HMC Mock Ballot #2 Results – still not there
Heavy Medal Committee (HMC) members have submitted their 2nd Ballots. Based on the requirements noted at the top of today’s earlier post, we still are not real close to a winner (8 first place, 8 point lead). So at this point, we will open up HM for more discussion of the contending books. The HMC members will submit a third ballot.
| Ballot #2 | 1st (4 pts) | 2nd (3 pts) | 3rd (2 pts) | Total |
| Other Words for Home | 3 | 3 | 4 | 29 |
| Torpedoed | 4 | 2 | 1 | 24 |
| The Remarkable Journey… | 2 | 3 | 2 | 21 |
| New Kid | 0 | 3 | 4 | 17 |
| Genesis Begins Again | 3 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| Pay Attention Carter Jones | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 |
| Lalani of the Distant Sea | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7 |
| Queen of the Sea | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| This Promise of Change | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Scary Stories for Young Foxes | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| The Line Tender | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| The Important Thing About MWB | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Totals | 15 | 15 | 15 | 135 |
We still have 12 books that are receiving votes. On the real Committee, the Chair might at this point see if there is consensus around the table to remove some of the books from the table. By removing books that have not received strong support so far, it would force more votes towards the clear contenders and could bring us closer to a clear winner.
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We’re not all in the room together, but I’ll put the question to the HMC here. Not everyone will be able to weigh in, but let’s see what the first reactions are and we’ll go from there. Once the decision is made, we’ll have a new HM post where re-dicussion will commence again.
I propose to remove all books that received fewer than three votes total. This would remove six titles: THE IMPORTANT THING ABOUT MW BROWN; LINE TENDER; SCARY STORIES…FOXES; THIS PROMISE OF CHANGE; QUEEN OF THE SEA; and LALANI. We would have six remaining titles.
HMC members, what do you think? Are we okay taking off a couple books that received a 1st place vote? If you’d like to keep more books on the table, do you see a chance for them to rise in the rankings? Once we get some input we’ll make the decision and call for re-discussion on a separate post.
Filed under: Book Discussion, Heavy Medal Mock, Process
About Steven Engelfried
Steven Engelfried was the Library Services Manager at the Wilsonville Public Library in Oregon until he retired in 2022 after 35 years as a full-time librarian. He served on the 2010 Newbery committee, chaired the 2013 Newbery Committee, and also served on the 2002 Caldecott committee. You can reach him at sengelfried@yahoo.com.
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I second removing the lowest ranks of books. Many of them received very little discussion in this morning’s post either.
I agree I think the top seven received the most discussion and engagement this morning, so I am very comfortable removing the bottom five. The other approach would be to remove any book that did not get a first place vote and leave those seven removing the remaining five. I’m comfortable either way.
In looking at the fewer than three votes total option I think that captures what we had rising to the top this morning as well so I’m in full agreement with that approach as well.
I think all of the books that were suggested are wonderful books for kids to read. My issue will be where to put my third vote. Of the five books left you are asking me to pick three. I only think two rise to the cream of the crop. I would definitely remove those that got no first place votes, but I am not sure what to vote for given such a limited list if we go down to only five books.
Good point, Cherylynn. Every member must vote for three on each ballot, and it can be maddening, after all of the reading, discussing, and balloting, to reach a point where you give a vote to a book that you don’t feel is deserving of an award. Maybe comparing the strengths that we do see on those, and comparing those without weighing in the flaws? Or you could look at it the other way: all are flawed…which is least flawed? For now, we’re still at seven books, so hopefully all voters will find three that they’re comfortable supporting.
I agree as well. We should focus our discussion on the books that have the most support at this point. Thank you for organizing the process, Steven.
Definitely think we should tighten up the pack. I’m happy with either way (bottom 5 or those that didn’t receive a first place vote).
Thanks for the feedback. We’ve got consensus to reduce the list as proposed. We’ll open up a new discussion on a separate most very soon.
I agree with removing the bottom five.
The bottom five would include QUEEN OF THE SEA (one 1st, one 3rd), but not LALANI OF THE DISTANT SEA (one 1st, one 2nd). Those two seem close enough that both should be removed.
Re-reading comments, I do see that there’s more support from HMC members for only removing five, not six. So we’ll go forward with seven remaining books.