Caldecott Medal 1970s: A decade of winners

The 1970s were transformative years for children’s literature, and the Caldecott Medal became a glittering mirror of that cultural moment. This was the decade when picture books shed their squeaky-clean aesthetic and embraced cultural diversity, folk traditions from around the world, and illustrative styles that ranged from Gerald McDermott’s bold geometric shapes to Peter Spier’s intricate, teeming compositions. William Steig’s Sylvester and the Magic Pebble opened the decade with a poignant story about loss and redemption rendered in warm, expressive drawings, setting the tone for an era when the Caldecott would increasingly value emotional depth alongside visual innovation.

Perhaps the most striking pattern of the decade was the award’s turn toward African and African-American narratives, a shift that felt genuinely revolutionary at the time. Gail E. Haley’s A Story a Story brought West African folktales to American children in 1971, while the Dillons—Leo and Diane—earned back-to-back recognition with Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears (1976) and Ashanti to Zulu: African Traditions (1977), their intricate, jewel-toned illustrations opening windows onto cultures that had been largely absent from mainstream children’s publishing. Alongside these landmark wins, Paul Goble’s The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses closed out the decade with Native American storytelling rendered in graceful, spiritually infused illustrations, cementing the Caldecott Medal’s evolution into a more expansive vision of what American picture books could be.

Below, explore the complete list of 1970s Caldecott Medal winners and discover the full scope of this visionary decade in children’s literature: