I have to say that watching the votes come in was plenty exciting for me! Lolly gave me the super-secret location of the returns so I could check them obsessively all night long.

Lolly and I had a face-to-face (really screen-to-screen) chat about how to decide where to go from here. It's clear that FIVE  titles have risen to the top. Since the vote is weighted, it's important to look at all the votes for each title and where the votes were cast. Go on, look at the dandy Lolly-made chart below.

	1st choice (4 points)	2nd choice (3 points)	3rd choice (2 points)	Total points
A Ball for Daisy	12	9	17	109
Balloons Over Broadway	25	23	19	207
Blackout	21	16	17	166
Bone Dog	3	10	12	66
Grandpa Green	37	23	19	255
Great Migration	4	1	4	27
Heart and Soul	15	13	11	121
I Want My Hat Back	25	42	21	268
Little White Rabbit	3	9	9	57
Me…Jane	43	27	24	301
Mouse & Lion	6	6	6	54
Naamah and the Ark at Night	5	9	9	65
Neville	4	9	9	61
Swirl by Swirl	8	14	17	108
Where's Walrus?	8	8	23	102

 

Every book got at least one first place vote.  That surprised me. There were other surprises too--some books (Where's Walrus, for example) garnered a LOT of third place votes, but not a lot of second places. On the real committee, if there is not a clear winner in the first ballot, much discussion will ensue. Farewells would be made to the books that did not have enough support to continue. (For me, saying "goodbye" to Neville is very sad.)

And all those votes would now be up for grabs.

We had 221 people voting.  As we enter into our second (and final) vote, we would love to have at least as many voters. We've decided to post the second ballot later this afternoon -- earlier than scheduled --  but will leave the polling tool up until 9 a.m. Thursday as originally planned. For now, take another look at the remaining books and make a pitch for the ones you really, really love appreciate and tell us what concerns you about the others. It's a lot more fun if we hear from you.

Here are the five books that will move on to a second ballot:

           

Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade by Melissa Sweet
Blackout by John Rocco
Grandpa Green by Lane Smith
I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen
Me…Jane by Patrick McDonnell

On your mark, get set, COMMENT!