Crafting Caldecott Criteria

Each year I wrestle with language that I think will make the Caldecott Medal Criteria more accessible to my elementary students.  This is daunting and I am never sure I get it right.

The 4th and 5th graders explore the language on their own for a bit and then we work to put it in child-friendly language with concrete examples, but I try to skip this step with the 1st and 2nd graders and go right to my own language. 

Here's the official language:

Criteria
"In identifying a “distinguished American picture book for children,” defined as illustration, committee members need to consider:

a.   Excellence of execution in the artistic technique employed;
b.   Excellence of pictorial interpretation of story, theme, or       
      concept;
c.   Appropriateness of style of illustration to the story, theme or 
      concept;
d.   Delineation of plot, theme, characters, setting, mood or 
      information through the pictures;
e.   Excellence of presentation in recognition of a child audience."

[Adopted by the ALSC board, January 1978. Revised, Midwinter 1987. Revised, Annual 2008.]
http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/caldecottmedal/caldecottterms/caldecottterms

I love this language, but when asking student to take on the role of a Mock Caldecott Committee they need something they can feel confident in their understanding.

This year, I decided to take the five criteria and translate them into this:

"In identifying a “distinguished American picture book for children,” defined as illustration, committee members need to consider:"

a.   Excellence
b.   Appropriateness
c.   Importance
d.   Appeal

After a week of playing with this language, it feels pretty good. 

What do you think?  

What do you use? 

 Please share! 

**disclaimer**

I apologize if altering the Caldecott Criteria language has offended any readers.