I had a delightful holiday, thank you very much. There was a small blemish on my weeks off, though. In between the gift exchanges and deciding What In The World Should We Watch On Netflix, there was that little voice sounding in the back of my brain. The voice said, “Martha is going to want a ballot for Calling Caldecott. She is going to let you come up with it by Tuesday, but if you don’t come up with something voluntarily, she is not going to forget about it.” Then I would turn to the next item on my Netflix list and whisper, “Shhhh,” to the voice. (For the record, we loved Fannie’s Last Supper, Spotlight, and Ava DuVernay’s 13th. Go on and add them to your Netflix queue. I will wait. That will give me some marvelous procrastinating time. I am an expert at procrastination.)

Here’s the problem. We normally come up with a dozen or so top runners to create our Calling Caldecott ballot. This year there are just too many good ones, and no clear frontrunners. If I was on the Real Committee this year, I would have had a helluva time coming up with just seven nominations. I can definitely come up with my top two or three, but after that, I find myself making mental arguments for each of the remaining titles. I peruse the top shelf, move books around, and sigh. Then I have another scoop of Graeter’s Ice Cream. (For those of you who do not have access to Graeter’s Double Chocolate Chip, I know for certain you can order it online. We get our fix at the grocery store.)

Usually, the three of us (Lolly, Martha, and I) submit our lists to one another, and five to seven titles make it to each list. Then one of us suggests the final titles, and the others say, “Fine.” Not so with the folks on the Real Committee. They submit seven titles to the group. With the titles, they will have composed supporting arguments (in the form of a few paragraphs). The first group of three nominated titles is submitted in October. The chair sends a list of titles back to the committee at large and each member is encouraged to reread any title that the other members have submitted. They are going to have to come to consensus in January, so it’s a good idea to start looking at the nominated books very carefully so nothing is missed. I mean, if thirteen people have nominated a book and I have not, I want to read that title again. Maybe I will add my voice to the crowd and nominate it too. Or, I know I better start thinking about WHY I am not even nominating the book.

So, that last paragraph kept me from hearing the little voice.

Calling Caldecott must come up with a list. Martha has asked me for it in the form of a gentle lob. I choose to hit the ball back to you, gentle readers. Please use the comment section below to let us know which five books you think will be wearing shiny stickers on Monday, January 23rd — or at least which five books you’d most like to see on our ballot. Please take a moment and look at the list of books we have talked about (give or take a few titles) here. We will still squeeze a few more reviews out of our dry and bony fingers in the next few days, so feel free to name titles Martha, Lolly, our guest posters, and I have not yet addressed. This could happen to the Real Committee if something fabulous arrives late in the year. It can happen. That’s when folks are really caught off guard at the announcements. So, suggest away. Soon.

I will now light a candle that between 10 and 15 titles will rise to the top. If the candle does not work, we’ll come up with some other (*cough cough*) scientific way to put a ballot together. It will involve torn strips of paper with titles scrawled on it and a paper bag. That would not be pretty. I could lay the books on the floor and see which ones my cat (Spike, the wonder cat) favors. I might do that anyway.

Take a moment. Do it now. I see you walking away from your computer over there in Peoria! Get back to your keyboard and type out five or fewer titles. If I were Oprah, I’d offer you a car if you help a girl out. I’m not. But next time you are in Nashville, I’ll pick up the tab on some Jeni’s or Graeter’s ice cream.