Rebecca Lee Kunz is a Santa Fe multi-media artist who was named a recipient of the 2025 Caldecott Medal on Monday for her illustrations in the children’s picture book Chooch Helped (Levine Querido, 2024, 48 pages).
Chooch Helped, a picture book written by Andrea Rogers and illustrated by Rebecca Lee Kunz, has been recognized with the 2025 Caldecott Award as the most distinguished American picture book for children last year.{/p}
Rebecca Lee Kunz is a Santa Fe multi-media artist who was named a recipient of the 2025 Caldecott Medal on Monday for her illustrations in the children’s picture book Chooch Helped (Levine Querido, 2024, 48 pages).
Jeremy Charles
Chooch Helped, a picture book written by Andrea Rogers and illustrated by Rebecca Lee Kunz, has been recognized with the 2025 Caldecott Award as the most distinguished American picture book for children last year.{/p}
The realm of book-making and illustrating was unexplored territory for Santa Fe multi-artist Rebecca Lee Kunz only a few years ago. On Monday, Kunz was named winner of the 2025 Caldecott Medal — one of the nation's biggest honors within children's literature — with illustrations in her first book project, Chooch Helped.
Every year, the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, recognizes both authors and artists of the most distinguished children's books from the year prior. It does so through the John Newbery Medal, which has been awarded to authors since 1922, and the Randolph Caldecott Medal, awarded to artists and illustrators since 1938.
Kunz, 49, learned that the honor and the medal, were hers in a phone call on Sunday.
"I was kind of in shock and disbelief, but very happy of course," Kunz told Pasatiempo Monday afternoon. "It's pretty unbelievable."
Kunz earned the medal for her illustrations in Chooch Helped, a children's picture book that tells the story of a Cherokee girl named Sissy who teaches her mischievous younger brother their family’s traditions. The 48-page book was written by Andrea Rogers and published by Levine Querido in 2024.
Kirkus Reviews writes that Kunz's "powerful images" help bring the moving narrative of Native life and sibling bonds to life with "stunning use of collage to illustrate the children’s rich familial and cultural webs."
Kunz's involvement in the book started with an unexpected meeting. Before moving to Santa Fe in 1994 and receiving her bachelor's degree in fine art and painting from the College of Santa Fe in 1998, Kunz was raised in Oklahoma as a citizen of the Cherokee Nation.
Kunz, who regularly returns to Oklahoma for the art markets and cultural events, was visiting for the Cherokee National Holiday in 2022 when she met Rogers, who is also a member of the Cherokee Nation and was doing a signing for another book at the time.
Kunz recognized the book as one she had at home, shared that she was a fan, and expressed interest in working with Rogers. The author was making her way to the gallery register during this encounter, to purchase note cards that, unbeknownst to her, were made by Kunz.
"We both kind of had this light bulb moment where it’s like she didn’t realize that’s who I was and I kind of didn’t know who she was, and we stumbled upon each other, and that was that," Kunz says in a 2024 Pasatiempo story ("A Historic Host for Handmade Art," December 20).
The pair hit it off and Rogers introduced Kunz to Levine Querido, with whom Rogers had already secured a book deal. Kunz, who had no prior experience producing illustrations for a children's book, went through an audition process with Levine Querido before jumping onboard.
Kunz says translating Rogers' already meaningful story through imagery and working with the Levine Querido team was "just a joy," adding that the team "was really helpful through the whole process, encouraging me to use my full voice and not hold back, and really believed in the art and craft of the book and supporting underrepresented authors and illustrators and the slow art of bookmaking."
Kunz describes earning national recognition with her first book, and this book specifically, as "an honor," adding that in addition to the exposure that comes with the award, she is excited about the spotlight the story shines on the Native American and Cherokee communities and traditions.
Kunz and Chooch Helped will be officially recognized at an awards ceremony in June. Up next for the artist is a biographical picture book, a personal project that Kunz is in the very early stages of developing. She says she sees more children's picture books as a likely part of her future artistic endeavors as well.
Kunz's message for other artists pursuing a career in the arts or other creative fields is to keep going. In moments when their career feels stagnant or when their work feels like it isn't going anywhere, Kunz says keep going, keep showing up, stay committed to the craft, and, someday, it will pay off.Â
Learn more about Kunz and her other artwork through Tree of Life Studio at treeoflifestudio.net/. To see what other books, authors, and illustrators were recognized by the Caldecott and Newbery awards, visit tinyurl.com/367bvuer.
