It’s time for our virtual edition of the Mock Newbery!  We’ll declare a winner and honor books after the first ballot so it won’t really be very similar to what the real committee will be doing, but it will still be a lot of fun, and that’s what counts, right?  What follows is the list of December nominations which is slightly different from our November list (which actually had more participants) so you may want to check out both lists to gauge the amount of online support before you vote.

(16) THE THING ABOUT LUCK

(11) FAR FAR AWAY

(11) THE TRUE BLUE SCOUTS OF SUGAR MAN SWAMP

(10) WHAT THE HEART KNOWS

(9) P.S. BE ELEVEN

(7) IF YOU WANT TO SEE A WHALE

(7) DOLL BONES

(7) FLORA & ULYSSES

(7) THE CENTER OF EVERYTHING

(6) THE REAL BOY

(6) BETTER NATE THAN EVER

(5) CLEMENTINE AND THE SPRING TRIP

(4) THE WATER CASTLE

(4) COUNTING BY 7s

(4) ZEBRA FOREST

(4) THE GREAT AMERICAN DUST BOWL

(4) THE YEAR OF BILLY MILLER

(3) ONE CAME HOME

(3) LOCOMOTIVE

(3) NAVIGATING EARLY

(3) BLUFFTON

(2) JINX

(2) FROM NORVELT TO NOWHERE

(2) LINCOLN’S GRAVE ROBBERS

(2) THE ADVENTURES OF A SOUTH POLE PIG

(2) THE HIDDEN SUMMER

(2) ERUPTION!

(2) PENNY AND HER MARBLE

(2) THE ANIMAL BOOK

(2) ODD DUCK

(1) HOKEY POKEY

(1) SUGAR

(1) A TANGLE OF KNOTS

(1) DUKE

(1) THE MIGHTY LALOUCHE

(1) THE CANARY IN THE COAL MINE

(1) BREAKFAST ON MARS

(1) AFRICA IS MY HOME

(1) PRIMATES

(1) ETCHED IN CLAY

(1) PAPA’S MECHANICAL FISH

(1) COURAGE HAS NO COLOR

(1) SALT

(1) BATTLE BUNNY

(1) YAQUI DELGADO WANTS TO KICK YOUR ASS

(1) HATTIE EVER AFTER

(1) GHOST HAWK

You’ll notice the top four books above are included among my seven nominations, so I’m going to vote for three of them since they already have strong support.  I wouldn’t use this spread-the-wealth logic in the real committee, but since our group here already picked TRUE BLUE SCOUTS, I’m going to leave that one off my ballot, and vote for the other three.  Would have desperately loved to include ERUPTION! or THE ANIMAL BOOK, but my vote has to count for something.

1.  THE THING ABOUT LUCK: There seems to be slightly more support for this title, and I’m all about following (leading?) the herd at this stage of the game.  Rock on, Obaachan!

2.  WHAT THE HEART KNOWS: I wish there had been more enthusiasm for this title at our San Diego Mock Newbery, but it doesn’t dampen my hopes.  Word for word, I don’t know that there was a better book published this year.

3.  FAR FAR AWAY: Something about the ending was off for me, and I’m still not quite sure what it was, but the book as a whole was so damn good that it just belongs here.

Now, give us your top three, and please rank them in numerical order so that I can assign 4 points for 1st, 3 points for 2nd, and 2 points for 3rd.  Voting will close on Wednesday, January 22nd at midnight, so make sure you post in the comments below by then.