Okay, it’s time for us (and the real Newbery committee) to submit two more nominations for the month of November.  You’ll remember that my October strategy was to simply nominate the three best books.  If, since that time, I have come to believe that another one or two books have genuinely supplanted one of those titles then I would absolutely nominate them.  Otherwise, I will probably be a little bit more strategic with these next nominations.

You may remember that my October nominations were ERUPTION!, THE THING ABOUT LUCK, and WHAT THE HEART KNOWS.  None of those have really slipped in my estimation, but there is another group of novels that I have been seriously considering, books that I really liked, especially in light of our vigorous and stimulating conversation here: THE TRUE BLUE SCOUTS OF SUGAR MAN SWAMP, FAR FAR AWAY, and GHOST HAWK.  And, as always, I appreciate a small handful of nontraditional Newbery books: IF YOU WANT TO SEE A WHALE, THE ANIMAL BOOK, WITH A MIGHTY HAND (a retelling of the Torah), and TREASURY OF EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY.  Since I’m being somewhat strategic here, I would peek again at the previous list of nominations.

(9) THE THING ABOUT LUCK

(7) THE REAL BOY

(5) P.S. BE ELEVEN

(4) DOLL BONES

(3) TRUE BLUE SCOUTS OF SUGAR MAN SWAMP

(3) THE YEAR OF BILLY MILLER

(3) THE CENTER OF EVERYTHING

(2) CLEMENTINE AND THE SPRING TRIP

(2) ERUPTION

(2) COUNTING BY 7s

(2) IF YOU WANT TO SEE A WHALE

(2) FLORA & ULYSSES

(2) THE WATER CASTLE

(1) WHAT THE HEART KNOWS

(1) SALT

(1) PRIMATES

(1) GHOST HAWK

(1) HOKEY POKEY

(1) FAR FAR AWAY

(1) TWERP

(1) PENNY AND HER MARBLE

(1) ODD DUCK

(1) THE CANARY IN THE COAL MINE

(1) ZEBRA FOREST

(1) HIDDEN SUMMER

(1) A TANGLE OF KNOTS

(1) BETTER NATE THAN EVER

(1) LISTENING FOR LUCCA

(1) JINX

(1) ONE CAME HOME

I can totally get behind TRUE BLUE SCOUTS, but since it’s doing relatively well with 3 votes, I’ll probably pass this time around, and then I still have the option of spending a December nomination on it.  IF YOU WANT TO SEE A WHALE has two nominations while FAR FAR AWAY and GHOST HAWK each only had a single nomination.  They all need more support.  I’m definitely going to spend a nomination on the WHALE book to get it into the middle of the pack, and I’ll use the same wait-and-see strategy for GHOST HAWK and FAR FAR AWAY that I’m using for TRUE BLUE SCOUTS.  That allows me to spend a second nomination on one of my remaining no-chance-in-hell books: THE ANIMAL BOOK, WITH A MIGHTY HAND, and TREASURY OF EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY.  I’m obviously quite realistic about the chances of these books, but I so strongly believe that the committee not only needs to consider the breadth of its charge, but they need to bring these kinds of books to the table for actual discussion, that I am willing to spend a precious nomination on one of them.  This is kind of like playing eenie meenie miney mo since I have no previous suggestion list to guide me, but I’m going to go with . . . THE ANIMAL BOOK.

Thus, my five nominations to date include–

THE ANIMAL BOOK

ERUPTION

IF YOU WANT TO SEE A WHALE

THE THING ABOUT LUCK

WHAT THE HEART KNOWS

Please submit your list of five nominations.  Last year I said you couldn’t change your first three (because I wanted to closely mimic the Newbery process), but the reality is that most of us are way behind in our reading when compared to the real committee, so again we are going with the snapshot model.  Give me the five books that you would nominate today, regardless of what you nominated previously.  Go.