It happens each Calling Caldecott season. We start out in September full of excitement and high hopes that we will be able to weigh in on all the books on our list...and now it's January and we've run out of time. On Thursday this week the polls will open for our mock Caldecott vote and in two (!!) short weeks, the Real Committee will announce their choices for the 2025 Caldecott Medal and Honors. 

To round out our coverage, here are the Horn Book reviews of two books on our original list and one that wasn't on our radar originally, but which got a bit of attention in both the November and December rounds of nominations. Will these books be on the Committee's radar? We don't have to wait long to find out!

Thomas Jefferson's Battle for Science: Bias, Truth, and a Mighty Moose!
by Beth Anderson; illus. by Jeremy Holmes
Primary, Intermediate    Calkins/Astra    48 pp.
5/24    9781635926200    $18.99
e-book ed.  9781635928624    $11.99

As a product of the Age of Reason, Thomas Jefferson was long fascinated by science in general and the natural world in particular. Consequently, when he first read a French encyclopedia by the renowned scientist Comte de Buffon that declared the American colonies inferior because the native animals were neither as large nor as ferocious as their European counterparts, Jefferson questioned Buffon's reasoning — partly because of the audacious comments, partly because of national pride, and partly because Jefferson did not want to discourage immigration. For years he challenged these assumptions by asking questions; creating counterarguments; conducting experiments (which included the shipping of a dead moose to France to verify its large size); and formulating and publishing his conclusions. In other words, he followed the scientific method, nicely summarized in the back matter. The mixed-media illustrations, crafted with woodblocks and pencil, are highlighted in unusual and effective layouts. The written narrative appears in text boxes, acting either as previews for the often-humorous illustrations (for example, ideas explode from Jefferson's head as he writes his own book challenging Buffon) or as comic panels. A concluding author's note explains the sources and dangers of misinformation and ways to identify and combat such rumors, as well as a timeline of Jefferson's life and a bibliography — appropriately, for the topic — divided into primary and secondary sources. BETTY CARTER

From the May/June 2024 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.

ARTificial Intelligence
by David Biedrzycki; illus. by the author
Primary    Charlesbridge    56 pp.
10/24    9781623543747    $18.99
e-book ed.  9781632893550    $9.99

This story, dedicated to “all the Amazing Illustrators” who are “the real AI,” follows a daydreaming robot in the bustling factory where he works. The robot feels out of place: an early illustration shows the chip used to create him covered in drops of paint. Though he has “big, colorful, and grand” dreams, he doesn’t know how to express them. When he accidentally wanders outside, he’s surprised to see humans, just as busy as robots: “Everyone was in a hurry.” The robot finds joy in a museum, where he observes a child in a red beret. Later, in a forest, he meets the same child painting and picks up a paintbrush for the first time. He falls in love with the visual arts, though he learns that both making and describing art are “not easy.” Eventually, he shares his newfound passion with his robot friends, and in the end, they’re all creating original art—flipping the usual perception of AI, which is often seen as merely mimicking human creativity. Biedrzycki, celebrating the universal power of art and self-expression, leans on monochromatic and even sepia tones for most of the story, with splashes of vivid colors to represent the robot’s artistic expression in the pencil and digitally rendered illustrations. Imagination knows no bounds. JULIE DANIELSON

From the January/February 2025 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.

The Man Who Didn't Like Animals
by Deborah Underwood; illus. by LeUyen Pham
Preschool, Primary    Clarion/HarperCollins    40 pp.
9/24   9780358567134    $19.99

Did Old MacDonald always have a farm? This inventive prequel depicts a man living in town who "loved his tidy home and who didn't like animals." The illustrations bring readers cinematically down from a bird's-eye view of a busy neighborhood replete with pets and other animals into the interior of the man's home. A copy of The Jungle rests on a table. Scrabble words in play on another table include quietly, island, and alone. Then a cat shows up at the door with a "meow," and it turns out they have a lot in common. Soon another cat appears. A giant dog arrives next, followed by ducks, chickens, pigs, and more. A cacophony of animal sounds erupts in speech balloons from the art. The creatures slowly win the man over. His house looks less tidy but also cozier and much fuller. When the neighbors complain about the noise, the man sends the animals away. The warmth drains out of the illustrations and the colors fade to grays during this exodus, but the menagerie has barely made it across the street before the man sets off after them, leading to a hearty singalong happening on Old MacDonald's Farm: "Ee i Ee i O!" The art and text of this skillfully designed picture book work fluidly together to bring genuine heart and humor to the creative and rewarding backstory of a preschool musical favorite. JULIE ROACH

From the November/December 2024 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.