Join the Picture Book Summit Team as we celebrate this year's crop of Caldecott Winners and Honorees. This is part 2 of our conversation. If you missed part 1, you can listen to it here: https://picturebooksummit.com/podcast-2026-caldecotts-part-1/

In this episode, we get to discuss this year's winner and two Honor Books. Get ready for insight into these books as well as the numerous things they have in common. Get your hands on these books and enjoy studying these remarkable books of art!

Books mentioned in this episode:

• WINNER: FIREWORKS illustrated by Catia Chien and written by Matthew Burgess
• SUNDUST written and illustrated by Zeke Peña
• STALACTITE AND STALAGMITE by Drew Beckmeyer

Find all of this year's Caldecott books in the Picture Book Summit Bookshop!

How are Caldecott books chosen each year? Check out Emma's video explanation here.

We talked about Katie's awesome Summit presentation on picture book endings. Podcast listeners can get 25% off! Use code PODCAST at this link: https://picturebooksummit.freshlearn.com/endings.

Our own wordplay warrior, Julie Hedlund, gave a stupendous workshop encouraging us to have fun with our writing by turning it into play. Today, we share a snippet of that presentation where Julie reveals what wordplay is, where it can be used effectively, and how to use it to make your audience feel smart.

Remember, you can purchase lifetime access to any past Summit Superstar Presentation or Workshop, including this one, at picturebooksummit.freshlearn.com.

Join the Picture Book Summit Team as we celebrate this year's crop of Caldecott Winners and Honorees. We have so much to say that it can't be contained in one episode! Today, we analyze OUR LAKE, written and illustrated by Angie Kang, and EVERY MONDAY MABEL, written and illustrated by Jashar Awan.

Plus, we discuss commonalities in all of this year's Caldecott books, what we loved and observed about these books, and while picture books look easy, these are particular ones are so layered and full of nuance. From thoughtful and beautiful to funny and relatable, we hope this conversation inspires you to do some creating of your own.

Books mentioned in this episode:

• OUR LAKE written and illustrated by Angie Kang
• EVERY MONDAY MABEL by Jashar Awan

Find all of this year's Caldecott books in the Picture Book Summit Bookshop!

How are Caldecott books chosen each year? Check out Emma's video explanation here.

We talked about Katie's awesome Summit presentation on picture book endings. Podcast listeners can get 25% off! Use code PODCAST at this link: https://picturebooksummit.freshlearn.com/endings.