Book Battle: Vote for our theme!

A few days ago I asked readers to submit their ideas for our theme for the 2012 Book Battle.  The ideas are in and now it's time for everyone to vote on their favorites.  Thank you to everyone who submitted ideas!

For those of you who are new to the battle, here's an introduction post I wrote in it's first year.  But basically, it's a bracket-style elmination competition for books.  I organize the event, but I don't have any hand in the judging or determining the winner.  Judges are selected from volunteer book bloggers, YA lit enthusiasts, and blog readers.  Each bracket is judged by a new set of volunteers, who choose which book will move on, and which book does not.  This is the 3rd battle at The Shady Glade, and each year has had a different theme. 

So, with that quick intro out of the way, it's time to detail out the options for this year's battle.  There's a form at the bottom of this post (or you can find it here).  Please fill it out to pick your favorite ideas.  It's really short, only takes a minute, and I count on as much participation as possible to do this!  Voting will remain open until Saturday, April 15th at midnight PDT (or earlier if particpation slacks off). 
The winning ideas determines how many volunteers we will need, and the other organizations I have to set up behind the scenes, so once we know our winner I will be sending out a call for volunteers. 

Here are descriptions of each option detailed in the poll.  You can pick no more than 2 favorites (since we have several new suggestions this year).  If you have any questions, please ask. 

Let the games begin!

Best Debut Author Title of 2011 - This would mark the return of 2010's theme for another year.  This battle features books by authors whose first book was published during 2011. 

Mythology retellings - With the surge of books that are based on fairy tales, legends, and various mythology, this battle will pit these types of books against each other to determine an ultimate winner.

Good books with horrible covers - You know how you always hear "don't judge a book by it's cover"?  This battle gives those books that you would never think to pick up off the shelf a chance.  What gems are hidden beneath the horrendous cover art?  And which book is best of them all?   

Book Academy Awards - This takes the idea of the Academy Awards to the YA book market.  Several categories including best male character, best female character, best supporting character will battle it out for a winner, similiar to our Readers' Choice Awards this past year.  This will feature several "mini brackets" with several winners, one for each category.


Best of the Genre - In this battle, books will be broken up by genre to battle for the best of their kind in 2011. What was the best fantasy published last year? Best historical? Best parnormal? This will feature several "mini brackets" with several winners, one for each category.

Best sequel - Know of a book in a series that was better than the first?  Which recently published book outshines it's predessessor.  This theme will require judges to read 4 books, the original and the sequel for both sides of the bracket. 

Read-alike Versus Battles - This idea will shake up the bracket system used in previous years. Instead, books will be nominated in read-alike pairs. Vampire Academy VS. House of Night, Hush Hush VS. Fallen, etc. You pick two very similar books to battle it out to see which is the best of the pair. One winner will be declared for each pair, so for this battle no ultimate winner will be chosen.

Best Standalone book - Are you sick of all the sequels and series coming out?  Why does it seem like every new book is part of a series?  This battle will choose only those books of 2011 that stand on their own, without any sequels or series. 

Best series - With the aforementioned increased in series books, which series is best overall?  So many have great introductory books and then seem to flatten out as the series drags on.  This battle will determine a winner where the book stay strong and finish strong.  This battle will have lots of reading for our judges, and so it will greatly increase the timeline for the battle, and the lag between bracket winner announcements. 


In addition to a battle theme, I am also opening up voting to determine the structure of the judging. Last year we had a two round judging process, and the year before was one round of judging.

One Round Bracket Judging (from 2010 battle) - All the books nominated are narrowed down to a set number of slots in a short list. This list is divided up into 5 rounds brackets and judges are paired up to determine the winner of each bracket. This style of judging takes less time, but means less volunteers can participate.

Two Round Judging/Elimination (from 2011 battle) - All books are checked for eligbility and added to a "long list". Round 1 Judges have approximately a month to read as many nominated books as they can. At the end of Round 1, each judge submits a list of the Top 10 books they think should move on to the next round. The books with the most votes are used to compile the short list that moves onto bracket judging in Round 2. This process takes a little longer, but allows more reader submitted nominations to be considered and more volunteers to participate in the judging process.

So there you have it, all the choices explained. Don't forget to choose your favorite by filling out the form below:

2012 Book Battle: What do you want to see?

It's that time of year again!  The 2012 YA Bloggers Book Battle is approaching it's third year this time around, and it's time to start preparations.  (For those of you who are new to the battle, here's an introduction post I wrote in it's first year.)  I sent an announcement about this yesterday to our Goodreads group, but for everyone else, here's the latest scoop.

Last year I tried something new by letting you, the blog readers, suggest ideas for the battle theme and then vote on which one you would like to see played out.  It worked out really well, so I'd like to do it again this year.

So take this opportunity to tell me what theme you want to see.  In 2010 we did a Debut Author Battle, and last year was Overlooked Books.  There's been additional suggestions in the past about doing mini genre brackets, versus battles, and more.  We've already got some great ideas coming in at the Goodreads group, but I want to get input from those of you who don't necessarily make it over there.

Leave a comment on this post with your battle ideas.  If you'd prefer to remain anonymous, you can also submit your ideas via this Google form.  Next week I will be putting up a poll so you can all vote on your favorite suggested idea.

Here's to another great year!

Book Battle: Reader's Choice Awards Winners

Thanks to a very observant commenter, I realized this afternoon that I have neglected to post the final winners from the 2011 YA Blogger Debut Book Battle.  Whoops!  It was my intention to post these at the beginning of the month.  Unfortunately, with the delay last week I kind of forgot.  So today we have the winners of the Reader's Choice Awards and tomorrow will be the final battle winners.

Now, before I move on to the winners, I have a little disclaimer to go along with these.  In the end, not a lot of people ended up voting, so some of the categories were pretty cut and dry (Reader's Choice was almost unanimous) and some were a little more split.  So if you don't agree with the choices and you didn't vote, you should vote next time!  :)

Now without further ado, here's the winners of the Reader's Choice Awards!

Best Setting: Bellezza from City Of Masks by Mary Hoffman

The majority of all of the Stravangaza books takes place in Talia, and alternative version of our Renaissance Italy. But of all of the books from that series I've read, I have to agree that Bellezza is one of my favorites. Patterned after historical Venice, this would be a place I would love to visit. Except for the whole having to wear a mask thing. I think that would get old eventually...

Best Cover Art: Stork by Wendy Delsol

There's some great cover art in our group of finalists, but I have to agree that this is one of my favorites.  It really backs up the fairy tale feeling to the book, don't you think?  Blue isn't necessarily one of my favorite colors, but I think it works really well in this situation.

Honorable mention: Intrinsical by Lani Woodland (also a blue cover!)

Best Villian: Lord Daul from StarCrossed by Elizabeth C. Bunce

This category was no contest. Sadly, I still have not had the opportunity to read StarCrossed myself yet (it's on the top of my TBR list though), but this Lord Daul sounds like quite the nasty character. With over 40% of the vote in this category, this dude must be majorly bad news.

Most Unique Premise: The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman

Who wouldn't love a library that loans items from the Grimm fairy tales? Actually sign me up for the library in general! I love the idea of loaning things rather than just books. And although this particular title didn't make it that far in our battle, it certainly gets good marks for a creative idea.

Honorable mention: Storm Thief by Chris Wooding

Best Main Character: Jacky from Bloody Jack by L.A. Meyer

This category was actually pretty close. The top three contenders were actually tied. Those of you who voted on the awards might remember there was a space to include any comments you wanted about your votes. Jacky wins this award because although she tied for first place, she was raved about over and over again in those comments. Some of my longest commentaries were on Jacky's side, and so she takes the crown for this round.

Honorable mention: TJ from Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher and Katla from Stork



Most Likely to Re-Read: Academy 7 by Anne Osterlund
(sorry no picture, my computer was being stupid and wouldn't upload one, I'll try again later)

Another category with a more split vote. But in the end Academy 7 just barely slipped ahead of the contenders to take the lead. This book also made an appearance in quite a few votes for other categories, but this is the only one in which it truly shined. Again, not a far mover as far as the battle goes this year, but apparently those who did read would love to dive back in.

Honorable mention: StarCrossed by Elizabeth C. Bunce and The Hollow Kingdom by Clare B. Dunkle

Weirdest/Most Quirky Character: Kiki Strike from Kiki Strike: Inside Shadow City by Kristen Miller

I have to say, I really agree with this choice. An albino girl with a secret past who drives around New York City on a Vespa and has a severe food allergy? Now that qualifies as weird and quirky! Come to think of it, all of Kiki's group of backups (The Irregulars) qualifies in this category. But Kiki is the star of the show, so we'll let her have her moment in the spotlight as the winner of this award.


Most Overlooked: Threads and Flames by Esther Friesner
(another missing picture due to stupid computer)

It's hard to choose a book to win this category, when "overlooked" is the theme of the whole thing after all. But if there's one book that has seemed to surprise the judges over and over during this battle, it's this one. I think historical fiction as a whole tends to get overlooked, and I was so happy to see this book go so far. It's one of my new favorites, and I have enjoyed getting to share it with so many people who may have otherwise passed it by.

Best Romance: Kate and Marak from The Hollow Kingdom by Clare B. Dunkle

I have to say this is my personal favorite romance of this lot (although Threads and Flames is probably my second favorite). And maybe it's because it's such an unusual romance. After all, when Kate and Marak get married, she doesn't even like the guy one bit. The play between the two of them, as well as seeing them come to care for each other, was a real treat for me. You just don't see that as much in YA books nowadays, where so much of it seems to be *poof* I'm in love!

Honorable mention: Keturah And Lord Death from the book of the same name by Martine Leavitt

Reader's Choice: StarCrossed by Elizabeth C. Bunce

So, if you hadn't guessed already, this is the book the most reader's chose to win the battle overall. This one was a bit of landslide, there wasn't much competition from the other books. The next nearest in votes didn't even get half as many as StarCrossed. Good thing it's in our final round! On the other hand, many of the voters hadn't read as many of our finalists, so perhaps in comparison, StarCrossed can be defeated? You'll have to come back tomorrow to see who takes the battle title for this year!

Time Is Running Out to Vote

Voting for the 2011 Book Battle Reader's Choice Awards ends tomorrow at midnight!  If you haven't already, please take a few minutes to submit your votes.  There's been few enough votes that things are really split right now, so more participation is badly needed!

Remember, you don't have to vote on all the awards.  Even if you haven't read any of the nominees, you can still vote on those such as Best Cover Art or Most Unique Premise, etc.  If anyone has any problems with the form, please email me at shadygladeATmailDOTcom to let me know.

So please, make sure you let your voice be heard!  This is the first year I've done Reader's Choice and I want them to be a success.  And, as I hinted yesterday, it might just pay off for you next month...

2011 Reader's Choice Awards: Time to Vote!

Thanks to everyone who voted on the Reader's Choice Awards poll. The input has been tallied, and we now are ready to vote! As we wait with baited breath to see which of the two finalists win the final bracket in Series 5, it's time for YOU to play judge.

There are 10 awards being given in the following categories: Reader's Choice, Best Cover Art, Most Likely To Re-Read, Most Overlooked, Most Unique, Best Main Character, Best Villain, Best Romance, Weirdest/Most Quirky Character, and Best Setting. You can choose any of the 24 final nominees from Round 2 as your votes. If you need a refresher about which books are eligible, cover art, plot, etc. they are all posted in our Goodreads Group bookshelf page.

To vote, fill out the Google form below (or follow this link). You are required to give your email address, but that's just to track duplicate entries and will be deleted as soon as the voting closes. Voting will be open until August 22nd at midnight.

Remember that even if you haven't read all (or even any) of the nominations, you can still vote for the awards. A vote is not required for every award, so you can pick and choose which ones to do. There's also a box for you to explain any of your choices if you wish to do so.

Questions? Let me know. Otherwise go vote! This is your chance to let your opinion be heard!

Book Battle: Reader's Choice Awards Poll

Those of you who follow our Goodreads group for the battle have already heard about this, but it's time to share with everyone.

New to the battle this year, I've instituted the Reader's Choice Awards category.  To help fill the time between now and when the final winner is announced, I'm giving you the choice to have your say in choosing the top books from our battle finalists.

About a month ago I asked for suggestions from our Goodreads group members for categories they'd like to see for a series of Reader's Choice Awards.  Well, now it's time to vote on what awards will make the final cut.  Fill out the Google form below (or click the link) to pick the categories you'd like to give as awards this year. There's also a spot for you to pick your own.  Pick up to 5 categories.  Those with the most votes will become actual awards this year.

I'm tracking entries by email address, so you will need to enter that.  Don't worry though, they will be deleted as soon as entries are closed this Saturday at midnight.  So vote now while  you still have a chance!

And the Winner Is...

The votes have been tallied and it's time to announce the winner of our readers poll!  The winner, of course, will be our returning book for Series 4 that gets a final last chance at the final and winning spot.  So which book will it be?

The winner is StarCrossed by Elizabeth C. Bunce!

It will be moving on to Bracket 22, where it will go up against Stravaganza: City of Masks for one of the finalist spots in Series 5.

We're getting down to the end, and we have more results to announce later this week! Keep an eye out for the winners of Series 3 coming soon. And, for those who are curious, the second runners up for the poll were The Hollow Kingdom, John Belushi Is Dead, and Bloody Jack.

Quick Change For Returning Book Poll

There's been a slight update to the What Book Returns in Series 4 poll. Thanks to one of my sharp readers, it was brought to my attention that there is no way to NOT vote for a book in one of the series.  I've corrected the list, and now you have the option to choose "No vote for this series" as one of your votes.

I've sent an email to everyone who "chose" one of the default books on the list (Academy 7 for Series 1 and The Grimm Legacy for Series 2) as their vote to ensure that they meant to pick that book.  If you fall into that category and for some reason didn't get an email, go ahead and resubmit your corrected vote using the form on the original post.  Just put "Resubmission: (your email address)" in the Email address box so I know to delete your earlier vote.

For those of you who haven't voted, you have until midnight on the 18th (Monday).  Remember, ANYONE can vote, and your email address are only used to track multiple submissions and will be deleted after the poll is closed.  So don't forget to vote!

You Pick What Book Returns!

For those of you who've been keeping an eye on the brackets graphic for the battle may have noticed a mysterious spot in Round 4.  And while returning battle spectators from last year may know what this means, those of you who are new might not.

To keep brackets evenly matched, we need another competitor to add to Round 4.  So we "resurrect" one of the previously eliminated titles and give it one last second chance at the coveted spot in Series 5.  Last year a team of judges helped narrow down which books were eligible for the spot.  There was a lot of thought and feedback from last year (both judges and spectators) that went into the planning for this year.  And I've decided to do things a little differently.

To be truly fair to those books that maybe didn't get a chance because they were matched up with the wrong book, I've decided to narrow the field of competitors to only books eliminated in Series 1 and Series 2.  This also makes it easier on our Round 4 judges in the affected bracket, since they don't have to wait for a decision at the end of Round 3 to get their assignment.

So, now it's your turn.  Want to have a say in which book comes back?  Fill out the form below and let your voice be heard!  You can choose up to 2 books, one from each series.  Pick a book from one series or the other, or you can pick one from each.  It's up to you.  The book that gets the most votes will move on.  The announcement will be made at the end of Series 3.

You have until midnight on July 18th to vote.  So what are you waiting for?  Go fill out the form already!

New Ending Date for Voting

Votes in the Book Battle poll have slackened off quite a bit in the past couple days.  So rather than wait until the 20th as originally planned, I am closing the poll early. 

If you haven't voted yet, make sure you do so before noon Pacific Time tomorrow (3/17).  After that the poll will be closed and no additional votes will be accepted.  The theme for this year's battle will be announced later that day at 5:00 PT. 

New Poll: Thoughts on Prizes

As I mentioned before, I'm currently trying to decide how to celebrate my blogoversary this year, which is coming up on September 1st. And of course you can't have a blogoversary without prizes. I have some great books to give away, but I'm curious about what you think.

Do you like contests with lots of smaller prizes for lots of winners? One big prize for one winner? A huge pile of prizes and a few winners who get to choose from the list? Some other type of suggestion?

I've added a poll to the top of the right sidebar to let me know your thoughts. It'll close on August 29th, and I'll decide what I'm doing on the 1st from there. As always, ideas in the comments are appreciated!

Hurry, Time is Almost Up!

Don't forget that tomorrow (April 18th) is the very LAST DAY you have to sign up to judge a bracket or nominate a title to compete in the YA Bloggers Debut Book Battle.

The list of nominated books will be posted sometime on Monday, April 19th. Books that were nominated more than once are automatically on the list, and then the final spots are being filled by consulting with a few alternate judges. So want to have a say in what makes the final list? First of all, make sure you've nominated your favorite book. And then, if you're quick, you can participate in this poll below.

These books are all in the running to be on the shortlist, but there isn't room for all of them. Vote for the book YOU want to see make the list to save it. The books will the most votes from this may move on (depending on what other nominations come in). So if you see a book you want to "save" from being cut, make sure you vote for it!

*Poll removed when nominations closed*

Ironically, the most highly nominated book isn't eligible for the battle this time around. It's Angel Star by Jennifer Murgia, which unfortunately isn't able to participate this time because it won't be published until May and doesn't make the March 31st cutoff date. I don't know much about this, but the nominators have been raving about it, so it must be good.

Anyway, don't forget to nominate if you haven't already, vote in the poll above, and come back Monday to see who makes it and who doesn't.

If anyone has trouble with the poll and would rather email their vote to me, send it to shadyglade(AT)mail(DOT)com.

You Pick the Prize

So December is fast approaching, and along with a certain event (that shall remain nameless until December 1st) that means a new comment contest for December. But to be honest, I can't decide what to give away next month. So I'm letting you decide!

I've set up at poll at the top of the right sidebar to let you vote on what book you want to see as the Comment Contest prize for December 2009. All you have to do is either vote in the poll, or send me an email at shadyglade(AT)mail(DOT) com with "vote" in the subject line and your choice in the body of the email.

Voting closes on November 30th at 5:00 p.m. PST.

And for your reference, here is a list of the books you will be voting on along with links to Amazon.com so you can read about them if you haven't heard of them before. Once you've done your research, don't forget to vote!

- My Mother Is a French Fry and Further Proof of My Fuzzed-Up Life by Colleen Sydor
- The Miles Between by Mary E. Pearson
- House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones
- Bliss by Lauren Myracle
- Radiant Darkness by Emily Whitman
- Never Cry Werewolf by Heather Davis
- A holiday-themed book (To Be Determined by me on 12/1)

So what did you think?

Phew! After a full month of hard work, it's hard to believe that the blogoversary is over. So looking back I'd appreciate a moment of reflection. What did you think? Did you like it? What suggestions do you have for next time?

One reason I ask is because if you enjoyed the interviews I'm thinking about making an author interview or guest post a regular feature. This means I'd like to post at least one a month, every month. Of course, that depends on how many authors I can get in contact with, but you get the idea.

You may notice that I've put up two new polls in the right sidebar. One about the blogoversary itself, and one about the new feature. If you subscribe, you'll need to click over to vote.

Of course, I always love to hear your ideas in the comments too. Polls are great, but I love to hear from you guys too. So let me know, because I really want to know what you think!

New Poll: Graphic Novels

You may have noticed the new poll over the right sidebar. So here's the deal.

I've been thinking a lot about graphic novels lately. I have a ton on my shelf that I'm currently working through reviews for, and it made me wonder. How many of you (my readers) read graphic novels? This would encompass manga too, of course. Obviously my reviews for graphic novels would be approached a little differently if many of you were unfamiliar with this genre.

I personally read a lot of graphic novels, not because I'm lazy or dislike reading (obviously) but because I think they offer a different type of storytelling than traditional novels. The artwork of a graphic novel can enhance a story so much. But it's a double edged sword too. Artwork can also make a great story seem bland.

So what do you think? Graphic novels or no? Vote in the poll and let me know your thoughts below!

Vote for the Finalist!

Thank you to everyone who voted for the Contest Monday Banner semi-finalists. After tallying the votes, here are your top six (there was a tie) banners.

Look at all of the designs below and choose your favorite. Then vote in the poll below, or email me your votes (include the word "vote" in the subject line). Note that the poll is available in this post ONLY, so make sure you scroll all the way down.

Those of you who didn't make it to the finals, thank you so much for your hard work. If you have a blog, you are welcome to spread the word about your entries. Voting is open through Sunday, May 24th. The grand prize winner will be announced as the banner is used on the Contest Monday post the following Monday.

If anyone has any questions, please let me know. Otherwise, happy voting and good luck. I think you know the drill by now, so vote below or by email. The entries in no particular order are (click on each image to see it bigger):

Your Gateway by The Bookworm


Flourish by Deltay


Dots by Amanda


Book Gift by Liyana


Butterfly Tag by Liyana


Pink Flowers by Karen

Good luck! Cast your vote now!

*EDIT* The voting is now closed. Thanks for participating. Check out the Contest Monday post on May 25th to see who won!

New Poll

Some of you may have noticed the new poll over there (---->) in the sidebar. I figured it deserved a little explanation.

For the Contest Monday in two weeks (starts April 20th) I'm doing something a little different. Rather than picking a prize from the pile of books I have sitting around, I'm going to let you in on the process.

Use the poll to vote for the book YOU want to see as a prize on April 20th. Think of it as a peek onto my prize bookshelf. :-) So go vote!

Here's the list of books again, in case you want to learn more:
Touch by Francine Prose (ARC)
Hancock Park by Isabel Kaplan (ARC)
The Real Real by Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus (ARC)
Moonstone by Marilee Brothers
Totally Fabulous by Michelle Radford (ARC)
Generation Dead by Daniel Waters
Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman (ARC)

Contest Monday: Give Me Your Input

A recent comment on the new Contest Monday post has prompted a little bit of thinking on my part. I have lots and lots of books to give away, but I'd like your input on the matter. Please vote in the new poll in the blog sidebar, and let me know what you think.

Would you like to see more ARCs (books before they are released)? More signed copies? More nonfiction? More multiple prizes? Choose as many answers as you like. And if you have more suggestions not on the list, go ahead and post them here.

I've been very pleased with how Contest Monday has gone so far, and I hope to make it even better. I'd love your input, so vote in the poll and let me know what you think!