The madness is upon us! Starting February 10, the voting public nominated their favorite children's and teen books and series for Book Madness. The more votes a book received, the higher its bracket seed! This prevents us from seeing Hunger Games square off against Harry Potter right away in the first round. We appreciate all your nominations.
Book Madness brackets are available to fill out for fun or for prizes! Print off the children's bracket here and the teen bracket here, or pick up hard copies at the library. Fill them out on your own time, and turn in your completed brackets by February 29 to be eligible for prizes! The most accurate children's bracket filled out by a person in grades K-4 will win a prize, as will the most accurate teen bracket filled out by a person in grades 5-12. Grownups can definitely fill out brackets, too, even though there are no prizes - and your votes count throughout the tournament! Make your best guesses, or pick your favorites, then vote.
Voting starts March 2. We begin with 64 children's titles and 64 teen tiles, and knock half of them out of the tournament each week until the Championship Round!
Book Madness is fun, but there are benefits even beyond the prizes. It can be a great conversation starter for you to learn more about what kinds of books your child likes to read, and why. You can also use the brackets as a jumping-off point, to find books your child might like to read next. It's also a nice, low-stakes chance to discuss about how to respond when the book you're cheering for is eliminated from the bracket.
Winning books (or series) will be posted on bulletin boards on the first floor, and on the library's website and social media each week. Follow along on our Facebook page and on Instagram.
Here are the important dates:
- Brackets must be returned by February 29 for prize eligibility
- Round 1: March 2 - March 7
- Round 2: March 9 - March 14
- Sweet Sixteen: March 16 - March 21
- Elite 8: March 23 - March 28
- Final 4: March 30 - April 4
- Championship Round: April 6 - April 11
UPDATE AS OF APRIL 13:
We have our winners! The Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne won the children's bracket, and the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling won the teen bracket AGAIN. We might have to retire Harry after this year, and raise his jersey to the library rafters. If your favorite book didn't win, there's always next year! Nominations will reopen in February 2021.
A hearty congratulations to our bracket challenge winners! Alia F. correctly guessed the most winning books in the children's bracket, and Ella B. had the best intuition for the teen winners! Ladies, your prizes will be available for pickup one the library reopens. Thanks again to all who participated!
