SLJ's Battle of the Kids' Books

I love this event. Last year I was all in on A TALE DARK AND GRIMM. I love reading the judges' commentary and I love the March Madness feel of it all. However this year, I'm totally out of the loop.

There are 16 total titles. I have read 7 of them. Of those seven, OKAY FOR NOW and A MONSTER CALLS are the only 2 that I can get behind and hope for.

With a baby due any day (my wife and I's second), there's no way I can realistically devour each of the 9 remaining titles I haven't read. But I think I can tackle a third of those. 3. So which 3 do I focus on? My choices are:

- THE DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE (Because I see this as the front runner)
- DEAD END IN NORVELT (Because it's the Newbery Medal winner)
- DRAWING FROM MEMORY (Because Wendy loved it and I like Wendy's commentary over at Heavy Medal)

I'm intrigued by ANYA'S GHOST and THE GRAND PLAN TO FIX EVERYTHING and if time allows, I really would like to read THE CHESHIRE CHEESE CAT, but I'm not making any promises to myself. 3 is ambitious enough at this point in time.

Oh, and by the way, did you catch my pick to win it all?

THE DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE. Haven't even read it yet. But I think it will win it all.