My prediction: “P.S. Be Eleven v Rose Under Fire, Judge Robin LaFevers. I think Rose Under Fire will take this one.”

What actually happened?  P.S. Be Eleven vs The Thing About Luck judged by Robin LeFevers.

So, going in, half-right! Alas, the wrong half: P.S. Be Eleven moved on to Round 4.

I think, much as it’s fun to read the decisions where someone clearly doesn’t like a book, that it’s harder for the judge when they like both books. When forced to choose — and that is what is happening here — what to pick?.

And why?

And, of course, the “why” is what is so intriguing.

Here, what pushes P.S. Be Eleven to the front is Delphine: “I ultimately came to realize that it was Delphine’s journey that reached the farthest into my heart, perhaps because my own childhood was peppered with such similar disruptions to the ones she experienced.” There are “complexities;” there are “skillful shading of issues of power;” and darn if this doesn’t also win me over, to want to read P.S. Be Eleven.