Monday, February 05, 2007

And the winner is...



The winner of the 2007 Texas Bluebonnet Award is Ghost Fever/Mal de fantasma by Joe Hayes, 2004

This win marks the first time that the author of a dual language book has been so recognized. The subject, however, of children in peril, so prominent in Ghost Fever/Mal de fantasma, also appears in the two runners up: The SOS File (with 20,529 votes) and The Lightning Thief (with 19,574 votes). Clearly adventure, a little danger, and fantastic adventure appealed to readers this year.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Were you surprised? We were very surprised; we all thought The Lightning Thief was a sure bet. I guess it's that the younger readers were voting for other things?

Camille said...

I was very surprised although on reflection, it confirms a theory I have about which book wins the Bluebonnet Award.

At the school I happened to be subbing at last week, the winner was 'The Lightning Thief' by a l-a-n-d-s-l-i-d-e. In the years since 'The Ghost of Fossil Glen' by DeFelice won, the winner seems to always be a book that is favored by 3rd graders. In recent years it has been picture books. 'Ghost Fever' is about 90 pages half in English and half in Spanish. That leaves about 45 pages of text to read which is not too hard for a 3rd grader to handle. All kids love a ghost story so it had that going for it too.

The SOS File was also a good match for that grade level. As a substitute librarian, using the librarian's lessonplans, I read at least 3 of the SOS stories to 3rd gr. classes during the fall so they had maximum exposure to that title.

Some interesting facts: Last year the winning book, 'Seadogs' won with 16683 votes. 'Gregor the Overlander' came in second with 15564 votes. This year The Lightning Thief had 19,574 votes (almost 3000 more than the winning book last year.)

It was a terrific list.

fusenumber8 said...

How did I miss this one? And what a great cover. Creepy in the extreme. Have you read it yourself? Is it any good?

Camille said...

I started it but gave it to a child to check out since it was the last copy the library had on the shelf and the little tyke wanted it so badly. I have it on reserve now at my public library.