The opening round of SLJ's annual virtual tournament featuring children’s and young adult books in a March Madness—like competition has come to a close. Graphic novels This One Summer and El Deafo and celebrated titles Brown Girl Dreaming and Port Chicago 50, among others, have emerged to fight another day. New York Times best-selling author Holly Black had the difficult task of judging the first match of SLJ’s Battle of the Kids’ Books, and after careful deliberation, chose the National Book Award winner, Brown Girl Dreaming over Children of the King. The second pair-off, judged by 2015 YALSA Morris Award winner Isabel Quintero, confirmed what many BOB fans have only suspected to be true: the Newbery Curse is alive and well. Since the first-ever BOB seven years ago, no Newbery winner has been able to make it past the first round. In her decision, Quintero explained, “While, The Crossover was beautiful and the poetry kicked ass, and I loved Josh’s voice, ultimately, [Gregory Maguire’s] Egg and Spoon is the winner. Yes, the story did drag on near the end, but it transported me to a magical place and boy, do I love magic.” On Twitter, Kwame Alexander, author of the felled 2015 Newbery Medalist, responded to the outcome.

Having the #newbery #curse inflicted upon #TheCrossover is an honor! Thx @SLJsBoB & Kudos to #eggandspoon But, NO DONUTS for @isabelinpieces — Kwame Alexander (@kwamealexander) March 15, 2015

In probably the most difficult pairing of the competition, nonfiction author and graphic novelist Elizabeth Rusch had to choose between crowd favorite El Deafo and the richly researched The Family Romanov in the third match. The bunny-eared graphic novel advanced to the next round, and while most were content with the outcome, a debate arose in the comments section about Fleming’s portrayal of Russian Orthodoxy in The Family Romanov. For many, the real highlight of the competition is the insightful observations from the Kid Commentators. As ever, these literary teens don’t shy away from expressing their honest opinions, even when in complete disagreement with the judge’s assessments. In the fourth match both Kid commentators disagreed with Jo Knowles’s decision to advance The Key that Swallowed Joey Pigza over Grasshopper Jungle. The victors of the the fifth and sixth matches of the first round both deal with important issues in the struggle for equal rights for African Americans. And in a year that began with the recognition of the many wonderful works about diverse topics at the Youth Media Awards, these decisions were certainly welcomed. G. Neri celebrated The Madman of Pineywoods for its “eloquent look at the effects fear can play on us, fears that lead to false judgments and incrimination, fears that keep us from growing and loving our fellow humans, fears that keep us from reaching our highest potential.” It won over Poisoned Apples, the “post-modern look at fairy tales that have not yet been Disney-fied.” While many expected Rachel Hartman, author of the acclaimed dragon fantasy, Seraphina (Random, 2012) to select the dragon-filled contender, The Story of Owen, in the sixth match, Hartman, inspired by Owen, chose The Port Chicago 50 as this fight’s champion. The author judge explains: Implementing a clever new method of deciding the outcome, nonfiction graphic novelist Nathan Hale broke up his match into smaller battles in the seventh takedown of the elimination competition. Weighing criteria such as cover art, book feel, historical research, illustrations, content, and time spent reading each book, Hale selected Caldecott Honor Book This One Summer over The Volcano Beneath the Snow, the second graphic novel to go to the second round. In the final match of the first BOB round, Kelly Barnhill deliberated between YA novel We Were Liars and middle grade tale West of the Moon, books that explore the concept of “unreliable narrator” and the power of storytelling. Barnhill went with the latter: “In the end, I can only tip my hat to the book that I am more likely to read again … and that is West of the Moon by Margi Preus.” This year’s BOB continues to inspire fun and playful conversation via blog posts, comments, and reactions on social media. Perhaps one of BOB’s most avid supporters, historical fiction author (and Round Two judge in this year’s competition), Elizabeth Wein has weighed in on most match decisions. From revealing her affinity to Richard III in the first head-to-head to offering curriculum connections to A Volcano in the Snow and John Brown in the seventh, Wein has often been the first to comment on many of the BOB posts. In battle three, between The Crossover and Egg and Spoon, she quipped “Can I just point out to the non-obsessed that these are both FISHER KING/WASTELAND ALLEGORIES! How did they end up in competition with each other?” Libraries, schools, and fans have also added their views on several platforms, and have been highlighted in the weekly Peanut Gallery posts. For an opportunity to be featured, share your thoughts on BOB's upcoming rounds via #sljbob and @SLJsBOB on Twitter or by adding to the comments section.

We have 5 lucky students @sjcds who have a perfect bracket so far for #sljBoB ! #moremadnesstocome #lovingourstudentswhoread #goodguessers — SJCDS Library (@sjcdslibrary) March 13, 2015

On to Round Two!