I am back at school and still processing the weekend in Chicago. The blizzard, the meetings, the books, the buses, the proud moments when two good friends (the two who gave me the courage to join ALA in the first place) won service and achievement awards…it’s all a bit of a blur right now.

I am back at school where the children are abuzz. They have two reactions: 1. We love Beekle!!! Yay!!! and 2. What happened to The Farmer and the Clown?

In Chicago the 2015 Newbery Committee members were proudly sporting T-shirts with words on the back saying: Trust the Process. Those three words are a challenge this year as I find myself scratching my head and trying to figure out the Real Caldecott Committee. Actually, now that I think about it, I always try to figure out how things happened behind those closed doors! Why should this year be any different? How did this all go down? How did they end up with an astounding six books as honors? How did Beekle end up their top choice over those six books? How did a young adult book end up being an honor book? So. Many. Questions.

I do not know the answers to any of those questions and never will. The Cloak of Confidentiality is all rolled up like a blanket around the committee and will be forever. That’s the rule. And it’s a good one.

That doesn’t stop me from wondering, though.

Full disclosure: I have seen both This One Summer and The Noisy Paintbrush, but I have not read them over and over, nor do I have a copy of either one in my hot little fist. And finding a copy is going to be tough in the next few weeks. So, there’s that. However, I have blog comments and reviews to look at, and I think I remember enough about both to talk about the seven books that were honored, at least a bit. Scoot up a chair, I am feeling a bit long-winded today.

How did this all go down? How did Beekle end up their top choice over those six books?

No idea, but my gut reaction and reading of comments and tweets tells me it took awhile. The word is that the committee worked until 3:00 AM on Saturday night. Now, maybe writing seven press releases took a long time, but I think it’s more than that. A long night means many ballots, and many ballots means it took time to reach consensus. Maybe Beekle was neck-and-neck with another book, and in order to get enough first-place votes to declare a winner, they had to talk a long time and someone had to move to the Beekle camp. Or, the initial ballot was very evenly split — three or four first-place votes for four or five different books. This would mean that three or four or five people would have to be convinced to change their votes, and they would all have to change to Beekle.

How did they end up with an astounding six books as honors?

Once they got to enough first-place votes — and that could have taken a very long time — they would have had to decide honor books. Maybe they weren’t up for a fight and agreed to take the next five books in line, after the book that lost to Beekle. (As I see the books lined up on my chalk tray in my classroom, I am going to bet that book was The Right Word. No evidence, of course, just wild and crazy conjecture. The best kind of conjecture!) Maybe the next five books were equal in the points total, and they had to decide to honor all of them or none of them? (That would be another wild conjecture, but that’s what I think happened.)

What happened to The Farmer and the Clown?

Here is where “Trust the Process” gets a little challenging for me. I read and heard whisper campaigns about this book in the final weeks before Midwinter meetings. Creepy clowns. What was that old man doing looking at the little boy when he was sleeping? Was the farmer Amish and was the depiction of Amish people sensitive? Please. People. Please give me a sign that this was not what sank this beautiful and sensitive book. Please, let the committee have found some flaw in the art or the story line that I missed. Maybe the committee did not see it as distinguished the way I saw it. Again, we will never know. When my devastated second graders asked about it, I was pretty silent. I did not offer any suggestions as, frankly, I did not want to talk about creepy clowns or imaginary dirty old men or insulted Amish people with them. They would never believe that people actually think about stuff like that. Plus, it would sully the book they love.

How did a young adult book end up being an honor book?

I don’t know. What I remember about the art is that it was lovely. I do not have it right here and do not remember the art well enough to talk about it. I have always been in the camp arguing that some graphic novels could be picture books and could be considered for the Caldecott, but I guessed that most would not actually be considered picture books by a committee. So, I have to trust that the art and story met the criteria. Perhaps older readers will be excited that a Caldecott sticker is on a book they love; perhaps that bling will draw older readers to an excellent book. I certainly hope it will. However (and here you see me putting my second-grade teacher hat on), it’s the content that concerns me. Roger reminded us that Caldecott goes up through age 14. I know. I went and reread those words a few times today. Maybe that part of the criteria needs a second look. The age overlap with ALSC and YALSA has been discussed before.

This morning, two parents were dropping their kids off and asked me about my weekend. They then asked about the Caldecott Awards. They had watched the ceremony because their kids were wild about the titles we had discussed at school. They followed the online discussion here in the comments. The father said, “What about that book for high school kids? The one with the curse words. I hate when a committee has an agenda. Do you think that’s what happened?” I answered honestly, “I dunno. It’s a big committee, and they have to come to consensus. And Caldecott is for children up to age 14.” He wasn't buying what I was selling. Caldecott means picture books to parents, and picture books mean elementary school. (Don't holler, "But the criteria says up to 14!" because I know that it does. I am just telling you the way it is, face-to-face with parents.)

All I know is that now, instead of talking about Beekle and Viva Frida and The Right Word and Nana in the City and Sam & Dave and The Noisy Paintbox, I am answering questions about the Printz committee and cuss words and oral sex references.

I know that was not the committee’s intent, and I do trust the process. I also know how hard the committees work and how seriously they take their charge. That doesn’t mean I have to like every part of the process. For now, I think I will just reread The Iridescence of Birds and Naomi Shihab Nye's The Turtle of Oman (a Newbery hopeful) again — two books that I thought might get some love. And, of course, The Farmer and the Clown.