Wednesday, February 22, 2012

SLJ's Battle of the Kids Books: Predictions

I personally thought it'd be fun to make some predictions before knowing which author judge is assigned to which battle. Often I make my predictions based on the judges preferred tastes (as if I knew) and it usually bites me big time. So instead, I'm going to make my predictions this year without the knowledge of who's judging what.

Round 1
  • AMELIA LOST over ANYA'S GHOST
  • BETWEEN SHADES OF GRAY over BOOTLEG
  • THE CHESHIRE CHEESE CAT over CHIME
  • DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE over DEAD END IN NORVELT
  • DRAWING FROM MEMORY over THE GRAND PLAN TO FIX EVERYTHING
  • INSIDE OUT AND BACK AGAIN over HEART AND SOUL
  • A MONSTER CALLS over LIFE
  • OKAY FOR NOW over WONDERSTRUCK
Round 2
  • BETWEEN SHADES OF GRAY over AMELIA LOST
  • DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE over THE CHESHIRE CHEESE CAT
  • DRAWING FROM MEMORY over INSIDE OUT AND BACK AGAIN
  • A MONSTER CALLS over OKAY FOR NOW
Round 3
  • DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE over BETWEEN SHADES OF GRAY
  • A MONSTER CALLS over DRAWING FROM MEMORY
Winner of the Undead Poll: OKAY FOR NOW

Big Kahuna Round
  • DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE over A MONSTER CALLS, and OKAY FOR NOW
Tough Calls . . .

THE CHESHIRE CHEESE CAT over CHIME is a tough one to call. Both are totally different kinds of work. I personally, don't see either of these prevailing a round further, overtaking DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE, but another tough call for me was choosing OKAY FOR NOW as my predicted Undead Winner. I think CHIME has a following and could overtake it. Although based on OKAY FOR NOW's support on Heavy Medal and Goodreads, I think it would be tough to pick against it as the Undead Winner.

I also had a hard time with what to do with WONDERSTRUCK. Personally, I didn't like it at all! However, Selznick too, has appeal. I don't get it, but he does. I could see WONDERSTRUCK making a run either in the brackets or in the Undead Poll.

AMELIA LOST is another one of those titles that I could really see other authors digging. For some reason my gut is telling me BETWEEN SHADES OF GRAY, but I wouldn't be surprised to see AMELIA LOST go far either.

2 comments:

  1. Just found your blog via an image search for Amelia Lost! I'm currently trying to finish all of the Contenders before the BOB begins! For the most part, I HOPE your predictions are correct! Although I'd love to see Heart and Soul win in the first round, and would be THRILLED to see Between Shades of Gray make it to the Big Kahuna. Only time will tell :)

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  2. I loved both Hugo Cabret and Wonderstruck, but a friend of mine read both and, like you, didn't get the appeal. I'm so in love with the books that I can't distance myself enough to see that... what are your thoughts?

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