Wednesday, April 22, 2009

SLJ BoB: Katniss Sinks The Ship

Sometimes the post titles just write themselves.

Judge John Green* considers:The Hunger Games or We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball?

And the winner is....

As if you couldn't guess. The Hunger Games.

Let's turn once more to the fun part, picking apart what the judges say -- and don't say!

Eager writers trying to turn these comments into a guide to creating the Frankenstein's Monster of the perfect book: per Green, make sure your reader has the most fun they've had in years!

Don't you love when authors don't tell everything? And assume you come to their writing with prior knowledge? They don't tell you every. single. thing. That's what Green has done in this review. Note how he makes mention of "its purportedly unoriginal premise." But doesn't mention, say, the other book/film that has the premise. And then, "much has been made of the "issues" raised by the novel" and while Green gives us a couple of those issues, he doesn't say who has been making much. Green is assuming (rightly so for this reader) that the book-crazed readers of SLJ BoB know exactly what he is talking about.

And we do.

Finally:
New BoB drinking game.
If the judge praises both books? Drink.
If they talk about how you cannot compare two books? Drink.
Drink twice if they also say "apples to oranges"; finish the drink if it's "apples to pineapples."
Anything else?



*Who will be at NJLA next week! Did you get your ticket? Are you going to the lunch? I am!

© Elizabeth Burns of A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy

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