Battle of the Kids Books - A Spectator's Commentary, Week 3

Judge: E. Lockhart
Review Excerpt from Chime: "And so for me, the incredibly romantic ending of Chime had great strength, because it wasn't a fantasy of a bad man tamed - it was the fantasy of loving a deeply good man, and how healing that can be."
Review Excerpt from Daughter of Smoke and Bone: "A terrific read that took me to several worlds I didn't want to leave. It is full of innovatively creepy monsters. The heroine, blue-haired and covered in tattoos, is satisfyingly violent and smart-mouthed."

Comments: I loved this review, from start to finish. E. Lockhart seems to share my views about this genre - "I like my men reasonably but not terrifyingly handsome, funny, and nurturing rather than powerful and remote. I am not interested in danger as an aphrodisiac. It quite turns me off." AND - she managed to completely change my opinion on Chime. It's gone from a book that I didn't care to read to one that I think I might be interested in. 

Want to know the winner? Visit the SLJ Battle blog to read the full review and feedback from the Commentor, kid reviewers and other readers! 

Purchase Now from Amazon: Chime

Purchase Now from Amazon: Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Judge: Jewell Parker Rhodes

Review Excerpt from Drawing from Memory: "A full-fledged imaginative assault. Part memoir, historical narrative, graphic novel, Say uses drawings, photographs, and prose to express his journey from young boy to master artist, and how he immigrated to America and learned to "write a story...in the language of the people who were bombing" Japan."

Review Excerpt from Inside Out & Back Again: "Stunningly, it's Lai's precise language and characterization, which creates emotional restraint and makes an unbearably sad story, readable. Tragedy becomes triumph and I want Ha to tell me her story all over again." 

Comments: This battle is precisely why I can't take a back seat anymore. I pledge, here and now, to get my hands on and read ALL of next year's contenders so that I can properly comment. All I did with this one was race to the end of the review to see who'd won (had my heart set on Inside Out & Back Again). Drawing from Memory could have been the one that deserved this win, but I won't know until I read it. And until then, I'll keep being sad that I didn't vote for Inside Out to come back Undead.
Want to know the winner? Visit the SLJ Battle blog to read the full review and feedback from the Commentor, kid reviewers and other readers! 

Purchase Now from Amazon: Drawing From Memory
Purchase Now from Amazon: Inside Out and Back Again

Judge: Chris Lynch

Review Excerpt from Life: An Exploded Diagram: "The history of modern Britain, as it pertained to the regular Joe and Joan of rural Norfolk, is delivered with precision, exquistely judged detail, and above all sly, delicious humor." 

Review Excerpt from Wonderstruck: "Reasonably enough, the pictures take more time to accumulate as narrative, but they steadily gain in power and wind up having at least as much impact as the words." 

Comments: Again, I raced to the end of the review to get a glimpse of who won. And again, it isn't fair for me to throw a tantrum about Life taking the lead just because all I had time for this year was Wonderstruck. Still, Selznick's work is so unique and so impactful - I do hope it gets a chance to come back from the dead.
Want to know the winner? Visit the SLJ Battle blog to read the full review and feedback from the Commentor, kid reviewers and other readers! 

Purchase Now from Amazon: Life: An Exploded Diagram
Purchase Now from Amazon: Wonderstruck

Round Three! 

Judge: Maggie Stiefvater

Review Excerpt from Between Shades of Gray: "...is about a collective power: how filling yourself up with personal identity can be armor against everything but death, which is only the most obvious of enemies." 

Review Excerpt from Chime: "... is a personal sort [of power]: showing just how much damage we can do to ourselves." 

Comments: Poor Chime. It never stood a chance in this one, did it? I wouldn't be surprised if Between Shades of Gray won this whole battle. CALLING IT RIGHT NOW! Between Shades of Gray for the WIN. (Also, I've never read Maggie Stiefvater, even though I have all of the books on my shelf. I need to get on that.)
Want to know the winner? Visit the SLJ Battle blog to read the full review and feedback from the Commentor, kid reviewers and other readers! 

Purchase Now from Amazon: Chime
Purchase Now from Amazon: Between Shades of Gray

Judge: Ron Koertge
Review Excerpt from Drawing from Memory: "...a real visual experience. But, man, as far as the story goes he is really reined in. How did he eat? Did he go shopping and cook for himself? was the only friend he had another cartoonist who worked for Noro Shinpei?"
Review Excerpt from Life: An Exploded Diagram: "'Clem's father works for Frankie's father, so when the two kids fall in love and meet secretly they're playing with fire. If they're discovered, Clem's father is out of a job and Clem will never see Frankie again.' I finish with this, "And that's all set against the Cuban Missile Crisis. So Clem and Frankie's world is liable to explode and so is the real world."

Comments: Man-o, was this review interesting or what? Ron Koertge writes his review as a conversation between himself and two friends at the Turf Club. How refreshing! I mean, it's no real fault of the judges that many of their reviews start exactly the same - they are given two tough to judge books to pick from based on their own opinions - but still, this was a nice change right at the end of things. I want to read this guys books

Want to know the winner? Visit the SLJ Battle blog to read the full review and feedback from the Commentor, kid reviewers and other readers! 

Purchase Now from Amazon: Life: An Exploded Diagram

Purchase Now from Amazon: Drawing From Memory


Additional Comments Before the End: Well, tomorrow a book comes back from the dead. While I'm hoping it'll be one of the ones I read - Wonderstruck or Inside Out & Back Again - I'm going to guess that it'll be Okay for Now. And I'm still sticking to my earlier call on the winner - Between Shades of Gray. Again - Undead tomorrow. Then the whole battle comes to a head on Monday, April 2nd.

Happy Hunger Games! er... I mean.... Let the Battle Rage On?