SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
SLJ Blog Network +
  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About TLT
  • Reviews
    • Book Reviews
    • A to Z Book Lists
    • Book Review Policy
  • Teen Issues
  • Middle Grade Mondays
  • Programs
    • TPiB
    • Tech Talk
  • Professional
    • Teen Services 101
    • Things We Didn’t Learn in Library School
  • MakerSpace
  • Projects
    • #SVYALit
    • #FSYALit
    • #MHYALit
    • #Poverty in YA Lit

April 3, 2014 by Karen Jensen, MLS

Wrap-Up: Book Fight!

April 3, 2014 by Karen Jensen, MLS   Leave a Comment

So in case you haven’t been following me on Twitter or Tumblr, I’ve been hosting my first ever Book Battle at my library. The original dates were March 1 – April 5, but I miscalculated a bit and redid my posters so that the battle ended with the end of the month:

I made brackets, and every week I made new ballots. I pulled all the books, movies, and Playaways related to the books and put them on display. Weekly prizes were books I culled from donations, and the grand prize is the victorious book (or books, depending- if it was a 2-3 book series, I could swing that from my programming money, but if it was a huge series, not so much)….

SCROLL TO KEEP READING THIS POST

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

I wasn’t sure what kind of reaction I was going to get- my teens can be hit or miss sometimes. Self-directed things relating to FOOD, absolute hit. Anything else has been iffy….. So imagine my surprise when I kept getting more and MORE and MORE entries.

Starting Display

 First week, I had 10. Not really bad, considering. Second week, which was our Spring Break week, I had 21. And it was going along relatively predictable lines- Hunger Games vs Divergent, Vampire Academy vs Boy Nobody, Wicked Lovely vs Prophecy, and The Testing vs City of Bones.

Week Three

 Then Week three hit, and I got 36 entries. THIRTY-SIX. I didn’t miscount. The teens weren’t messing with me, or with the contest. They had gotten into it, and I was hearing debates about the books- why this one was better than that one, and why Tris and Four should beat out Nobody, and how Kira would kick Cia’s ass. (They don’t censor around me when we’re alone- when in mixed company, yes.)

Final Week

The final week, after counting the votes from week three, we were down to two books: Divergent by Veronica Roth and Prophecy by Ellen Oh. Now, everyone on my staff were placing bets on Divergent- movie coming out, we can’t keep the series on the shelf, etc.
So I counted the votes on the 31st. THIRTY-NINE votes. From FIFTEEN different teens (I never said they couldn’t vote more than once- in fact, I encouraged them to vote daily), and the vote was a rout.
If you do not have this series in your collection, add it.
 Ellen Oh’s Prophecy was the overwhelming winner!!! Against huge series like Mortal Instruments, Divergent, The Hunger Games, and others, Ellen Oh’s beautifully written story about Kira and her quest won out.
I contacted Ellen Oh via Twitter, on the off chance that she’s maybe possibly send signed bookplates so that I can put them in the books my grand prize winner will get, and she’s being so gracious she’s sending us signed copies of Prophecy. I could not have asked for better, and my teen winner will be over the moon- he’s like me, authors are his idols.
So if you have any doubt about whether or not a book fight/battle is worth it, it definitely is. It wasn’t an incredible investment considering the outcome:
  • 3-4 hours to get things queued up (books selected, brackets set up, book covers located and printed out, brackets created, donations located from Main Library, and first ballots printed)
  • Notifying staff about contest and asking them to push it to teens
  • An hour per week during the battle to get ballots collected and counted, new ballots printed, and wall updated
  • Another hour to get winning series from local bookstore (I could order these online but I like local shops)
  • Possibly an hour online Twitter/email with Ellen Oh back and forth about the awesomeness that she won
  • Investment total: 10 hours, in-house printing and donations, $25.00 budget for winning books
  • Outcome: 106 entries, over 20 different teens involved

Filed under: book fight, Ellen Oh, Self Directed Programming

SHARE:

Read or Leave Comments

About Karen Jensen, MLS

Karen Jensen has been a Teen Services Librarian for almost 30 years. She created TLT in 2011 and is the co-editor of The Whole Library Handbook: Teen Services with Heather Booth (ALA Editions, 2014).

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

September 2014

TPiB: Self Directed and Free Range Program Ideas

by Karen Jensen, MLS

March 2014

Self Directed Programming: Book Fight!

by Karen Jensen, MLS

January 2014

A Sherlock Holmes Themed Community Reading Event, a guest post by Anna Behm

by Karen Jensen, MLS

December 2013

Mini Reviews: Warrior by Ellen Oh and The Bitter Kingdom by Rae Carson

by Karen Jensen, MLS

November 2013

Christie's To Drool For: November/ December 2013 Releases

by Karen Jensen, MLS

ADVERTISEMENT

SLJ Blog Network

100 Scope Notes

Sydney Taylor Blog Tour: THE TOWER OF LIFE by Chana Stiefel and Susan Gal

by Travis Jonker

A Fuse #8 Production

Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Who’s In Rabbit’s House by Verna Aardema, ill. Leo and Diane Dillon

by Betsy Bird

Good Comics for Kids

Akim Aliu Dreamer | This Week’s Comics

by Lori Henderson

Heavy Medal

What’s Coming in 2023, A Feedback Poll, and Goodbye for Now…

by Steven Engelfried

Teen Librarian Toolbox

I Spy Something Awkward, a guest post by James Ponti

by Amanda MacGregor

The Classroom Bookshelf

The Classroom Bookshelf is Moving

by Erika Thulin Dawes

The Yarn

A Book 25 Years in the Making: Marla Frazee Visits The Yarn

by Travis Jonker

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Articles on SLJ

January’s YA Debut Authors Share Their Hopes for 2021

The Astonishing Achievements of M.T. Anderson, Recipient of the 2019 Margaret A. Edwards Award

Four Debut YA Authors on Getting Published in a Pandemic and Staying True to Yourself

Resistance, Radical Empathy, and the Responsibilities of Privilege: An Interview with Tehlor Kay Mejia on “We Set the Dark on Fire”

Some of YA's Biggest Names Collaborate on "Blackout," a 2021 Release About Black Love

Commenting for all posts is disabled after 30 days.

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

Follow This Blog

Enter your email address below to receive notifications of new blog posts by email.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

Primary Sidebar

  • News & Features
  • Reviews+
  • Technology
  • School Libraries
  • Public Libraries
  • Age Level
  • Ideas
  • Blogs
  • Classroom
  • Diversity
  • People
  • Job Zone

Reviews+

  • Book Lists
  • Best Books
  • Media
  • Reference
  • Series Made Simple
  • Tech
  • Review for SLJ
  • Review Submissions

SLJ Blog Network

  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal
  • Neverending Search
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn

Resources

  • 2022 Youth Media Awards
  • The Newbery at 100: SLJ Celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the Award
  • Special Report | School Libraries 2021
  • Summer Reading 2021
  • Series Made Simple Spring 2021
  • SLJ Diverse Books Survey
  • Summer Programming Survey
  • Research
  • White Papers / Case Studies
  • School Librarian of the Year
  • Mathical Book Prize Collection Development Awards
  • Librarian/Teacher Collaboration Award

Events & PD

  • In-Person Events
  • Online Courses
  • Virtual Events
  • Webcasts
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Media Inquiries
  • Newsletter Sign Up
  • Content Submissions
  • Data Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Terms of Sale
  • FAQs
  • Diversity Policy
  • Careers at MSI


COPYRIGHT © 2023


COPYRIGHT © 2023