It should come as no surprise that Jeff Kinney will be in our championship round of my school's March Madness of Books: Favorite Authors. What might surprise you is that his competition in the final round will be....Shel Silverstein. He survived quite a squeaker, beating JK Rowling by a mere 10 votes (again, online voting). So, next week we will vote in the final round. You can vote now if you'd like!
My brother has been paying atention during this process and has been determined to vote JK Rowling out. I know he read and loved Harry Potter, but what I am finding is there just right now there seems to be a lot of Harry Potter backlash. Even I feel sometimes feel like Harry is overrated. Then I remember reading The Sorcerer's Stone for the first time. And going to the release parties at midnight, then staying up all night to read. And telling my family that they were not allowed to talk to me until I was done. These are wonderful, brilliant, well written books and I am so glad I get to introduce them to a whole new generation of readers.
And of course we cannot discount what Harry did for children's publishing. I truly feel we are in a golden age, there are fantastic books around every corner! So, JK, we have much to thank you for!!
I agree completely. I remember the Potter fever; waiting for the book to arrive in the hands of the UPS man on a Saturday morning. It was thrilling. I voted for Silverstein because he has stood the test of time and kids of all ages read his books.
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