Do you know what time it is?

It’s time for School Library Journal’s Battle of the Kids’ Books, aka BoB!

Why, what is BoB?

Excellent question. Sixteen children’s and teen books from the prior year are selected; each title “battles” the other, with a celebrity judge reading the two books and selecting a winner. Those winners then each battle each other, and so on, until there is one final round of two books and a winner is declared.

I find it a lot of fun, both because of the randomness in which the books go up against each other, and also because of what the judges select and how they come to a determination of which book “wins”.

The complete list of books is at the BoB site; as is the schedule of when the battles will be posted; and the judges. A short post tells a bit about each judge. As I’m writing this, the brackets are posted, but with just the first round books and the judges TBA. Once the judges are all announced and assigned, it’s fun to not just say say “what book would I pick” but also speculate “what book will that judge pick?”

As in the past, I’ll be posting my reactions to the individual battles and rounds. Because of timing, I’ll try to have those posts up either later that day or the next day. This year, I’ll also share my own predictions.

What are your plans for SLJ BoB?