I know we said we were not doing an online ballot this year, but since we’ve been doing mock nominations throughout the year, the natural and logical conclusion is to vote. Now keeping in mind that we’ve had just over 30 people participate in each round of voting, we would probably need a single book to capture at least 15 first place votes and probably more. I’d be surprised if that happened on one vote, so we’ll likely declare the top vote-getter as our winner with the next highest titles as honor books.
It is important that (a) you only vote from the following list and that (b) you number your books 1-2-3 because it is a weighted ballot. Failure to comply will nullify your vote–and we wouldn’t want that to happen, would we?
(21) LIAR & SPY
(20) BOMB
(20) SPLENDORS AND GLOOMS
(17) THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN
(13) STARRY RIVER OF THE SKY
(12) WONDER
(10) MOONBIRD
(9) NO CRYSTAL STAIR
(8) TWELVE KINDS OF ICE
(8) TEMPLE GRANDIN
(8) THE MIGHTY MISS MALONE
(8) THREE TIMES LUCKY
(7) SUMMER OF THE GYPSY MOTHS
(7) MR. AND MRS. BUNNY
(6) EACH KINDNESS
(6) CHICKADEE
(5) WE’VE GOT A JOB
(4) PALACE OF STONE
(4) CODE NAME VERITY
(3) JEPP, WHO DEFIED THE STARS
(3) ONE FOR THE MURPHYS
(3) CHILD OF THE MOUNTAINS
(2) THE LIONS OF LITTLE ROCK
(2) SERAPHINA
(2) WATER SINGS BLUE
(2) TITANIC
(2) KINDRED SOULS
(2) THE GREAT UNEXPECTED
(2) A BLACK HOLE IS NOT A HOLE
(2) THE MIGHTY MARS ROVERS
(1) BENEATH A METH MOON
(1) THE HUMMING ROOM
(1) ABRAHAM LINCOLN & FREDERICK DOUGLASS
(1) REMARKABLE
(1) CROW
(1) DUMPLING DAYS
(1) SHADOW ON THE MOUNTAIN
(1) DANGER GOES BESERK
(1) SAME SUN HERE
(1) WOODEN BONES
(1) THE SEVEN TALES OF TRINKET
(1) THE BROKEN LANDS
(1) STEP GENTLY OUT
(1) SON
(1) JAKE & LILY
(1) GOBLIN SECRETS
You do not need to provide a justification for each book, but I will do so in order to make my thinking process more transparent.
1. BOMB . . . Still the most distinguished book at the top of our nomination list. I could place others over BOMB, but they don’t seem to have enough support to beat the five middle grade novels clustered at the top.
2. CHICKADEE . . . I’m eschewing MOONBIRD and NO CRYSTAL STAIR this time around, hoping the late surge of love for CHICKADEE can carry this into the top echelon.
3. TWELVE KINDS OF ICE . . . This gained a substantial number of readers between our November nominations and our December nominations, and if that trend continues than I think we could see this one, too, move into contention.
Shall we set a deadline? All votes should be in by this coming Tuesday morning.
