— Jon KlassenKlassen, 34, is a bit of a rock star in the picture book world, which is way more complicated than the average 80-word book might suggest. The Caldecott Medal is kind of like the Oscar for the picture book world. But the “Hat” books seem to have captured the zeitgeist of modern parenting. There are more than 1.6 million copies of the first two “Hat” books in print worldwide. This is a technical term used by mavens like Von Drasek, who is on this year’s Caldecott committee, when discussing the drama of a picture book.

Source: Los Angeles Times November 17, 2016 15:01 UTC