Short post today.

Some people follow college basketball, I follow kidlit. If you’re not following The School Library Journal Battle of the Books, you should. Tomorrow Anita Silvey decides whether The Storm in the Barn or The Sweethearts of Rhythm advance to the next level. In the interests of full disclosure I should say that I won an Anita Silvey Scholarship at Vermont College in the MFA Program in Writing for Children and Young Adults, and she is something of a hero.

A number of the judges in this year’s Battle of the Books have Vermont College connections, including M. T. Anderson, a former director.

I’m just glad I didn’t have Candace Fleming’s job: in Match 3 of round one she had to decide between The Frog Scientist and The Last Olympian. I’m not sure I agree with her decision, but her post on why she made that decision was wonderful. You’ll have to follow the link to find out who progressed to the next bracket.