Today I got to speak to students from ELEVEN schools in Surry County, North Carolina.
What a great day!
Greetings from Nowhere is on the Battle of the Books list for North Carolina...so these schools were rocking it!!!
Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here ya go!
Thank you, Surry County Schools!
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| The Battle of the Books team at Rockford Elementary (Thank you for that great welcome sign!) |
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| Rockford Elementary kids waiting for the presentation |
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| Copeland Battle of the Books team |
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| Dobson Battle of the Books team |
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| Mountain Park Battle of the Books team |
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| Rockford Battle of the Books team |
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| (l to r) Tonya Fletcher, me, Sonia Dickerson. Thank you, ladies, for making this wonderful author visit possible. |
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| Kids filing in to Franklin Elementary |
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| Flat Rock Battle of the Books |
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| White Plains Battle of the Books |
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| Cedar Ridge Battle of the Books |
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| Franklin Battle of the Books team |
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| I didn't have a chance to visit the Andy Griffith Museum, but at least I got to drive on Andy Griffith Parkway |
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| Getting ready to present at Pilot Mountain Elementary |
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| At Pilot Mountain Elementary |
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| Pilot Mountain Battle of the Books team |
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| With Pilot Mountain media specialist Amy Harpe |
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| Whenever I go away, I love coming home and seeing those beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains ahead of me. |
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Here are a few pics from my great visit to Creekside Elementary School in Winterville, North Carolina
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| The Battle of the Books team |
After months and months of intense reading, the brainy bookworms from Church of the Holy Spirit School are prepped and ready for the Battle of the Books competition in the Wichita Diocese Catholic Schools. The annual reading contest for 5th … Continue reading →
Maggie Vaults Over the Moon is listed among the great reads on the 2014-15 Battle of the Books list in the Wichita Diocese Catholic Schools. The Battle of the Books is a popular reading contest for 5th and 6th graders … Continue reading →
Yes, hard on the heels of the ALA YMA, SLJ has just revealed their brackets for the annual rock-'em, sock-'em
Battle of the Books. And I'm telling you my friends, I am shakin' in my boots this year.
This awe-inspiring battle graphic is by SLJ's art director, Mark Tuchman
The zombie won!! The Undead, brought back by overwhelming acclaim, snatched this year's Battle of the Books prize away from
Between Shades of Gray and
Life: an Exploded Diagram.
Which book was this year zombie? The WINNAH!!!
Okay for Now by Gary Schmidt.Am I happy? Yes. How could I not be? Even though I had trouble reading
Life: an Exploded Diagram, had that book won, I would have been happy! Any event that causes the excitement, discussion, ardor, - even factions - about books that Battle of the Kids Book does, makes me very happy.
What a Battle!!! It's a good thing Summer Reading Club is just a couple of months away, because I can barely wait for next March. SRC will give me something to take my mind off wondering what books the BoB group will choose for 2013.
Battle of the Kids Books needs a theme song, I think - oh, and t-shirts and mugs! Yeah!
It's here at last: the final Big Kahuna Round of School Library Journal's Battle of the Kids' Books:
The battle is heating up!
On to Round 3 tomorrow....
Who will win?
Between Shades of Gray or Chime?
Drawing from Memory or Life: An Exploded Diagram?
The battle heats up starting tomorrow!
Who will move on to Round 3?
Amelia Lost or Between Shades of Gray?
Chime or Daughter of Smoke and Bone?
Drawing from Memory or Inside Out & Back Again?
The people at the Children's Book Council have opened the polls for the Children's Choice Awards. Are you a child? WERE you a child? Well, click here to vote for your favorites from the past year. There's a nice little place for teachers, librarians and booksellers to vote. That's us, adults. Vote there.
I picked
Inside Out and Back Again to win in the
Battle of the Books for a couple of reasons. One, I did not like the narrator's voice in
Heart and Soul. I felt it fictionalized the telling and this history is too important to be fictionalized. But, I am pretty sure that is just me. That voice also makes the story immediate, which might be more important.
Second, I liked Ha's story. I liked how Ha and her brothers overcame bullying and managed to fit in. This was a story of a victory. There is a truth to this story of assimilation that transcends one culture. And yet, I appreciated reading about how Ha and her family kept parts of their culture alive.
Once again, both books had such merit and are so well-written that I would not have been disappointed either way. BoB gives me a reason to wake up and race to my computer every morning! Squeee!!! (as the middle schoolers might say!)
Please check out the storytelling page for the latest on StoryFUSION.
Let me assure you, this was one tough job.
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| Allan Say vs Uma Krishnaswami |
Both books were wonderful...
..and quite different.
But it was fun to examine books so closely and to analyze their parts and their wholes.
It was an honor to have been asked to participate in this event.
I've learned a lot about the process of critical analysis - not only by being a judge but from the other commentators and reader comments.
Drawing from Memory or The Grand Plan to Fix Everything?
(And the judge for this one? Um, little ole ME!)
Heart and Soul or Inside Out & Back Again?
Life: An Exploded Diagram or A Monster Calls?
Okay for Now or Wonderstruck?
Tomorrow's the day!
Woohoo!!
Amelia Lost or Anya's Ghost?
Between Shades of Gray or Bootleg?
The Cheshire Cheese Cat or Chime?
Daughter of Smoke and Bone or Deadend in Norvelt
Now's your chance to vote for which book will come back from the dead in School Library Journal's Battle of the Kids' Books.
Here's how it works: the book with the highest number of votes gets a second chance in the final judging. (Like going to Redemption Island, if you watch Survivor, which probably nobody does but me.)
Finally! The judges and their books all announced for School Library Journal's Battle of the Kids' Books.
It’s almost time for Battle of the Books again at my daughter’s school, and the requisite reading list has come home.
I always like seeing it. For as much as I like to think that I’m on top of kids books and have read what’s worth reading, there are always a few titles on the list that are either entirely new to me or that are classics I shamefully realize I’ve never read before.
This year, entries in the “I’ve never heard of it before” category were:
Scared Stiff by Edgar Award winner Willo Davis Roberts and Castle in the Attic by Elizabeth Winthrop.
I’m normally not a mystery fan, but I really enjoyed Scared Stiff. It’s more a family drama about love and loss than it is a traditional who-dunnit mystery. I read it in one sitting, and I think most middle-grade kids could do the same.
Castle in the Attic is next on my to-read list, but based on a quick scan, my guess is I’ll like it too.
On the “I can’t believe I never read this before” list are:
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (I know, I know. I feel terrible admitting I didn’t read this earlier. In my defense, I remember looking briefly at it in middle school and then putting it down.) Also on my never-before-read list was Meet Addy: An American Girl. I know the American Girl books are very popular, but I’d sort of avoided them on principle.
Well, I adored A Wrinkle in Time. Adored it. Probably more than I would have had I read it in middle school. Now, it makes me want to reread Rebecca Stead’s Newbery winner When You Reach Me, which refers to Wrinkle a lot.
And, I liked Addy more than I had expected to. It’s a good, historical fiction book that is not just a vehicle for doll sales. For what it’s worth, my daughter read Addy first of all the books on the list and then went for Love, Ruby Lavender.
Long-time favorites that I was happy to see on the list included:
Anne of Green Gables and Clementine and Love, Ruby Lavender. Not to mention Boxes for Katje, Because of Winn-Dixie and Number the Stars. I have fond memories of reading and re-reading most of these.
Gilbert Blythe! Melba Jean! India Opal Buloni! Sugar, soap and tulip bulbs! And the beautiful scene in Clementine where she realizes her parents really aren’t planning on giving her away! It still makes me tear up every time.
With the help of a very friendly and patient youth librarian, my daughter and I requested all the titles we didn’t already have and now every day a few more arrive. Which means we’ll have plenty of reading material for the forseeable future.
Here’s the complete list in case your to-be-read list needs a few more titles.
- The Wish Giver: Three Tales of Coven Tree by Bill Brittain.
- The White Mountains
Woohoo!
I've been about to bust a gut keeping this secret.
I have a feeling the Battle Commanders heard me bouncing around the back room with my hands clamped over my mouth and figured they'd better spill the beans before I do.
I love, love, love this battle.
But NOW I have to STILL keep a secret.
I can't tell you which books I judged.
Nope.
Can't do it.
Who says February is a bummer? Imagine my joy this morning when my sleepy eyes spied the announcement in my Twitter feed that the 2012 BoB contenders had been announced! I adore the Bob's (also known more formally as the School Library Journal Battle of the Kids Books.) I love the guest judges. I love the monkey wrench of the Undead contender. I love the debate and conversation and
Well, my time following the Battle of the Kids' Books was well spent because my pick, The Ring of Solomon, won. Now I must struggle with the question of how old my niece needs to be before she can appreciate the first in the original Bartimaeus trilogy, The Amulet of Samrkand. I made a fan of my nephew, but he was in college. Rebecca is only twelve.
After weeks of guessing, and then watching favorites fall, the School Library Journal Battle of the Kids Books has its finalists. Kathi Appelt's Keeper, which has enjoyed a charmed journey through the rounds (it was blessed with judges which were just the right fit) goes against the heavily favored Ring of Solomon by Jonathan Stroud. Megan Whalen Turner's Conspiracy of Kings, back for a second
I'm having a really hard time keeping up with all the action on the Battle of the Kids' Books. How do those people who follow whatever sport it is that March Madness is all about do it? Is it easier when you can go to bars and watch the action on television?
Anyway, I'm happy to say that The Ring of Solomon has won its third match, thus making the finals.
The School Library Journal Battle of the Kids' Books is headed down the finish line. The four semifinalists are now in place and ready to start duking it out towards the Big Kahuna Round on Monday. If you haven't been following at home, here is how the semis will play out:
Louis Sachar's The Cardturner vs Kathi Appelt's Keeper
Jonathan Stroud's Ring of Solomon vs Andy Mulligan's Trash
I'm kind
It took me a while to figure this whole BOB thing out. Maybe because in some states there's a Battle of the Books between kids, featuring book trivia, that a lot of schools have done for years. I kept expecting trivia.
But now I'm hooked. Your analysis was excellent. Not to mention fun to read. I'm a little late to the party but will be checking the brackets for sure. Good work!
I've not read either of these books, but I loved your analysis of both! I especially enjoyed all your sidenotes - I think it's wonderful that you can make new genre titles for both books and art. They made total sense to me - I knew exactly what you were talking about.
Congratulations on being a judge and for your strong commentary about both books.
Well done!
Thank YOU for being so willing to be part of this!