savage enjoys the deep crimsons, blues, and shocking glowing whites of the page. I’ve never felt inclined to climb into a submersible, but this book makes you want to dive deep deep down for days. Luminous and lovely (and extra points for the shiny cover as well). 

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That’s it for today! Be sure to stay tuned for more lists on 2025 titles. The full roster is here:

December 1 – Great Board Books

December 2 – Picture Book Readalouds

December 3 – Simple Picture Book Texts

December 4 – Transcendent Holiday Children’s Books

December 5 – Rhyming Picture Books

December 6 – Funny Picture Books

December 7 – Caldenotts

December 8 – Wordless Picture Books

December 9 – Bilingual Books for Kids

December 10 – Math Books for Kids

December 11 – Books with a Message / Social Emotional Learning

December 12 – Easy Books

December 13 – Translated Children’s Books

December 14 – Fairy Tales / Folktales / Religious Tales

December 15 – Gross Books

December 16 – Poetry Books

December 17 – Unconventional Children’s Books

December 18 – Early Chapter Books

December 19 – Comics & Graphic Novels

December 20 – Older Funny Books

December 21 – Science Fiction Books

December 22 – Fantasy Books

December 23 – Informational Fiction

December 24 – American History

December 25 – Science & Nature Books

December 26 – Unique Biographies

December 27 – Blueberry Award Contenders (Celebrating the Environment)

December 28 – Nonfiction Picture Books

December 29 – Nonfiction Books for Older Readers

December 30 – Middle Grade Novels

December 31 – Picture Books

*I mean, seriously, they can serve on the Caldecott committee but they can never win the award? How does that work???

Filed under: 31 Days 31 Lists, Best Books, Best Books of 2025