Battle of the Books Round 1 Leader Board

So eight matches completed and lots of surprises. Some pleasant and some (like today's) infuriating.
Here's a look at the point totals for all the contestants. Remember first round matches were worth one point each. Round 2 matches are worth two points, so it's still anyone's game.

Leader Board

1. batgirl2004 - 6

1. LaughingAlegra - 6

1. maggie - 6

1. March Madness - 6

1. MelogyP - 6

BoB Bracket leader board and second half preview

Four matches in the books and the best of the eight books is still alive (thank you Ms. Frost!!!) so I'm happy. Only four contestants are still perfect and nine have yet to earn a point. Here's the leader board:

Battle of the Books leader board and preview of Matches 3 & 4

Monday morning Judge Jim Murphy's choice of Charles and Emma over Claudette Colvin kicked off the 2010 Battle of the Books. That choice was followed this morning by Nancy Farmer's decision to advance The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate past Fire in match number two.

Before I get into my thoughts on matches three and four, lets look at how the participants in Battle of the Books Bracket contest have faired after two matches.

Notes on Novels 100-21

On the eve of entering the top 20 I will recap and update some of the data previously analyzed in earlier posts. You can of course see all of the titles and read all of Fuse#8's thoughts plus lots of great commentary on each title at her blog here: #100 - 91, #90-86, #85-81, #80-76, #75-71, #70-66, #65-61, #60-56, #55-51, #50-46, #45-41, #40-36, #35-31, #30-26, #25-21.

Since the last full stat post thirty more titles have been added to the list. In some areas early trends have remained pretty much constant while in others we are beginning to see shifts as we get closer to the more universally acclaimed titles. This post will have decidedly less predicting than the previous breakdowns as at this point there are probably very few surprises remaining, just a matter of order and that is a puzzle I don't think I have any chance of cracking. So instead I'll just show the data.

SLJ Battle of the Books Bracket Preview

Two weeks ago the School Library Journal's second annual Battle of the Books kicked off with the announcement of the match ups and judges. Since then 52 people have submitted brackets to the contest I announced in a previous post. Tonight I will show what the participants are thinking for the first 2 matches of round one. As well as make some predictions of my own.

Match 1 - Jim Murphy judging Charles and Emma vs. Claudette Colvin

Only 30 Titles left...time to speculate

Way too much college basketball to be watched to do a full stats post tonight. I plan on doing a good long post when we know titles 100-21. Instead I thought I would open up the comments to predictions and pontifications.

For the last few weeks I've been making list after list trying to narrow down the titles that will most likely show up in the top 25. In this post I will share my list and my reasoning. Please question my thinking, point out my omissions, berate my candor or share your own guesses below.

School Library Journal's Battle of the Books 2010

Last year the School Library Journal ran a Battle of the Books. In one word it was awesome. In the end Judge Lois Lowry selected Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games over M.T. Anderson's The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation: Volume Two Kingdom on the Waves.

In case you haven't seen the 2010 brackets yet you can view the titles, matchups and judges all at the new Battle of the Books website here: http://sljbattleofthebooks.com/