Last week we announced the contenders for the 2015 BOB (AKA SLJ’s Battle of the Kids’ Books). You can seem them all here but I do encourage you to go to the actual post to see what others have to say about them and add in your own thoughts.
For those unfamiliar with the BoB, it was the Tournament of Books that gave me the idea of doing similar bracket-style event with kid books. Happily, the folks at School Library Journal liked the idea and so here we are, beginning our 7th year. Of course, the Battle Commander (that is Roxanne Feldman, Jonathan Hunt, and myself) have been at it for months in order to put together the final list of contenders. As noted here:
As to which titles finally are included each year – we won’t bore you with the details of the dozens of emails and negotiations between the three of them. Suffice it to say that they look both objectively and subjectively, considering fan favorites, awards, stars, and their own critical views, keeping in mind that no matter which two books are paired together no single title can be an obvious winner.
Of course, as is inevitable when such a list is made, blood is shed; each of the three has always had to leave behind favorites on this particular battlefield, but they always end up pleased with the range and diversity of the final list.
You can learn more in this article by Shelley Diaz. In addition to our contenders we’ve got a stellar list of judges who we will begin to reveal, one a day, on February 4th. Hope to see you there!
educating alice 