The Classroom Bookshelf
2015
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2015 POSTS
This Week’s Peanut Gallery
These Peanut Gallery posts are where we put up whatever we've found responding to the latest BOB news.
Fantasy BoB 2015 and the Undead Guessing Game
On this spring Saturday, we bring you two final Sideline Activities, a Farewell, and a couple of Forecasts ...
Round 3, Match 2: The Port Chicago 50 vs West of the Moon
Chalk and cheese. Apples and Oranges. I know I’m not the only judge to wonder how on Earth to put two novels into direct competition with each other and pronounce one to be the winner. (I also tremble at the notion of judging another writer’s work, but, that’s the deal, so I’ll get over my nervous English hand-wringing and get on with it).
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Round 3, Match 1: Brown Girl Dreaming vs El Deafo
So…yeah. No pressure. “Just choose your favorite of the two Newbery Honor books, Sophie.” Sheesh. Don’t get me wrong—I was thrilled to learn that I’d be judging El Deafo by Cece Bell and Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson….right up until they reminded me that I was going to have to choose a winner. *sob*
Round 2, Match 4: This One Summer vs West of the Moon
One of the joys of first person narratives is being able to share, for a moment, the intimacy of another person's perspective. It isn't just the knowledge of their private lives or secrets that brings that richness--plenty of third-person narratives have those. It is that by filtering every aspect of the story through the narrator's thoughts and feelings, we find ourselves, in a fundamental way, behind their eyes.
Round 2, Match 3: The Madman of Piney Woods vs The Port Chicago 50
Every year, as the Battle Commander gears up for the School Library Journal Battle of the Books, I think I’m going to read all these books. It’s only sixteen and I have three months. For the past two years my own books have been contenders, which makes me a sort of honorary participant anyway (though only as a lurker, too self-conscious to comment except to congratulate the winners), plus that means I really only have fifteen books to read.
Round 2, Match 2: El Deafo vs The Key That Swallowed Joey Pigza
JUDGE – CAT WINTERS El Deafo by Cece Bell Abrams The Key That Swallowed Joey Pigza by Jack Gantos FSG/Macmillan On the surface, there are two notable differences between the books in my assigned bracket: Cece Bell’s El Deafo is a graphic novel featuring people who look like rabbits, whereas Jack Gantos’s The Key That […]
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