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Friday, January 26, 2018

Mock Gold, Discussion, and Re-Balloting for Honor Books

Good news! We have a Mock Geisel winner! This year’s Guessing Geisel Mock Gold goes to:

Charlie and Mouse by Laurel Snyder, illustrated by Emily Hughes

We’ll take more time to celebrate Charlie and Mouse in a later post, but first, we have some unfinished business to attend to.

The Geisel manual has this to say about Honor Books:
Once a winner is selected, the issue of Honor Books is addressed. The terms of the award provide parameters:

• There is no requirement that Honor Books be named.
• There is no rule dictating the number of Honor Books to be named.
• There is the expectation that Honor Books be truly distinguished, not merely strong contenders for the award.

The committee first considers whether or not to select Honor Books. If it decides there are to be none, the selection process is complete. If Honor Books are to be chosen, the selection process proceeds. At this point, certain choices present themselves:

• Whether or not to use the winning selection ballot to choose Honor Books. The committee looks at titles with the next highest number of points.
• Whether or not to ballot one more time. Only one additional ballot is allowed. The Honor Book selection ballot consists of titles from the winning selection ballot that received points. (Of course, the winner is eliminated.) By consensus, titles with no remaining support also may be withdrawn.

The committee studies the ballot tally (either from the winning selection ballot or from one subsequent ballot on Honor Books), and the committee determines which books committee members deem to be truly distinguished.
In our first ballot, after the winning title one book scored higher than other potential Honor Books: Egg by Kevin Henkes. We could have selected that book alone as our Honor Book, or tried to find a cutoff point among the lower-scoring books. However, we thought it would be interesting to see what happens to the voting pool when our winner is taken out of the mix. Will Egg continue to stand much higher, or will other titles rise to the top?

The Geisel manual also states that “The committee may not proceed to another ballot without a second round of book discussion.” Oh, how we would like to have a round of book discussion with you, Readers! What strengths did you see in the titles you selected for our first ballot? Since we can’t gather you all in one place, please do comment below. In the meantime, here are some of our thoughts on the strongest contenders from our first round of balloting:

Egg by Kevin Henkes
Amy says: I think the clever word repetition paired with the super appealing graphic novel panels makes this an attractive book for beginning readers. 
Amanda says: Henkes probably didn't intend this book for independent readers, but his illustrations work so effectively with his text to communicate this sweetly funny story.

The Good For Nothing Button by Charise Mericle Harper
Amy says: I love how Harper deftly explains and explores and expands on the abstract concept of nothing. And it's funny to boot! 
Amanda says:  I second the appreciation of tackling the topic of "nothing". And the expressiveness of the characters as they portray various emotions really stands out as relevant to a child's sensibilities.

A Pig, a Fox, and Stinky Socks by Jonathan Fenske
Misti says: I love the page-turning dynamic in this book.  Not only do the rhymes and repetition move the reader along, but each joke is set up over several pages, causing the reader much gleeful anticipation.
Amy says: I agree, Misti. Many have tried to imitate Dr. Seuss's rhyme schemes, but I think few have succeeded as delightfully as Fenske.

It's Shoe Time by Bryan Collier
Amy says: It's certainly notable that this is the first instance of humans in the world of Elephant and Piggie! 
Amanda says: There are more confident readers who are going to love all this wacky shoe wordplay.

Now by Antoinette Portis
Amy says: The artwork really stands out to me as excellent, and the layout navigates the interplay between text and images beautifully. 
Amanda says:  With the exception of the cloud page, there's such wonderful white space around the text and images in this book that the reader has room to take a breath and be present with the illustrations.

I Am (Not) Scared by Anna Kang, illustrated by Christopher Weyant
Amy says: Oh, the glorious white space in this book! It's simply delicious. 


I Won't Eat That! by Christopher Silas Neal
Amy says: The repetitive, but never boring, structure is my favorite part of this book. But I do worry a bit about "bioluminescent phytoplankton."

I See a Cat by Paul Meisel
Misti says: How can a book so simple be so funny? By the perfect interplay of text and illustrations, that's how. This creates a successful and enjoyable reading experience for even the earliest beginning reader.
Amy says: I like that it elevates an ordinary day into something exciting and funny. No small feat for the scant number of words it employs.

Noodleheads See the Future by Tedd Arnold, Martha Hamilton, and Mitch Weiss
Amy says: The detailed backmatter thrills my librarian heart
Amanda says: It was interesting to see Betsy Bird include this among folk & fairy tales in her 31 days of lists - it helped me appreciate more deeply how Tedd Arnold is bringing something rooted in the very traditional to young readers. 

King & Kayla and the Case of the Missing Dog Treats by Dori Hillestad Butler, illustrated by Nancy Meyers
Misti says: This book makes excellent use of repetition of potentially unfamiliar words (like "intruder").  Plus, the mystery plot is compelling and, along with touches of humor, keeps the reader engaged in this story that may be longer than some beginning reader books they have encountered.

On our ballot for Honor Books, we're including all titles that received votes in our first ballot -- the books above, and several others. We'll be posting that ballot very soon!  Meanwhile, feel free to comment about the books you find truly distinguished and deserving of a (Mock) Geisel Honor. 

Wondering how the points fell for the first ballot?  Check out the screenshot below!  



2 comments:

  1. I'm pretty excited Charlie and Mouse won. It is not getting many votes in the Mock I'm holding with my first and second graders this week. I think because it is longer. I did read it to all of them weeks ago, but the pages are fairly small to work as a classroom read aloud. It's a book that needs more intimate contact.

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    1. Thanks for sharing that info, DaNae. It's definitely for a more confident reader than, say, A Pig, A Fox, and Stinky Socks and for a far more fluent reader than I I See a Cat. Are all its voters among your students second graders who had a "successful reading experience" reading it independently?

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