Welcome to a brand-new season of Calling Caldecott — the Horn Book blog that looks at a year’s worth of Caldecott-eligible books through the lens of ALSC’s Caldecott Award criteria (more on that in a future post).

First, there’s been a changing of the guard at Calling Caldecott. No Martha V. Parravano! That’s right, our beloved and brilliant MVP has stepped down after many dedicated years of blog stewardship. Along with founding mothers Robin Smith and Lolly Robinson, and then with Julie Danielson, Martha has been the beating heart of this blog. Thankfully, she’s not disappearing entirely and has promised to contribute a post or two. Calling Caldecott sends our deepest thanks to our MVP for her service, and we look forward to continuing to benefit from her wisdom and insights. 

And speaking of wisdom and insights, last season’s co-author, Julie Hakim Azzam, has also left us to focus on a new job as a communications project major at Carnegie Mellon University. We will miss her energy, passion, spreadsheet savvy, and Canva acumen. Julie will also continue as a contributor, for which we are most grateful.

I’m thrilled to introduce you to Calling Caldecott’s two newest co-authors:

Annisha Jeffries, youth services manager at the Cleveland (OH) Public Library, has served on the 2018 Caldecott Award committee and chaired the 2021 committee. She’s a contributor to the blog and reviews for the Magazine. She's also host of a new podcast, Reading in the Middle.

Adrienne L. Pettinelli, director of the Henrietta (NY) Public Library, is a long-time contributor to Calling Caldecott and the Magazine. She was a member of the 2015 Caldecott committee.

(For those who don’t know me, I’m reviews editor at the Horn Book [following in Martha’s footsteps there as well]. I’ve been in this position for over a year, but I’ve been involved with the Horn Book for decades. I’ve been working on Calling Caldecott for two years — first behind the scenes and last year as co-author.)

Annisha and Adrienne bring valuable Caldecott-committee experience, and Annisha’s time chairing the committee is “next level,” as Adrienne says. I am beyond excited to dive into our list of books with them.

And that list of books is coming in our next post. Stay tuned!