We are almost finished! Our second ballot starts now and will be open until 9 a.m. EST tomorrow (Thursday, January 24), and we will announce the winner of our mock vote in the afternoon.

In less than a week! — Monday, January 28! — we will find out which books will receive recognition from the Real Caldecott committee.

As noted last year, we always think of Robin Smith right about this time (we think of her all year long, in fact); she loved serving on book award committees and once said that at this stage of the process she liked to picture the jackets of her favorite books, imagining how wonderful it would be if they were to “wear medals for the rest of their lives.”

Here at Calling Caldecott, we are ready to vote again. If your original choices are not on this second ballot (having not received enough votes in our mock Caldecott to move forward), where will your new votes go? Sometimes people are surprised that what seemed like a clear winner in ballot 1 might not turn out to be a shoo-in after ballot 2. As votes shift around, a different set of books could rise to the top. Please think about your favorites carefully, choose your top three in ranked order (just as the Real Committee will), and vote!

Here, again, is the list of books under discussion:

A Big Mooncake for Little Star by Grace Lin

Blue by Laura Vaccaro Seeger

Drawn Together illus. by Dan Santat

Dreamers by Yuyi Morales

Hello Lighthouse by Sophie Blackall

Julián Is a Mermaid by Jessica Love

We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga illus. by Frané Lessac