Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Battle of the Books Round 1 Leader Board

So eight matches completed and lots of surprises. Some pleasant and some (like today's) infuriating.
Here's a look at the point totals for all the contestants. Remember first round matches were worth one point each. Round 2 matches are worth two points, so it's still anyone's game.

Leader Board
1. batgirl2004 - 6
1. LaughingAlegra - 6
1. maggie - 6
1. March Madness - 6
1. MelogyP - 6
6. hmlibrarian - 5
6. Agent J - 5
6. DaNae - 5
6. Adam G - 5
10. akalkowski - 4
10. Genevieve - 4
10. Scope Notes - 4
10. Mmmarci - 4
10. Mr. Mendez - 4
10. Carolyn - 4
10. Sam - 4
10. rpsmedia - 4
10. Miriam - 4
10. Erin Broderick - 4
10. Alys - 4
10. MBSTUMPE - 4
10. Sara - 4
10. Nancy W. - 4
24. Sandy D. - 3
24. grrlpup - 3
24. Laner007 - 3
24. jpetroroy - 3
24. Karin Rezendes - 3
24. LibraryLover - 3
24. Norman Bee - 3
24. The Brain Lair - 3
24. Jen Baker - 3
24. Steven - 3
24. Senlin Rahawk - 3
35. AmyC - 2
35. Erin Fitzpatrick-Bjorn - 2
35. Maggi - 2
35. Jenn - 2
35. amylou - 2
35. kmaurer - 2
35. bread - 2
35. Jacob - 2
35. Dreadful Penny - 2
35. Chris Spitzel - 2
35. Emily T. - 2
46. rlbook5 - 1
46. Alyson - 1
46. R Bartlett - 1
46. maryclareog - 1
46. Sondy Eklund - 1
46. Amanda Snow - 1
52. Melissa - 0

Tomorrow marks the beginning of round 2 featuring Judge M.T. Anderson. I've been looking forward to reading Anderson's decision since his name appeared on the list of judges. I've said before that I would read anything Mr. Anderson writes and can only hope tomorrow's decision is full of hilarious footnotes a la the Thrilling Tales/Pals in Peril books or incredibly insightful observations a la last years conciliatory remarks on The Hunger Games.

If the round 1 matches taught us anything it's that judges find it easier to find faults in titles more like their own than in unfamiliar genres or styles. I'd say that this gives the edge to nonfiction title Charles and Emma in the first match of round two. Angela Johnson has an easy decision facing her, all she need to do is advance the best remaining book in the battle out of the match 2 . Christopher Paul Curtis writes hilarious fiction centering on the family, which of course means A Season of Gifts (being a hilarious work of fiction centering on family dynamics) has no chance at all of surviving match 3. Shannon Hale, Newbery Honor winning novelist turned graphic novel writer, is in line to judge match 4 between the two graphiciest titles in the battle. Since Storm in the Barn is the closest thing to a true graphic novel one can only assume that Judge Hale will choose Tales from Outer Suburbia.

I do hope that round 2 judges will take a moment in their decision statements and comment on the departed titles that they may have read in preparing for the contest. I would love to hear what this round's judges have to say about the books which were knocked out before their time.

2 comments:

DaNae said...

Thanks Eric, but what was wrong with today's decision? I was all giggles.

Unknown said...

I am so upset with those judges! Why can't their opinions be more like mine? (She said, tongue in cheekily! :))