We promised to post the results of our second ballot this morning . . . but we can't. A few things went wrong with the voting, including some pretty blatant ballot stuffing. So we won't show you all the numbers, but we can tell you that once again Aaron Becker's Journey and Peter Brown's Mr. Tiger Goes Wild (neither involved in the voter irregularity) came out on top -- and in close proximity to each other. Journey had 92 first-place votes, 48 second-place votes, and 34 third-place votes. With the weighted balloting, its total is 580. Mr. Tiger had 62 first-place votes, 85 second-place votes, and 45 third-place votes, for a total of 593. However, on the real Caldecott committee, in order for a book to be declared the winner, more than half the committee has to choose it as their top pick. Here, that didn't happen.

Now you all know that we love honor books --and we would like nothing more than to award a record-breaking number this year. But in such a situation, where two books have pulled so far ahead of the field, a committee might need to let go of its hopes and dreams and decide that one book will be the winner and the other the honor book (the time-honored method, apparently, of dealing with such a situation. For better or worse).

Therefore, we are going to a third ballot! It's open now -- here is the link. It will be open until 9 a.m. tomorrow, Friday. Vote for either Mr. Tiger Goes Wild or Journey. One to be the winner; the other, the honor book here at Calling Caldecott. We love 'em both.