I threw my support behind this book early on in the competition and I stand by my initial choice. Sure, it might be drama heavy and rely a bit too much on coincidence, but what YA novel doesn't? For me, it comes down to a beautiful story that captures the complexity all kinds of relationships - siblings, first loves, marriages, parent/child, friendships. The book has a richness and depth that is lacking in Nazi Hunters (of which people rightly commented that there was no real substance to any character) and The Night Gardener (which, owing to it's Victorian Fairy Tale style, seemed more about archetype than character).
I'll Give you the Sun is a novel I continue to recommend and students continue to love. It is the CLEAR winner of this Smackdown Edition.
We wanted to create a way where we could read a few books, learn about many titles and have fun doing it! The tournament style reading of the Mighty Smackdown means that in the first round each participant reads two books, discusses both in a blog post, selecting one book to move on to the next round. Teachers are asked to commit to one round but most, if not all, continue on. We will read to the end when we will have only one book left standing!
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