Wednesday, February 1, 2012

SLJ's Battle of the Kids' Books

For the past several years, School Library Journal has hosted the Battle of the Kids' Books, and this year's contenders were announced today. I follow along each year, but usually have only read about half the titles. This year, I've decided I'm going to have all the books read by the time the competition starts in March, and make my picks. The best thing about this battle is reading what authors think of these books - their insightful, eloquent, sometimes humorous reviews. Check out the website and follow along!

I'm currently reading an adult mystery - Dandy Gilver and the Proper Treatment of Bloodstains by Catriona McPherson. So far, I'm loving it and will tell you more about it when I've finished. I'm also listening to Okay for Now by Gary Schmidt, which was just announced as an Odyssey Award Honor audiobook. I read the book back in April, and after following all the discussions on the Heavy Medal blog, I kept meaning to re-read it, and listening to the audiobook seemed to be the perfect idea. The narrator, Lincoln Hoppe, is amazing, and even though I know what's coming, I'm so completely drawn into Doug's story all over again.