Duluth Public Library’s Read Beyond Reality Tournament Winner Announced

Read Beyond Reality Tournament – Week 4: Ninjas vs Fairies

Here we are at the last week of the tournament and we have Ninjas vs Fairies.  Who would have thought that these would be the final two?  I thought for sure that the vampires would have a go of it…

Anyway.  I would expect ninjas and fairies, both, to be hyper aware of their surroundings.  Both are committed to the effort of being unseen.  Ninjas may have a greater level of concentration and determination, whereas fairies might be a bit flighty.  Then again, fairies have magic on their side.

Who will win and be the final one standing in the Read Beyond Reality Tournament?  Cast your vote and find out next week who won.

2009 Teens’ Top Ten Winners announced

YALSA reports that more than 11,000 teens voted for the 2009 Teens’ Top Ten and here is the list in order of votes:

1.  Green, John Paper Towns
2.  Meyer, Stephenie Breaking Dawn
3.  Collins, Suzanne The Hunger Games
4.  Clare, Cassandra City of Ashes
5.  Hopkins, Ellen Identical
6.  Gaiman, Neil The Graveyard Book
7.  McMann, Lisa Wake
8.  Cast, Kristin & P.C. Untamed
9.  Lockhart, E. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks
10.  Cashore, Kristin Graceling

Of the 10, I have read four and enjoyed them all.

Read Beyond Reality Tournament – Week 3: Fairies vs. Zombies

Last week Fairies and Zombies won their battles and now square off against each other.

Fairies and zombies are animated by magic, but fairies are able to use theirs. Fairies are tricky and zombies are decidedly not tricky. They are determined to get to what ever it is they have decided to get to for what ever reason they started. They are unlikely to be distracted from their goal. I think that fairies are flakes. They may start out towards their goal, but are easily distracted. If they forget what they are doing the zombies may overwhelm them.

However, fairies are fleet of foot, whereas zombies are plodding. This could go to the fairies.

As usual, state your opinions, read the opinions of others, and then go vote.

Read Beyond Reality Tournament – Week 3: Ninjas vs. Vampires

Our winners from week one are back. Who will win between ninjas and vampires?

Both have good tracking skills. Both are persistent. Did you know that there is vampire lore that says that they are unable to cross running water? Well, it has been said that ninjas can walk on water. With the help of tools. Some people say that it would never work, but even so, they could still swim across (unlike vampires). Or they could use a tube or a reed to breath underwater and do a sneak attack that way.

Of course, this all falls apart if the vampire steers clear of water. What is another argument? Vampires are fast. Ninjas are not anywhere near as fast. So, a point to the vampires. Ninjas can function outside during daylight hours. Depending on who’s lore you are working with, some vampires can, others can’t. Assign your own point values…

I don’t know. Who do you think will win in ninjas vs vampires? Again, state your reasons, read the opinions of others and vote.

Has anyone looked at the booklists?

Read Beyond Reality Tournament – Week 2: Zombies vs. Aliens

Hmm.  I am thinking that this is an unfair fight.  What chance do the undead have against visitors from outer space?

Zombies are already dead and have a single minded, slowly determined method of going after what they want.  Aliens might be completely flabbergasted at the sight of these undead things approaching them and may not think that anything is amiss until it is too late.  The image I have in my head of zombies at this moment is similar to Homer Simpson going after donuts.  But with less saliva.

What if the aliens have something similar to zombies where they are from and have figured out a solution to the problem?  They could even cure the zombies.   On the other hand, they might just fight the zombies from space and not get dirty.  It’s also possible the aliens won’t survive getting to the battle due to our environment, or will quickly succumb a la H. G. Wells.

Maybe the zombies would win.  I don’t know.  What do you think?

State your reasons – read the reasons of others, then vote, but remember the booklists.

Read Beyond Reality Tournament – Week 2: Robots vs. Fairies

I don’t know a lot about fairies, and most of what I think I know about robots I picked up from movies and TV shows.  So with that as my background, here are my initial ideas.  Robots usually do not have flesh, but instead are made of some sort of metal.  Fairies do have flesh and some of them can’t touch iron.  While there are those robots who have weapons there are also those fairies who can alter the environment and use it as a weapon.  Some robots and some fairies (possibly most?) can fly.

Robots might be governed by laws (see Isaac Asimov for those), but fairies might all be rogue.

Who do you think would win in a battle of robots vs. fairies?

State your reasons,  read the reasons of others and then vote.  If you are interested in reading some books about the contenders, check out our tournament booklists.

Read Beyond Reality Tournament – Week 1: Wizards vs. Vampires

Who would win in a battle between wizards and vampires? Some wizards can fly. Some vampires can fly. Wizards have magic. Vampires are dead, so what do they have to lose? Sarah just mentioned that vampires probably smell because they are dead. A very good point. I think they would have bad breath. You know, depending on who they just ate. Can you imagine the wizard trying to cast a spell while pinching his or her nose. (For all who are conserned – a wizard is any person who can perform magic – male or female.)

State your reasons – read the reasons of others, then vote. For more fodder for your reasoning checkout the booklists.

Read Beyond Reality Tournament – Week 1: Pirates vs. Ninjas

Let the battle begin:

Pirates work in teams. Ninjas work alone. Pirates probably smell. Ninjas probably don’t. Thus pirates can’t sneak up on you. Ninjas definitely sneak up on you. There are lots of novels with pirates in them. We know of few novels with ninjas in them, but perhaps that is because ninjas are in all books. We just don’t notice them.

Who would win in Pirates vs. Ninjas? State your reasons, read the ideas of others and then vote.

For a way cool look at some of the tools that the ninja used, be sure to check out the book Swords : an artists devotion, by Ben Boos. It has a bit more than just swords and daggers. And checkout the booklists for the tournament.

Duluth Public Library’s Read Beyond Reality Tournament

Get ready because starting October 5th we are having the Read Beyond Reality Tournament. The battles begin at noon (Central time) on Mondays in October and end the following Mondays at 9 a.m. (again, Central time).

These are the initial match-ups:

Week 1:
Pirates vs Ninjas. & Wizards vs Vampires.
Winners – Ninjas & Vampires

Week 2:
Robots vs Fairies. & Zombies vs Aliens.
Winners – Fairies & Zombies

Week 3:
Ninjas vs Vampires & Fairies vs Zombies.
Winners – Ninjas & Fairies

Week 4:
Ninjas vs Fairies
Ultimate winner: Ninjas

Plan your reasoning. Get your scorecard. Prepare to vote.

(But, be sure to come back here to discuss and persuade others.)

For more information, check out our website.

[What is this all about? Well, we love the idea of YALSA's Teen Read Week and we love the theme - Read Beyond Reality @ your library, but we think that one week of celebrating the joy of reading for teens is just not enough. We blow it up into a month long celebration. So, crack open your books and study up on the contenders. There are plenty of books with wizards and vampires, and you may have to search high and low for ninjas - beyond Naruto, but there are a lot of fantastic stories to be had for teens. And, to help you out, we have booklists.]