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Round 1 Match 3: The Frog Scientist vs The Last Olympian
The Frog Scientist by Pamela S. Turner Houghton Mifflin |
The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan Hyperion |
Judged by Candace Fleming |
Here’s just about the only thing these two books have in common: both feature main characters that are good swimmers.
I read both titles while teaching writing at the American School in Singapore. One afternoon, not long after finishing The Frog Scientist, I took a walk in the jungle. Typically, I would have been on the lookout for those more attention-grabbing animals – long-tailed macaques or flying lemurs. But this time I crept along the jungle path with an eye (and an ear) for frogs. But after an hour’s hike, shuffling through leaf litter and looking between rocks with nary a frog sighting, I began to wonder. Could it be that habitat loss, global warming and disease had affected the amphibian population? Had the pesticide atrazine turned them into half male/half female frogs? After all, I had just learned that frog presence (or absence) is an indicator of environmental health. As my new hero, frog scientist Dr. Tyrone Hayes says, “Environmental health and human health are one and the same.” For the first time ever, I found myself worrying about the plight of the frog, and in turn, the earth and myself.
Pamela Turner did this for me. By skillfully weaving together science with an appealing true-life story of a devoted scientist, she connected me emotionally with… yes, frogs. And isn’t that the purpose of nonfiction? To expand a reader’s world, giving them new eyes and a new awareness of the world around them?
A few days later, I opened The Last Olympian at the swimming pool, and was instantly hooked. After all, who can resist a story that begins, “The end of the world started when a pegasus landed on the hood of my car?” Percy Jackson’s voice is wholly authentic, the voice of every kid – crackling with both wit and real emotion. And the story is a wild romp. One minute I was laughing, the next I was being whisked off on a dangerous mission with deadly consequences. So lost was I in the story that when I looked up from the pages an hour later, I was startled to find myself still surrounded by splashing children and sunscreen-slathered grownups. Where was I? It took me a moment to realize I was no longer bathing in the River Styx or vanquishing Roman zombies.
As a reader, I long to care about the characters, be they real-life or fictional. I long to go on an extraordinary journey, be it wading through a Wyoming pond beside a frog scientist, or racing to the top of the Empire State Building on the back of a hellhound. And in the process, I long to learn something. Both books satisfied these longings. Oh my, it was a hard choice.
Percy Jackson and the last Olympian vs. Tyrone Hayes and the last amphibian?
For sheer adventure, I choose Percy.
The Winner of Round 1 Match 3 is:
If we can bill CHARLES AND EMMA vs. CALPURNIA TATE as the Battle of the Darwin books, then THE FROG SCIENTIST vs. THE LAST OLYMPIAN is the Battle of the Pleasant Surprises . . . or Unpleasant Surprises (depending on your point of view). THE FROG SCIENTIST stayed in the shadows of the more heralded members of Team Nonfiction, while THE LAST OLYMPIAN gave way to the breathless anticipation of CATCHING FIRE, but now each book gets its own share of the spotlight. I worried how the fifth book in a series would hold up, whether the judges would even read THE LAST OLYMPIAN—and then to see it paired up with THE FROG SCIENTIST in what is the most insanely disparate match-up . . . well, I didn’t envy Candy. I’d like to think this one could have gone either way, but Percy’s victory sets up another interesting showdown in the other second round bracket: the Battle of the Fantasy Books. I sure hope Angela likes long fantasy books!
— Commentator Jonathan Hunt
Filed under: Round 1
About Battle Commander
The Battle Commander is the nom de guerre for children’s literature enthusiasts Monica Edinger and Roxanne Hsu Feldman, fourth grade teacher and middle school librarian at the Dalton School in New York City and Jonathan Hunt, the County Schools Librarian at the San Diego County Office of Education. All three have served on the Newbery Committee as well as other book selection and award committees. They are also published authors of books, articles, and reviews in publications such as the New York Times, School Library Journal, and the Horn Book Magazine. You can find Monica at educating alice and on twitter as @medinger. Roxanne is at Fairrosa Cyber Library and on twitter as @fairrosa. Jonathan can be reached at hunt_yellow@yahoo.com.
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