Battle of the Kids Books is Returning and So Are We


SLJ BOB 2015 -- Book Covers


Last year my school participated in the School Library Journal sponsored Battle of the Kids Books. Any school or library or anyone can participate, but SLJ highlighted my school online as we put on an all out battle to the death among the 16 books.  It was a blast, and both the middle school students and high school students really got into it. This year we have started slow, and I am waiting for copies of all the books to arrive after ordering them last week. Today as I was reading the February 2015 issue of SLJ, I found a mention of my school library and myself concerning our participation in the BOB for 2014. That was a nice surprise. 

If you want to get your students involved, you need to have the following books available in your library: 
BROWN GIRL DREAMING by Jacqueline Woodson
CHILDREN OF THE KING by Sonya Hartnett
CROSSOVER by Kwame Alexander
EGG & SPOON by Gregory Maguire
EL DEAFO by Cece Bell
THE FAMILY ROMANOV by Candace Fleming
GRASSHOPPER JUNGLE by Andrew Smith
THE KEY THAT SWALLOWED JOEY PIGZA by Jack Gantos
THE MADMAN OF PINEY WOODS by Christopher Paul Curtis
POISONED APPLES by Christine Heppermann
THE PORT CHICAGO 50 by Steve Sheinkin
THE STORY OF OWEN by E. K. Johnston
THIS ONE SUMMER by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki
A VOLCANO BENEATH THE SNOW by Albert Marrin
WE WERE LIARS by E. Lockhart
WEST OF THE MOON by Margi Preus

Next post the brackets, set up a timeline, figure out a way for the students to participate, and then let the battle begin. I think this year we might go more low key with our battles. I am going to set up a display in the library, ask the students to write a blurb about why their selected book should win, and let all who enter the library cast their vote. Our debate style of presentations were scheduled during lunch last year, but it took two weeks just to get through round one. It was over a month from start to finish. I am happy to say that I found all of the books in the battle had a surge in circulation during and after the battle period. That is one of the main reasons for conducting BOB anyway; to get kids reading! 


Door sign from the 2014 SLJ BOB with the PFTSTA winner:
Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell



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