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Before I head over to see which book was chosen in this morning's Battle of the Kids' Books, I must state my choice to move on.  As intricate and complicated as Children of the King is, I hope that Brown Girl Dreaming wins this first round. Jacqueline Woodson's memoir in verse is magnificent. 

    Let's see if today's BoB judge agrees with me.

Update:  YES!!   http://blogs.slj.com/battleofthebooks/

The BoB competition starts on Monday, March 9th, with Brown Girl Dreaming facing off against Children of the King.  I have chosen which book I hope will win but it is not an easy choice and I won't be surprised if my choice bites the dust early.
           

Children of the King by Sonya Hartnett offers, at least, two story lines.  Cecily and her older brother Jeremy accompany their mother, Heloise, to the family seat, Heron Hall, to wait out the War.  Their father stays in London to do "important work". They arrive with scores of evacuee children and end up taking home 10-year-old May.  Uncle Peregrine answers questions about the castle ruins on the estate by telling a story about an historical Duke's rise to power. The stories intertwine as the German assault on London begins and worsens. 


 May, whose audacity surprises, maddens, and delights Cecily, discovers two boys hanging around the castle ruins.  Who are they?  What are they doing in a centuries old ruin?  Why do they speak so imperiously?

Meanwhile 14-year-old Jeremy is tortured by his inactivity.  The pressure of duty - to help in the war effort, to behave nobly - makes him irritable and demanding.  His mother refuses to listen to him - or to hear what he is actually saying.

I sometimes wondered for whom Hartnett wrote this book.  The sophisticated language hints at so much more than it says.  Hartnett offers the most insight into two characters, childish Cecily, and controlled Heloise.  Cecily is the main character, although she seems to fumble along after other people. But the glimpses behind icy Heloise's composure enlarges the audience to adults who enjoy historical fiction and stately language.

I will tell you if I believe this book will rise BoB victorious in a future post.  In the meantime, compare Children of the King to The War that Saved My Life for two different experiences of WWII young evacuees.

It distresses me that the books I have read already in this year's SLJ's Battle of the Kids' Books are toward the end of the battle.  No fair!  I DID read Brown Girl Dreaming.  But not another title until The Madman of Piney Woods in Round 5.  And then, I skip to Round 8, where I read both titles, We Were Liars  and  West of the Moon. I had better start reading aggressively.  There are trips to my local libraries and bookstores in my future.

Nuff said.  Another great contest, another astonishing result!  Whoo Hoo!

I neglected the first rule of BoB.  Consider carefully the judge.  Care-ful-ly.  Knowing the judge of each match may very well change a prediction.  Yesterday, I gleefully proclaimed the winner for today without even noticing who the judge is.  Sarah Mlynowski writes books with edge, even when writing for middle graders. If I considered that carefully, I may have guessed that she would pick Far, Far Away as the winning book in this match.  ***strikes forehead with palm!****  Duh.

That said, her praise of both books convinced me that she chose wisely and well.

No more predictions for me.  My arrogance is justly punished.

Eleanor & Park has moved on to Round 2 of the Battle of the Books.  Did I not call it?  I did.  And this success has given me enough arrogance to think I can predict tomorrow's winner.

Far, Far Away goes up against the Newbery-winner, Flora and Ulysses.  One is about the ghost of Jacob Grimm.  The other is about a squirrel who has a life-changing run-in with a vacuum cleaner.  Hmm, ghost?  Or Squirrel?  Ghost...squirrel...ghost...squirrel.

Before I cast my prediction into InterSpace, let me say I found both books to be great reads.  The language in Flora and Ulysses is delicious.  Far, Far Away is populated by people who appear to mimic stock fairy tale characters... and then, they don't.  One is a romp through family dynamics and poetry.  The other takes breath-taking twists through grief and loss into depravity.  It's pretty much like deciding between a flashlight and a coil of rope.  Both are useful but pick the wrong one and you are stranded.

There.  My weighty analysis is done.  I pick the SQUIRREL!!!!!!!!  (Full disclosure here.  I am a big fan of stories about squirrels.)  And for those who didn't read either book, that would be Flora and Ulysses as tomorrow's winner.

Thank you.

SLJ's Battle of the Books started already.  I missed the first two matches. The results of Round 1, Match 2 are here:  Round 1, Match 1, click here.

Here's Match 2.  Just guess which one wins.