Catching up BOB and KUCLC

Catch up #1:
The 2017 Battle of the Kids' Books is under way.  Today's post is the THIRD round.  (Big snowstorm - major distraction, here).  Check out the recent post here.   The first two posts are along the right hand side so you can catch up.  I have not been super surprised with the judges decisions - so far.

Tomorrow Louise Erdrich's Makoons goes up against John Lewis'  March: Book Three.   I am leaning heavily in support of March.  Makoons has some masterful moments, as well, but the story of  a woodland tribe making the prairies their new home is written with the smudged brush of long ago nostalgia.

It appears that SLJ's bloggers just pair their chosen titles against each other in alphabetical order.  What continues to amaze me, year after year, is how apt these pairings are.  In tomorrow's round,  we have a pictorial memoir of a real life struggle for equality that still goes on today stacked up against a nostalgic fictional look at a real life struggle for survival that still goes on today - although both might be in other forms.

The FIRST match, Freedom Over Me by Ashley Bryan, and Freedom in Congo Square by Carole Boston Weatherford are picture books that describe the lives of African slaves in the United States.
SEE WHAT I MEAN?  Alphabetical or subject matter??  How are  the BoB books paired?





AND, here's another reminder that the Kutztown University Children's Literature Conference is barreling down on me like a ton of unread books!  April 1st - and NO, it's not a joke - I will review what the other bloggers are shouting about and the books that I have loved and liked and meh-ed about in the past year - and even in the next few months.  The free books are not as plentiful as you might like but there will be some delicious titles, there for the picking. 


 

SLJ's BoB Round 1

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/

Children of the King

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.

BoB Battle Plan

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.

The Winnah! SLJ's Battle of the Books

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

First rule of BoB

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.

BoB Gloat

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.

It Started!!!! Battle of the Books

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.

 Sometimes, the best part of each match is the anticipation.  In these cases, since I haven't even had a chance to look at one of the entries in each match, the judge's comments will help me a lot.

Check out the brackets below.  I am ready for the next Match and I predict..... Eleanor and Park will win!  Except that Doll Bones was awesome, too.  Glad I'm not a judge!

A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty

Saturday Review:
A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty

Madeleine lives in Cambridge, UK, with her mother after running away from their former jet set lifestyle and their respective father/husband.

Elliot lives in the Kingdom of Cello where his father has been carried away - Elliot believes - by a high level Purple attack.  Colors are dangerous in Cello.

When Madeleine finds a note shoved into a broken parking meter slot, she replies.  Why not?  Could be fun!  And her new hand-to-mouth existence needs a little pizzazz.

Elliot finds Madeleine's reply.

Set against the backdrops of Madeleine's first romance with one of her homeschooling partners, and Elliot's plans for returning to the Magical North to find his father, this correspondence opens both teens' eyes to empathy and self-awareness. 

I had trouble getting into the book.  There seemed to be a slew of details added for whimsy.  As the book continued whimsy gained purpose and the ending left me wanting more.  I will have more!!!

This book is a contender in SLJ's Battle of the Kids' Books.

SLJ's Battle of the Books announced.

It's official.  The books have been chosen and I have ONLY read THREE of them.  I have a lot of reading to do.  A blessing and a curse.

Click here to see what to read before March 13th when the competition begins.

Oh what the heck!  Here's the list

ALL THE TRUTH THAT’S IN ME by Julie Berry
THE ANIMAL BOOK by Steve Jenkins
BOXERS AND SAINTS by Gene Yang
A CORNER OF WHITE by Jaclyn Moriarty
DOLL BONES by Holly Black
ELEANOR AND PARK by Rainbow Rowell
FAR FAR AWAY by Tom McNeal
FLORA & ULYSSES by Kate DiCamillo
HOKEY POKEY by Jerry Spinelli
MARCH BOOK ONE by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell
MIDWINTERBLOOD by Marcus Sedgwick
P.S. BE ELEVEN by Rita Williams-Garcia
ROSE UNDER FIRE by Elizabeth Wein
THE THING ABOUT LUCK by Cynthia Kadohata
TRUE BLUE SCOUTS OF SUGAR MAN SWAMP by Kathi Appelt
WHAT THE HEART KNOWS by Joyce Sidman

Well, whoop-de-doo.  I read FOUR of them.  Time to get serious.