You know that feeling when you get excited that a book you love might be a Caldecott contender, only to realize the illustrator does not meet the Caldecott’s U.S. citizenship or residency requirement? Dang it! Your beloved book is ineligible for the Caldecott. 

Sometimes it's something else. Sometimes a book pushes the boundaries of what might be considered a standard picture book. These are the books that might be picture-book format but for a slightly older child; their balance of words to pictures is more skewed toward text and they are perhaps considered an "illustrated book" rather than a picture book. Then there are graphic novels. While a few have gotten Caldecott recocgnition within the last decade, there is still some uncertainty about where a graphic novel fits on the picture book/novel continuum. Oh, the rabbit holes you can fall into in such moments!

Join us in taking a look at some books that we think are worthy Caldecott contenders, but because they might not fit the Caldecott criteria for one reason or another, they are CaldeNotts. Why discuss books that are ineligible, you might ask. To quote Thom Barthelmess, who coined the term "CaldeNott" in the first place, "there is real value in the exercise: one understands the books in question as well as the Caldecott criteria more fully." 

So, without further ado, these are some of the books published in 2023 that we find worthy CaldeNott contenders. 

Ancient Night by David Bowles and David Álvarez; illustrated by David Álvarez

David Álvarez's weird, mystical, and colorful illustrations of animals pull readers in for a mash up of two Nahua traditional tales about the cycles of the moon and a Lord Opossum who stole fire from the Gods. The illustrations are so compelling, they could conceivably convey the story all on their own, without words. Álvarez does a lot with perspective (animals hiding or peeking out through shrubs, or gazing up at the moon in the sky and down into lit chutes in the ground). It's smart, great fun, and beautifully strange to look at. 

Bear Is Never Alone written by Marc Veerkamp; illustrated by Jeska Vergstegen 

This book only came onto our radar with the publication of the much-anticipated "The 2023 New York Times/ New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children's Books." Originally published in 2021 in the Netherlands in Dutch, Bear was translated in 2023 by Laura Watkinson and published for an English-speaking audience. In addtion to offering plenty of cute animals with goofy, almost googly-eyes, Vergstegen's mixed-media illustrations play with the contrast between light and dark (with pops of red), and with visual busyness that borders on overwhelming, and uncluttered, white space in a way that visually captures Bear's emotional state. Christopher Lassen, a childen's librarian at New York Public Library, wrote that Bear is "a skillful juxtaposition of extreme emotions and contemplation, of the sacrifices one makes for popularity and the universal need for privacy and solitude." 

We Are Starlings: Inside the Mesmerizing Magic of a Murmuration written by Robert Furrow and Donna Jo Napoli; illustrated by Marc Martin

Marc Martin's watercolor, pencil, and digital collage illustration work superbly captures the sensation not only of what a murmuration of starlings looks like in the sky to someone on the ground watching, but what it might feel like to actually be a starling inside the miraculous thing that is a murmuration. Martin's illustrations portray starlings as smooth, soft, blot-like shapes against beautiful sunrises and sunsets as the illustrations pan in and out showing different angles and perspectives of birds in flight. The four-page fold-out spread showing a figure-8 murmuration is breathtaking and will make avid bird watchers of even the most avian adverse. 

Windrush Child: The Tale of a Caribbean Child Who Faced a New Horizon written by John Agard; illustrated by Sophie Bass

Sophie Bass's range as an illustrator is on full display in this historical book that delves into the experience of people from the Caribbean who travelled on the Empire Windrush to England in the years following World War II. There are breathtaking double-page spreads of the ocean, which contrast with illustrations that capture what a fearful child feels during his travels and the art he creates upon arriving at his destination. 

Yoshi: Sea Turtle Genius: A  True Story About an Amazing Swimmer by Lynne Cox; illustrated by Richard Jones

Water is a notoriously difficult thing to capture well in illustrations, and it's this that caught my attention in Richard Jones's illustrations. It shimmers, it reflects depth and light, and it swirls and heaves with movement. Readers can nearly sense the burbling water as its passes by Yoshi's little flippers. Jones's illustrations of Yoshi will pull at your heart in a way that will likely cause young readers to return to this book over and over just to marvel at the illustration work. 

Bea Wolf by Zach Weinersmith; illustrated by Boulet 

Is this a picture book or something else? Part picture book, comic book, and graphic novel, this book adapts the ancient epic poem Beowolf to a modern-day girl in suburban America, who staves off adulthood by making sure she lives her best, wildest child-life possible. It's wildly funny and the illustrations (reminiscent of a Tim Burton aesthetic) are weird as all get out. I'll keep it on the list for its weird factor and for its ability to morph into different forms. Oh, and who can forget lines like "Dawn rose, like a jerk"??

Maribel's Year by Michelle Sterling; illustrated by Sarah Gonzales 

A book that's organized month-by-month and details the seasons and holidays of a year can have many uses for young readers, but where this book shines is in Sarah Gonzales's illustrations, which capture the beauty of each season in contrast to the girl's longing for her father, who is left behind in the Philippines. The illustrations emotionally evoke a sense of being here (in North America) and there (the Philippines). Gonzales is able to evoke longing and strong contrastst in her illustrations, which make this a compelling CaldeNOTT contender. 

Do You Remember? by Sydney Smith 

This quiet, meditative, but evocative book examines a young boy's family memories. The illustrations carry the story but excel in their ability to hold back; they leave much for the reader to infer. Smith's artwork is an integral part in how the book presents some memories as fragmented, blurry, or, alternatingly, in crisp focus.  In her Horn Book Magazine review, Julie Danielson writes, "Marked by beguiling light and shadow (the spreads in which the two lie in bed are marked by dark shades that grow progressively lighter as the story proceeds and light fills their room), the art captures the past in small vignettes, sometimes blurred with the passing of time and sometimes quite vivid — like memories themselves." 

My Baba's Garden by Jordan Scott; illustrated by Sydney Smith 

The duo that created I Talk Like a River is back with a moving portrait of a boy who is dropped off at his Baba's (grandmother's) small house each morning before school. Without speaking much, the two form a close bond, represented in Smith's watercolor and gouache illustrations that are somehow able to place the reader right there in the kitchen with his baba, with a steaming bowl of oatmeal topped with beets and pickles. 

When You Can Swim by Jack Wong 

Swim is a gorgeous note to a future you who can do hard things like swim. It promises a young girl (about to take perhaps her first lesson) all the wonderful places she can swim once she learns how. Wong's illustrations capture the beauty of water in a variety of outdoor settings (not an easy thing to do) and depict often brown, black, and differently abled bodies experiencing joy in nature. And stay tuned for an interview with Jack Wong on Calling Caldecott! I spoke with Wong when he visited Pittsburgh in October.