Today we present: The List™ (subject to and likely to change). These are the Caldecott-eligible* books that we (not the actual Caldecott committee) think are notable and worth discussion:

A few books from Adrienne's library. Photo: Adrienne L. Pettinelli.

• Call Me Roberto: Roberto Clemente Goes to Bat for Latinos by Nathalie Alonso, illus. by Rudy Gutierrez
• Thomas Jefferson’s Battle for Science: Bias, Truth, and a Mighty Moose! by Beth Anderson, illus. by Jeremy Holmes
• Erno Rubik and His Magic Cube by Kerry Aradhya, illus. by Kara Kramer 
• The Last Zookeeper written and illus. by Aaron Becker
• ARTificial Intelligence written and illus. by David Biedrzycki 
• The Table by Winsome Bingham and Wiley Blevins, illus. by Jason Griffin  
• Ahoy! written and illus. by Sophie Blackall  
• Life after Whale: The Amazing Ecosystem of a Whale Fall by Lynn Brunelle, illus. by Jason Chin  
• They Call Me Teach: Lessons in Freedom by Lesa Cline-Ransome, illus. by James E. Ransome  
• Dalmartian: A Mars Rover's Story written and illus. by Lucy Ruth Cummins  
• Nothing: John Cage and 4’33” by Nicholas Day, illus. by Chris Raschka  
• When I Wrap My Hair by Shauntay Grant, illus. by Jenin Mohammed  
• My Block Looks Like by Janelle Harper, illus. by Frank Morrison  
• Finding Things by Kevin Henkes, illus. by Laura Dronzek  
• The Ship in the Window by Travis Jonker, illus. by Matthew Cordell  
• Desert Song by Laekan Zea Kemp, illus. by Beatriz Gutiérrez Hernández  
• Coretta: The Autobiography of Mrs. Coretta Scott King by Coretta Scott King with Reverend Dr. Barbara Reynolds, illus. by Ekua Holmes 
• The Yellow Bus written and illus. by Loren Long  
• Touch the Sky by Stephanie V. W. Lucianovic, illus. by Chris Park  
• Noodles on a Bicycle by Kyo Maclear, illus. by Gracey Zhang (NB: author is Canadian, but Zhang lives in the U.S., so the book is eligible)  
• Go Forth and Tell: The Life of Augusta Baker, Librarian and Master Storyteller by Breanna J. McDaniel, illus. by April Harrison  
• Home in a Lunchbox written and illus. by Cherry Mo  
• Joyful Song: A Naming Story by Lesléa Newman, illus. by Susan Gal  
• Love Is Hard Work: The Art and Heart of Corita Kent by Dan Paley, illus. by Victoria Tentler-Krylov   
• The Fastest Drummer: Clap Your Hands for Viola Smith! by Dean Robbins, illus. by Susanna Chapman  
• The Mango Tree/La mata de mango written and illus. by Edel Rodriguez  
• Jump for Joy by Karen Gray Ruelle, illus. by Hadley Hooper
• My Daddy Is a Cowboy by Stephanie Seales, illus. by C. G. Esperanza
• Being Home by Traci Sorell, illus. by Michaela Goade  
• The House Before Falling into the Sea by Ann Suk Wang, illus. by Hanna Cha 
• Two Together written and illus. by Brendan Wenzel 

*To be Caldecott eligible, a book must be published in the U.S. in 2024 and the illustrator must either be a U.S. citizen or resident (not always easy to determine). 

Along with our discerning and expert contributors, we will be posting twice a week (for the most part) from now until the YMA announcements on January 27, 2025. Keep in mind: we aren’t associated with the REAL committee, and we don’t read tea leaves. The books featured on Calling Caldecott are ones we think the real committee will be looking at seriously — but only they know what they know. Along the way, you will have two opportunities to nominate eligible books, and we’ll finish up with our own mock Caldecott poll in mid-January.

Do you have books you think are front-runners that we haven’t included? Let us know! We haven’t seen all the 2024 books yet, so this is by no means a complete accounting.