Illustration by Mark Tuchman

School Library Journal’s fifth annual Battle of the Kids’ Books (BOB), our online elimination contest between 16 of 2012’s best children’s and teens’ fiction and nonfiction books, has crowned a winner: Vaunda Micheaux Nelson’s No Crystal Stair (Lerner/Carolrhoda). The final match was decided on April 1 by last year’s victor and the 2013 Big Kahuna, Frank Cottrell Boyce.

In her biographical documentary novel about Lewis Michaux, Nelson “recounts her great-uncle’s enterprising and unflinching efforts to enrich and empower fellow African Americans” with the establishment of the African National Memorial Bookstore in Harlem. It has already garnered several accolades, including the Coretta Scott King Book Honor, the Horn Book-Boston Globe Award, and SLJ Best Book.

“Watching from the sidelines was exciting, enlightening, and nerve-racking. My fingernails couldn’t have taken much more, so I’m glad the battle is over and thrilled, obviously, with the outcome,” Nelson tells SLJ, noting that she anxiously kept track of the exciting results as each match brought her title closer to the finish line. “Hooray! What an honor to have been amidst the 15 other wonderful contenders. All of the judges—Paul Griffin, James Patterson, Catherine Gilbert Murdock, and Frank Cottrell Boyce—in their commentaries, gave me thoughtful new ways of seeing Lewis, his journey, and his contribution.”

And it’s not just the authors who closely tracked the results; publishers got in on the action, too, including Nelson’s editor Andrew Karre, editorial director of Carolrhoda Books. Karre says he believes Lewis Michaux would’ve been tickled by the BOB tournament results. “The idea of books struggling to beat all odds would’ve made so much sense to him,” he tells SLJ. “We’re really proud to have helped bring this book to fruition.”

Penguin Young Readers Battle of the Kids’ Books Trophy

At Penguin Young Readers, a trophy of goodies awaited the person who correctly guessed the most accurate outcomes in this year’s BOB. In a tradition that began four years ago (at the time, among only four editorial assistants), this year, 20 staffers pooled together bags of candy to be part of the publisher’s in-house BOB competition. Then Dutton editorial assistant Andrew Harwell (now an editor at HarperCollins) and Dial assistant editor Heather Alexander created the papier-mâché trophy and helped orchestrate the complicated Harry Potter-like point system.

As one of this year’s organizers, assistant editor Claire Evans, explains, “Each person prints off the bracket from the SLJ website and fills it out (including their Undead Poll pick). Each day the score keeper will update the scores and send them along to our commentator who will send out a mass email summarizing the verdict, the scores, and anything else that piques his interest. First round picks are worth two points, second round picks are worth four points, and third round picks are worth eight points. If you guess the ‘Back from the Dead’ book correctly, you get 12 points (like Harry Potter’s snitch), and getting the overall winner right is worth 16 points.”

Schools and libraries across the country also participated in the “March Madness”-style competition. In Texas, district library director Donna Cook incorporated BOB into Pollok’s Central High School programming. “It was a lot of work, but I’ve been astonished this week with all the chatter around the school about those books. I ended with 137 kids making at least one prediction and most making five or more,” she tells SLJ. “In the first weeks I was thinking, ‘I don’t know if I’ll ever do this again.’ Now I’m thinking ‘I have to do this again.’”

Most of the Penguin participants had slotted John Green’s In the Fault of Our Stars (Dutton, 2012) for the win because of its acclaim, but no one expected No Crystal Stair to go all the way. Alexander, chiming in from Paris, checked her work email to hear the final results, and was happy to find that she has the honor of walking away with the coveted sugary Penguin prize.

“I voted for Code Name Verity as my Undead Pick,” she says, a choice that gave her the most amount of points. “I felt so bad about knocking it off my brackets so early. So now that I have the trophy for a year, I can embellish it and make some much needed repairs to it.”

Below is a roundup of all of the resources and links for this year’s Battle of the Kids’ Books. We hope that next year can join in on the fun! Congrats to all of the contenders!

How did your school or library celebrate Battle of the Kids’ Books? Feel free to share in the comments section.

SLJ Coverage:

SLJ’s Battle of the Kids’ Books Final Results
SLJ’s Battle of the Kids’ Books Round Two Results
SLJ’s Battle of the Kids’ Books Round One Results
SLJ’s Battle of the Kids’ Books Starts Today

Downloadable Graphics

For many, seeing which fun illustration SLJ art director Mark Tuchman would create next was almost as important as finding out which book made it to the next round. From a complete bracket listing of the contenders to the colorful winner’s circle image of a bespectacled Lewis Michaux-shaped tome, fans can still download full scale, high resolution graphics designed for BOB.

Peanut Gallery

Reactions and comments from the internet, via social networking sites, blog posts, and news stories are highlighted in several Peanut Gallery blog posts, making it an interactive activity.

Pinterest

The image that always accompanied Roger Sutton’s commentary on BOB judges

For the first time ever, BOB results and fan-made art and displays were featured on SLJ’s Pinterest account this year.

Commentary

SLJ blogger Liz Burns kept track of her BOB predictions on her A Chair, A Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy blog, sharing her opinions on the judge’s assessments.

The Horn Book’s Roger Sutton put the judges in the hot seat, pitting their analyses against each other. His most important criteria? Which author-judge was the most critical of the books, discussing both faults and strengths of each competitor?

Other No Crystal Stair and Vaunda Micheaux Nelson resources:

No Crystal Stair Editor Reacts to BOB Win

Picture: Vaunda Micheaux Nelson and R. Gregory Christie at the Horn Book Colloquium

No Crystal Stair Wins Coretta Scott King Book Honor Award

2012 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Winners Unveiled

Teaching Books.Net: This Meet-the-Author Book Reading with Vaunda Micheaux Nelson

Round Three
Match 1 (March 28)
Bomb vs The Fault in Our Stars – Judged by Lynne Rae Perkins
Winner: The Fault in Our Stars

Match 2 (March 29)
Splendors and Glooms  vs No Crystal Stair – Judged by James Patterson
Winner: No Crystal Stair

Round Two
Match 1 (March 22)
Bomb  vs Code Name Verity – Judged by Donna Jo Napoli
Winner: Bomb

Match 2 (March 25)
Endangered  vs The Fault in Our Stars – Judged by Martine Leavitt
Winner: The Fault in Our Stars

Match 3 (March 26)
Starry River of the Sky  vs Splendors and Glooms – Judged by Thanhha Lai
Winner: Splendors and Glooms

Match 4 (March 27)
Seraphina  vs No Crystal Stair – Judged by Paul Griffin
Winner: No Crystal Stair

Round One
Match 1 (March 12)
Bomb  vs Wonder – judged by Kenneth Oppel
Winner: Bomb

Match 2 (March 13)
Code Name Verity  vs Titanic – judged by Margarita Engle
Winner: Code Name Verity

Match 3 (March 14)
Endangered  vs Three Times Lucky – judged by Kathi Appelt
Winner: Endangered

Match 4 (March 15)
The Fault in Our Stars  vs Temple Grandin – judged by Deb Caletti
Winner: The Fault in Our Stars

Match 5 (March 18)
Jepp Who Defied the Stars  vs Starry River of the Sky – judged by Adam Gidwitz
Winner: Starry River of the Sky

Match 6 (March 19)
Liar & Spy  vs Splendors and Glooms – judged by Franny Billingsley
Winner: Splendors and Glooms

Match 7 (March 20)
Moonbird  vs Seraphina – judged by Marie Lu
Winner: Seraphina

Match 8 (March 21)
No Crystal Stair v s The One and Only Ivan – judged by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
Winner: No Crystal Stair

Fans can still comment on the results of each round over at our Battle of the Kid’s Books blog, download the illustrated brackets from the contest, and download the high-resolution versions (suitable for printing and display) of the original artwork, created by SLJ art director Mark Tuchman.

School Library Journal

Round Two
Match 1 (March 22)
Bomb vs Code Name Verity – Judged by Donna Jo Napoli
Winner: Bomb

Match 2 (March 25)
Endangered vs The Fault in Our Stars – Judged by Martine Leavitt
Winner: The Fault in Our Stars

Match 3 (March 26)
Starry River of the Sky vs Splendors and Glooms – Judged by Thanhha Lai
Winner: Splendors and Glooms

Match 4 (March 27)
Seraphina vs No Crystal Stair – Judged by Paul Griffin
Winner:No Crystal Stair

Round One
Match 1 (March 12)
Bomb vs Wonder – judged by Kenneth Oppel
Winner: Bomb

Match 2 (March 13)
Code Name Verity vs Titanic – judged by Margarita Engle
Winner: Code Name Verity

Match 3 (March 14)
Endangered vs Three Times Lucky – judged by Kathi Appelt
Winner: Endangered

Match 4 (March 15)
The Fault in Our Stars vs Temple Grandin – judged by Deb Caletti
Winner: The Fault in Our Stars

Match 5 (March 18)
Jepp Who Defied the Stars vs Starry River of the Sky – judged by Adam Gidwitz
Winner: Starry River of the Sky

Match 6 (March 19)
Liar & Spy vs Splendors and Glooms – judged by Franny Billingsley
Winner: Splendors and Glooms

Match 7 (March 20)
Moonbird vs Seraphina – judged by Marie Lu
Winner: Seraphina

Match 8 (March 21)
No Crystal Stair vs The One and Only Ivan – judged by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
Winner: No Crystal Stair

Fans can still get in on the action at our Battle of the Kid’s Books blog, where comments are still pouring in on the first two rounds. Readers can also use the blog to keep track of their favorites during Round Three this week, to download the illustrated brackets, and even to download high-resolution versions (suitable for printing and display) of the original artwork for each of the matches.

In Pollok, a district of more than 1200 students in East Texas near the city of Lufkin, “We have three schools, each with excellent libraries and librarians, and I get to do my thing for the students at the high school,” Cook says. “I think libraries should be the busiest places in the school, and we are.”

For Cook—who has served on YALSA’s Amazing Audiobooks committee, the Printz Award committee, and the Texas Library Association’s  TAYSHAS committee—it’s not enough to provide her school with top-notch materials; the goal is to get kids to use them. Her high school programming runs the gamut from library skills to promoting the various teen best book lists (such as YALSA Teens’ Top Ten, ALA Quick Picks, the Printz books, and the TAYSHAS). BOB presents another opportunity to get her students critically thinking—and talking—about young adult literature, she tells SLJ.

“I teach classes all the time, but they are research classes and how-to-find-good-books classes and Printz-books-are-super-cool classes,” she says. “I see BOB as a way to make more commotion about books and authors. I’ve watched [the contest] since its first rattle out of the box, both online and in the print journal. The art work—books with arms and legs in fighting stances—just thrills me.”

Cook introduced the concept of BOB to her high schoolers a few weeks ago as a March Madness tournament—so named to avoid using the word “kids,” she says—by visiting each of the 27 English classes for a quick promo session. She also set up a bracket display on a window at the school and created a slide show for the school library’s website.

Fortuitously, during that first week, “One of the principals came for an evaluation session, and he got the whole scheme just like the students did,” says Cook. “He said he was happy to know what all those ‘explosions on the library windows’ were about, and said it sounded like a good thing to him. My administrators are always for promoting reading and books.”

For each BOB match, Cook sets out a table display for the competing books  with voting boxes and a picture of the judge for that bracket. She then tasks her students with predicting the winners, modeled after similar promotions surrounding the college basketball tournament.

At the end of each day, Cook tallies the predictions and records them on a spreadsheet, and, with the help of her senior aids, updates all the screensavers on the workstations in the library with the latest results. She adds, “My principals are helping immensely by making daily announcements about the contest and which students are leading the school in the longest streaks of correct predictions.”

Cook also sends the English teachers regular emails to update them on the BOB results. “I am trying to keep in mind that their minds may be loaded with state-mandated testing here in the spring, so I’m keeping BOB on the fun and light side with as little pressure as possible,” she says.

Those students who correctly predict the winning books for each match receive small awards, which is a key component of the program, Cook says, adding, “I have been a high school librarian for 36 years, and I know I have get past all the distractions of their daily lives. Cool awards will do that.”

One correct prediction earns students a mini candy bar, while the second in a row earns a soft drink, the third earns a yoyo (from a supply of them gifted to Cook from a vendor), and the fourth earns a golden dollar. Five or more correct predictions in a row earn the students a golden dollar for each.

Although the probability is very low that students will earn the largest prizes, as it turns out, they love the candy anyway, Cook jokes, noting that she makes awards time fun by going into each class to hand deliver the prizes. “My goal is make them think about books and authors,” she says. “Their goal will be get [prizes]. Our goals will intersect when they are successful.”

School Library Journal

Match 1 (March 12)
Bomb vs Wonder – judged by Kenneth Oppel
Winner: Bomb

Match 2 (March 13)
Code Name Verity vs Titanic – judged by Margarita Engle
Winner: Code Name Verity

Match 3 (March 14)
Endangered vs Three Times Lucky – judged by Kathi Appelt
Winner: Endangered

Match 4 (March 15)
The Fault in Our Stars vs Temple Grandin – judged by Deb Caletti
Winner: The Fault in Our Stars

Match 5 (March 18)
Jepp Who Defied the Stars vs Starry River of the Sky – judged by Adam Gidwitz
Winner: Starry River of the Sky

Match 6 (March 19)
Liar & Spy vs Splendors and Glooms – judged by Franny Billingsley
Winner: Splendors and Glooms

Match 7 (March 20)
Moonbird vs Seraphina – judged by Marie Lu
Winner: Seraphina

Match 8 (March 21)
No Crystal Stair vs The One and Only Ivan – judged by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
Winner: [READ TODAY’S RESULTS]

Fans can still get in on the action at our Battle of the Kid’s Books blog, where comments are still pouring in on the first eight matches. Readers can also use the blog to keep track of their favorites during Round Two, download the illustrated bracket, and even download high-resolution versions (suitable for printing and display) of the original artwork for each of the matches

Illustration by Mark Tuchman

For some, March Madness means watching college teams fighting to the finish in a yearly basketball tournament. But for kid lit fans, it hearkens the return of School Library Journal’s fifth annual Battle of the Kids’ Books (BOB). The online elimination contest that pits 16 of 2012’s best children’s and teens’ books kicked off today, March 12, with celebrated YA author Kenneth Oppel’s verdict: R. J. Palacio’s middle grade novel Wonder (Random) versus Steve Sheinkin’s distinguished Bomb (Roaring Brook/Flashpoint).

Oppel and many of the most popular authors writing for kids, comprise a panel of judges that will decide the contenders’ fates in a winner-take-all competition. The authors will read two books, and after close analysis will determine which title advances to the next round. This stellar group includes James Patterson, Franny Billingsley, Marie Lu, and Thanhha Lai. The judges have no easy task before them. They must decide between nonfiction and fiction, children’s and teen, historical fiction and contemporary works.

Fans can follow and comment on the action on the Battle of the Kid’s Books blog. There, readers can keep track of which favorite meets its doom or rises to the top by downloading the illustrated bracket. Readers also had the opportunity to save their darlings in the Undead Poll, which closed on Sunday, March 10. If a book meets its end early in the competition, it might have the chance to rise from the ashes in the last round, which will be judged by last year’s winner (and Big Kahuna) Frank Cottrell Boyce. He will choose among the Undead Poll winner and the last two books left standing. The grand prize winner will be announced on April 1.

School Library Journal

Over a 3-week period, our high-powered panel of 15 judges—including some of the world’s top writers for children and teens—will each read two titles and determine which book advances to the next round. SLJ will post these judges’ carefully considered decisions daily, and announce the grand prize winner on April 1. The judges’ identities will be revealed beginning on Wednesday, February 6.

BOB began in 2009 as the brainchild of educators Monica Edinger and Roxanne Feldman of the Dalton School in New York City, and Jonathan Hunt, a school librarian in Modesto, CA. The literary smack-down was inspired by the Morning News’s Tournament of Books, a competition that features the previous year’s best novels for adults. Over the years, many leading authors of kids’ books have taken part in BOB, including Lois Lowry, M. T. Anderson, and national ambassadors for young people’s literature Jon Scieszka, Katherine Paterson, and Walter Dean Myers.