Changes, changes

Yesterday, I turned my "work" blog over to my successor and it was a sad, sad thing.  It cast a pall over my whole day which was not lifted until I sat down with Karen Cushman's Alchemy and Meggy Swann.  There, that's better!  Nothing like a good book to lighten the spirit.

Without the work blog, I must chronicle the Battle of the Kids Books on this blog.  Yesterday, Jonathan Stroud's The Ring of Solomon met Sugar Changed the World by Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos.  Bartimaeus the Djinni against the history of sugar!  Hmmmm, an interesting match up.

I haven't read The Ring of Solomon and I just picked up Sugar... yesterday.  Without seeing who the judge was, I took a stab and guessed that Sugar... would win.  Bartimaeus is fun, yes - and quirky and violent AND he has done more to popularize the footnote than anyone in the history of the English language (in MY opinion).  But SUGAR is everywhere and addictive and responsible for more atrocities and political wrangling than any fictional djinni - sorry, Bartimaeus.

I was WRONG!!  Adam Rex was the judge and his explanation of his choice gives the whole thing away even before he announces the winner.  He uses way too many footnotes.  You GO! Bartimaeus.  I should have had more faith in you.

Today's match-up is between Adam Gidwitz' A Tale Dark and Grimm and Susan Bartoletti's They Called Themselves the K.K.K.  The judge is none other than R. L. Stine.  If anyone knows anything about horror, it is Stine.  And both of these books deal with horror, one imagined and the other all too real. 

If you read my last post, you know how I feel about A Tale Dark and Grimm.  It is a delightful and very faithful treatment of the Brothers Grimm.  Bartoletti's book is NOT fun to read.  As always, Bartoletti does a masterful job of presenting a fair and unflinching look at a difficult subject.

Once again, I expected the non-fiction title to win.  Gidwitz's fairytale is well-written and fun to read but it is a light romp.  Stine's rationale makes sense, though, and A Tale Dark and Grimm will move on to Round 2.