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.

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.

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.

Bitter

Sadly, this morning, author Pete Hautman did not chose A TALE DARK AND GRIMM to advance in School Library Journal's second round of their Battle of the Kids' Books.

First off, let me start by admitting that I have not read TRASH, the book Mr. Hautman chose instead of A TALE DARK AND GRIMM. In fact, I hadn't even heard of it before the brackets were released. I have no doubt in my mind that it is worthy of advancing, and maybe even winning, this contest.

What upsets me is that I don't feel like A TALE DARK AND GRIMM got a fair shake. Mr. Hautman said he chose TRASH because in the end, it "cut deeper." I'm sorry, but I don't buy it.

Hautman praised Gidwitz's ability to take classic Grimm tales and weave them together and put a fresh spin on them. He also praised Gidwitz for making A TALE DARK AND GRIMM very readable for children, thus admitting that A TALE DARK AND GRIMM will have wide child appeal. But not once, did he mention anything about the themes buried beneath the amputations, the blood, and the gore.

A TALE DARK AND GRIMM is about sibling love. About growing up in a world that is confusing and scary. It's about the love and affection children have for their parents, and how important it is for that need to be met and returned. A TALE DARK AND GRIMM is about the importance of family. It's a how-to book (or a how-not-to book, depending on how you look at it) for parents. Yet Hautman mentions none of this. Which leads me to believe he took it at face value.

A TALE DARK AND GRIMM is so good that it would be easy to cast it off as popular and leave it at that. But when read carefully, it isn't too difficult to see that it's actually so much more than that.

Here's hoping it makes a comeback as the winner of the Undead Poll!

Battle of the Books Predictions

Well, round one of School Library Journal's Battle of the Kids' Books is complete and my bracket looks terrible.

In round one, I correctly picked 4 of the 8 battles. Not too shabby . . .

But in looking ahead, things are pretty Grimm for me, as A TALE DARK AND GRIMM is the only book I picked correctly from round one that I have advancing beyond the second round.

So . . . I'm still pulling for A TALE DARK AND GRIMM to win it all and I'm still predicting COUNTDOWN (which was knocked out today by Laura Amy Schlitz choosing THE CARDTURNER over it) to be named the winner of the Undead poll (by a hair over A CONSPIRACY OF KINGS).

Thank You R.L. Stine!

R.L. Stine and I go way back. When I was in elementary school and even into middle school, I read his Fear Street series quite regularly. They were campy, at times immature, but always entertaining. Alas, I knew the meaning of the phrase guilty pleasure even as a twelve-year old.

Seeing R.L. Stine's name on the list of judges for School Library Journal's Battle of the Kids' Books brought back childhood memories. Because of this sentimental, childhood connection I feel we share, I just knew he wouldn't let me down when it came to keeping my top pick alive.

Sure enough, this morning he chose A TALE DARK AND GRIMM over THEY CALL THEMSELVES THE KKK! And why wouldn't the master of kidlit horror choose a novel as bloody as Adam Gidwitz's?

Thank you for saving my bracket Mr. Stine! You made the right call!

SLJ Battle of the Books

For the last few years, School Library Journal has hosted a Battle of Kids Books online. It's rather addicting . . .

Brackets are put together, famous authors are judges, books battle head-to-head until the Big Kahuna Round, when one book stands tall. Last year, that honor went to MARCHING FOR FREEDOM by Elizabeth Partidge. The year before it went to THE HUNGER GAMES.

This year, a few of my favorites are included in the bracket, namely THE DREAMER and A TALE DARK AND GRIMM.

While THE DREAMER remains my favorite book of 2010, for some reason I find myself rooting for A TALE DARK AND GRIMM here. I can't explain it. I don't have to!

So if anyone is reading this, follow this link and vote for A TALE DARK AND GRIMM. If it gets enough votes in the Undead Poll, and is knocked out of the competition too early (although I highly doubt it with R.L. Stine judging the first round), it could still be alive and reintroduced for the Big Kahuna round!

And if the Grimm Brothers and Adam Gidwitz are too violent for you, then please cast your vote for THE DREAMER.