Well, it's almost here. The Real meetings and deliberations begin a week from today, at ALA LibLearnX, and the Caldecott winner and honor books (along with all the other awards) will be revealed on Monday, January 30, at the YMA announcements.

Today, meanwhile, we begin our mock vote here on Calling Caldecott. As usual, we will attempt to mimic the actual committee's process by presenting you all with a ballot from which you must choose three titles, ranking them in order from first to third. The reason for that is that first-place choices (with 4 points) are more heavily weighted than second- (3 points) and third-place (2 points) choices.

Of course, we are not mimicking the actual process exactly — nowhere near. The Real Committee will discuss and discuss and discuss before they vote, often into the wee hours; they will then take the winnowed-down roster of titles that results from that vote and discuss again; they will then take another vote...and continue to do so until they have a clear first-place winner. (For a complete explanation of the process, see, as ever!, the Caldecott manual.) 

We ask you to remember that Calling Caldecott's is a mock vote. Mock, meaning "not real." It is not predictive. It has no bearing on the real world, or on the committee's deliberations and choices. We hold the vote so that the blog's readers can feel part of the process. It's all about process, not outcome. So, as we ask every year, please refrain from engaging in or promoting ballot stuffing. It's pointless and counterproductive.

Here are the 21 books on this year's ballot:

Ain’t Burned All the Bright (Jason Griffin)

Berry Song (Michaela Goade)

Black Gold (London Ladd)

Blue (Daniel Minter)

Choosing Brave (Janelle Washington)

Emile and the Field (Chioma Ebinama)

Every Dog in the Neighborhood (Matthew Cordell)

Farmhouse (Sophie Blackall)

From Isla to Island (Alexis Castellanos)

H Is for Harlem (April Harrison)

Hot Dog (Doug Salati)

John’s Turn (Kate Berube)

Kick Push (Frank Morrison)

Knight Owl (Christopher Denise)

Off the Wall (Theodore Taylor III)

A Seed Grows (Antoinette Porter)

Snow Horses (Micha Archer)

The Three Billy Goats Gruff (Jon Klassen)

The Universe in You (Jason Chin)

Where Butterflies Fill the Sky (Zahra Marwan)

The World Belongs to Us (Leo Espinosa)

When you have made your final three choices, in ranked order (soooo hard to choose just three!), head here for the ballot. 

The ballot will be open from now until noon EST on Tuesday, January 24th. On Wednesday we'll announce our Calling Caldecott winner and honor books.

Happy voting, everyone!