Laurel Snyder

Five years ago, I noticed that there were many mock Caldecott committees predicting male artists would win the medal.  This bothered me, but then I discovered, looking back at my blog, that my predictions had also been overwhelmingly male, for years.  (Gender bias is buried deep y’all.  It can be a shock when you spot it in yourself)

Of course, in making such predictions, all of us had helped generate buzz about those same male-authored books.  And it’s hard to guess at what effect that buzz has on the award itself, in the end.   So, in an attempt to create a little grassroots buzz for the women I admired,  I wrote this post, and enlisted the help of my online community. Together, we created a list of amazing picture books illustrated by women.

For a number of years after that, I recreated the post, and each year I was truly shocked to discover many wonderful books I’d never even seen.  Despite the fact that I now actively seek out women illustrators in my own reading.

Today, five years have passed. And guess what?  The medal has been won by four men and one woman in that time.  Those numbers are… not great.  So here we are again, making a list! As usual, I’ll start off with a handful of books with art  I especially love, and I invite you all to leave comments with your own suggestions (American artists, please, 2018 titles, illustrated by women, though they can be written by men). I’ll try to add them as quickly as possible.

Because WOMEN MAKE PICTURE BOOKS TOO!

(note: it’s important to me to say that I don’t mean to diminish the accomplishments of the individual men who have won the medal.  Bad art doesn’t win this important award, and I know the committee takes its job very seriously each year, works hard. But we are all biased in so many ways, and it’s very clear that historically, the Caldecott reflects the systemic elevation of men in our industry. I’d really love it if we all became a little more aware of how our bias affects our preferences.)

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Jillian Tamaki

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Jessica LOve

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Yuyi Morales

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Corinna Luyken

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Ekua Holmes

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Sophie Blackall

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Grace Lin

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Emily Hughes

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Dana Wulfekotte

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Hyewon Yum

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Jessie Sima

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Melissa Iwai

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Laura Vaccro Seeger

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Catia Chien

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Lauren Eldridge

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Jennifer Thermes

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Suzanne Kaufman

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Juana Martinez-Neal

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Giselle Potter

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Sarah Lynne Reul

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Sara Palacios

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Vashti Harrison

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Lily Williams

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Jessie Sima

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Kate Berube

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Anne Sibley O’Brien

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Dow Phumiruk

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Katherine Roy

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Stasia Burrington

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Micha Archer

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Thao Lam

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Patrice Barton

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Lita Judge

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Hannah E. Harrison

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Vanessa Brantley-Newton

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Airlie Anderson

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Jen Betton

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Ebony Glenn

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Julia Patton

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Melissa Larson

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Ekua Holmes

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Hadley Hooper

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Lucy Ruth Cummins

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Jen Hill

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Keturah A. Bobo

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Galia Bernstein

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Molly Idle

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