One Round in the Bag

Over at Battle of the Kids Books, Round One officially wrapped up this morning, with WONDERSTRUCK overtaking OKAY FOR NOW (stupid Jeff Kinney and your stupid wimpy books) . . . making my total a whopping 5 out of 8.

To review, I chose AMELIA LOST, BETWEEN SHADES OF GRAY, DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE, DRAWING FROM MEMORY, and INSIDE OUT AND BACK AGAIN correctly.

I missed the boat on CHIME, LIFE: AN EXPLODED DIAGRAM, and WONDERSTRUCK.

I'm still a little stung that THE CHESHIRE CHEESE CAT lost because of a coin toss. I threw a mini hissy fit over judge Lauren Myracle's rationale behind choosing LIFE: AN EXPLODED DIAGRAM over A MONSTER CALLS. And I really, really, really don't like WONDERSTRUCK.

Looking ahead to my initial picks, I still have three of my next four picks alive: BETWEEN SHADES OF GRAY, DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE, and DRAWING FROM MEMORY. I had A MONSTER CALLS going to the final round though, so that one hurt. My overall winner however, DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE (which I am currently reading and thoroughly enjoying), is still going strong. Possibly paired in the most intriguing battle of the second round, against CHIME.

As for what I now think will happen in the second round . . . I'm not as confident about BETWEEN SHADES OF GRAY being chosen over AMELIA LOST, seeing Marc Aronson as the judge, and would actually change my pick if I could. But I can't. I'm sticking with BETWEEN SHADES OF GRAY but wouldn't be surprised to see AMELIA LOST.

I've gotta believe that DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE will prevail against CHIME, although the style and feel of the two books are sooooooooooo similar.

I still think DRAWING FROM MEMORY will beat out INSIDE OUT AND BACK AGAIN.

And I now think LIFE: AN EXPLODED DIAGRAM will overtake WONDERSTRUCK. LIFE would appear to be a "writer's" book. One that I, the casual reader, may struggle to make sense of (the abundance of metaphors), but that fellow writer's and peers would eat up.