The Morning News Tournament of Books

Are you a fan of SLJ’s Battle of the Kids’ Books? Do you read adult books and wish there was such a contest for you? Look no further!

March may find us still shivering & gloomy in the northeast, but it DOES bring The Morning News Tournament of Books. The TOB kicks off today — to get started, read the announcement of the 2013 books & judges (and the rules, too).

Adult books with teen appeal have done well in the past. Last year’s contenders included Swamplandia!, The Tiger’s Wife, and The Art of Fielding (click here for a summary of 2012 action), while Room and The Particular Sadness of Lemoncake did particularly well in 2011.

This year’s contest begins with a pre-tournament playoff round between three prominent war novels, The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain, and Fobbit by David Abrams. (The first two found themselves on our AB4T Best of 2012 list.)

Other adult books with teen appeal competing this year include two Alex Award winners – The Round House by Louise Erdich and Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple – and one of our AB4T Best of the Year, Madeline Millers’ The Song of Achilles.

Also, Lev Grossman, author of The Magicians and The Magician King, is among the judges. A big part of the joy of following the TOB is reading the brilliant evaluations by the judges.

And finally — exciting news — a YA book made the cut this year. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green is among the competitors! But will is make it past The Round House in the first…well, round?

Check out the brackets, and enjoy!

Filed under: Best Books, Best of 2012