A Spring 2023 Newbery/Caldecott Check-In
I’m no early prognosticator. When I try to predict the Caldecott winners or NYT Best Illustrated list, I wait until late in the game.
But I do like to keep an eye out for things.
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The Goodreads Mock Newbery and Caldecott lists are perfect for that.
Take these lists with a grain of salt. They can be voted on by anyone with a Goodreads account, and it’s difficult to get a full picture of the year’s books this early in the game.
So, like I said, more of a group of books to keep an eye out for. We’ll check back in later in the year.
First up, 2023 Mock Caldecott. Click the image below to see the entire list on Goodreads.

Of all the books on the Mock Caldecott list, I only spot one previous winner (Matthew Cordell). But there are a bunch of illustrators that seem on the cusp of Caldecott recognition (The Year We Learned to Fly is illustrated by Rafael Lopez).
2023 Mock Newbery, it’s your turn. Click the image below to see the entire list on Goodreads.

This list is filled with past Newbery Medal and Honor winners (Barnhill, Reynolds, Kelly, Lukoff). Will one of these folks receive another award?
What books do you have your eye on this year?
Filed under: Articles
About Travis Jonker
Travis Jonker is an elementary school librarian in Michigan. He writes reviews (and the occasional article or two) for School Library Journal and is a member of the 2014 Caldecott committee. You can email Travis at scopenotes@gmail.com, or follow him on Twitter: @100scopenotes.
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