First Edition Caldecott Medal Books

Caldecott Medal Values The Caldecott Medal is awarded annually by the American Library Association "to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children [...] Honor books may be named. These shall be books that are also truly distinguished." The Caldecotts are awarded to an illustrator of an American picturebook; the ALA gives a sister award, the Newbery, to authors for literary merit.

First edition Caldecott Medal and Honor books are highly collectible and are at the pinnacle of contemporary collectible children's books. Their collectibility is well known and widespread, and the market is not constrained to only children's book specialist. Many generalist booksellers also make trade in first edition Caldecott books. Because of this, the market is highly liquid - first edition Caldecott books are easily sold.


Since the inception of the awards in 1938, the ALA has awarded 74 books with the Caldecott Medal and 232 books with the Caldecott Honor. First edition copies of these 300 some-odd books are pursued by thousands of collectors and booksellers. As you might expect from the high demand, the value for these books can be quite high.

It is not unusual for the first edition of a very recent Caldecott Medal book to bring 100% to 200% above the publisher's retail price, even a book printed in the last 2 - 3 years. First editions of Caldecotts only decades old fetch hundreds of dollars, several over a $1,000, and select few are valued over $10,000.

Values for First Edition Caldecott Medal Books

Caldecott Medal First Edition Books The following table is an excerpt from the Children's Picturebook Price Guide. The estimated values are for first edition copies, with dust jackets. The Children's Picturebook Price Guide explains in understandable terms the methods to correctly identify most of the first edition Caldecott Medal books.

Illustrator's names are linked to searches for their books on eBay.

Titles are linked to the book's first edition identification points. We intend to document identification points for all Caldecott Medal first edition books, at the rate of one or two books per week. To see first edition points for other key children's books go to First Edition Identification.


Caldecott Medal Winners 1938-2006
Year Collec tibility Scar city Book Title Illustrator VG VG+ Fine
1938 8 6 Animals Of The Bible Dorothy P. Lathrop 1,800 2,400
1939 7 7 Mei Li Thomas Handforth 1,500 2,000
1940 7 7 Abraham Lincoln Ingri & Edgar Parin d'Aulaire 1,650 2,200
1941 6 6 They Were Strong And Good Robert Lawson 675 900
1942 9 9 Make Way For Ducklings Robert McCloskey 16,500 22,000
1943 8 10 The Little House Virginia Lee Burton 11,250 15,000
1944 7 6 Many Moons Louis Slobodkin 1,200 1,600
1945 6 5 Prayer For A Child Elizabeth Orton Jones 390 520
1946 7 6 The Rooster Crows Maud & Miska Petersham 1,050 1,400
1947 8 6 The Little Island Leonard Weisgard 1,950 2,600
1948 7 7 White Snow Bright Snow Roger Duvoisin 1,650 2,200
1949 7 7 The Big Snow Berta & Elmer Hader 1,650 2,200
1950 7 7 Song Of The Swallows Leo Politi 1,650 2,200
1951 6 6 The Egg Tree Katherine Milhous 540 720
1952 7 8 Finders Keepers Nicholas Mordvinoff 1,950 2,600
1953 7 8 The Biggest Bear Lynd Ward 1,800 2,400
1954 7 5 Madelines Rescue Ludwig Bemelmans 555 740
1955 7 7 Cinderella Marcia Brown 1,350 1,800
1956 7 7 Frog Went A Courtin Feodor Rojankovsky 1,050 1,400
1957 7 6 A Tree Is Nice Marc Simont 750 1,000
1958 6 7 Time Of Wonder Robert McCloskey 555 740
1959 7 4 Chanticleer And The Fox Barbara Cooney 315 420
1960 7 6 Nine Days To Christmas Marie Hall Ets 570 760
1961 6 6 Baboushka And The Three Kings Nicolas Sidjakov 405 540
1962 7 6 Once A Mouse Marcia Brown 705 940
1963 7 10 The Snowy Day Ezra Jack Keats 4,500 6,000
1964 10 8 Where The Wild Things Are Maurice Sendak 10,500 14,000
1965 6 6 May I Bring A Friend Beni Montresor 360 480
1966 7 6 Always Room For One More Nonny Hogrogian 630 840
1967 7 6 Sam, Bangs, And Moonshine Evaline Ness 450 600
1968 7 6 Drummer Hoff Ed Emberley 435 580
1969 7 6 The Fool Of The World And The Flying Ship Uri Shulevitz 420 560
1970 7 8 Sylvester And The Magic Pebble William Steig 1,050 1,400
1971 7 10 A Story, A Story Gail E. Haley 3,450 4,600
1972 7 6 One Fine Day Nonny Hogrogian 510 680
1973 7 5 The Funny Little Woman Blair Lent 315 420
1974 7 5 Duffy And The Devil Margot Zemach 300 400
1975 7 7 Arrow To The Sun Gerald McDermott 735 980
1976 7 6 Why Mosquitoes Buzz In Peoples Ears Leo & Diane Dillon 435 580
1977 7 6 Ashanti To Zulu Leo & Diane Dillon 420 560
1978 7 5 Noahs Ark Peter Spier 255 340
1979 7 5 The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses Paul Goble 255 340
1980 6 4 Ox-Cart Man Barbara Cooney 90 120
1981 9 5 Fables Arnold Lobel 705 940
1982 7 4 Jumanji Chris Van Allsburg 135 180
1983 6 4 Shadow Marcia Brown 75 100
1984 7 4 The Glorious Flight Alice & Martin Provensen 128 170
1985 10 4 Saint George And The Dragon Trina Schart Hyman 660 880
1986 7 4 Polar Express Chris Van Allsburg 113 150
1987 7 5 Hey, Al Richard Egielski 165 220
1988 7 6 Song And Dance Man Stephen Gammell 255 340
1989 7 4 Owl Moon John Schoenherr 98 130
1990 7 4 Lon Po Po Ed Young 98 130
1991 7 4 Black And White David Macaulay 90 120
1992 8 4 Tuesday David Wiesner 113 150
1993 7 4 Mirette On The High Wire Emily Arnold McCully 83 110
1994 7 4 Grandfathers Journey Allen Say 75 100
1995 7 5 Smoky Night David Diaz 113 150
1996 7 4 Officer Buckle And Gloria Peggy Rathmann 68 90
1997 7 4 Golem David Wisniewski 60 80
1998 7 4 Rapunzel Paul O. Zelinsky 60 80
1999 7 5 Snowflake Bentley Mary Azarian 83 110
2000 7 4 Joseph Had A Little Overcoat Simms Taback 53 70
2001 7 3 So You Want To Be President David Small 34 45
2002 7 3 The Three Pigs David Wiesner 34 45
2003 7 6 My Friend Rabbit Eric Rohmann 90 120
2004 7 4 The Man Who Walked Between The Towers Mordicai Gerstein 38 50
2005 7 4 Kittens First Full Moon Kevin Henkes 38 50
2006 7 4 The Hello Goodbye Window Christopher Raschka 34 45
2007 7 4 Flotsam David Wiesner 30 40
2008 7 4 The Invention Of Hugo Cabret Brian Selznick 27 36
2009 7 6 The House In The Night Beth Krommes 49 65
2010 7 4 Lion & The Mouse Jerry Pinckney 23 30
2011 7 6 A Sick Day For Amos McGee Erin Stead 38 50
2012 7 6 A Ball For Daisy Christopher Raschka 34 45
2013 7 4 This Is Not My Hat Jon Klassen 17 22

Of the books published in the past twenty years, Song And Dance Man, Owl Moon, Snowflake Bentley, and My Friend Rabbit are slightly harder to find in first edition format then their peer group. Each of these books was under printed in their first print run, and subsequently went into multiple printings after the book and illustrator were awarded the Caldecott Medal.

Values for First Edition Caldecott Honor Books

Children's Picturebook Price Guide includes a list of the 216 books through 2006 which have won a Caldecott Honor award.





© Stan Zielinski
A serious collector having fun with fun books.


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