Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Thoughts on Matches 3-6

They just keep announcing match results in the Battle of the (Kids) Books!

Match 3 (Chains vs. Washington at Valley Forge) went the way I hoped it would, with Chains taking the win. I don't really have much else to say about this one except that I think Elizabeth Partridge has convinced me to seek out Freedman's book.

Match 4 pitted Here Lies Arthur against Tender Morsels with judge Meg Rosoff picking Tender Morsels for the win. I haven't read either of them (okay, I started Here Lies Arthur, but put it down after 70 pages or so because I just wasn't that into it), but for the sake of my bracket, I'm pleased with Ms. Rosoff's choice. And she may have convinced me to pick up Tender Morsels by saying this:

I was shocked, transfixed, amazed by Tender Morsels. In my opinion, it has blown the lid off the genre. When was the last time you could say that about any book?

Match 5 (The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks vs. We Are the Ship) was the shock of the day. My poor bracket was blown to smithereens when Rachel Cohn went for the upset and chose We Are the Ship. The one bright side is that this leaves the way open for my personal favorite, The Hunger Games, to take it all! (I am 99% certain that my husband John Green would have picked Frankie over The Hunger Games, but now we'll never have to face that awful scenario!)

And that brings us to Match 6, which almost makes up for the heartbreak that was Match 5:

In The Hunger Games vs. The Porcupine Year, the lovely, wonderful, and talented Ellen Wittlinger picked... THE HUNGER GAMES!!! Which will make these ladies very happy:




We have two more matches left this week and then this weekend I'll make my picks for next week's matches. Whew. What do you think of the round one winners so far? Is your bracket still intact?