Our fourth grade students have been learning about the Caldecott Award by holding their own competition to determine the best 2012 picture book in our library's collection. The class was divided into committees of five or six students. Each committee nominated their favorite book for consideration. Committee members wrote down the reasons why they thought their nominations were the best choice. They found facts about the life of the illustrators and they also researched the methods used to produce each book's illustrations. The entire class met and listened while each of the committees presented all that they had learned about their nominated books and the way each was created. Finally the class voted for the book they felt worthy of the 2012 Saint Ephrem Award.The winner was I Need My Monster by Amanda Noll, illustrated by Howard McWilliam. This book was nominated by the committee of Mikayla Brennan, Nick Costanzo, Jeffrey Duda, Connor Gallagher,Emmett Lombardi, and Molly McHugh. They will be sending an e-mail to Mr. McWilliam to inform him of his award.Mikayla also submitted the winning design for this year's award.