Smackdown Books 2021

Ordinary Hazards
We Dream of Space
If These Wings Could Fly
We Are Not Free
The King of Jam Sandwiches
All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys' Soccer Team
The Companion
Punching the Air
Show Me a Sign
Land of the Cranes
Furia
Dragon Hoops
When Stars Are Scattered
Snapdragon
The Radium Girls: The Scary But True Story of the Poison That Made People Glow in the Dark
American as Paneer Pie
Tune It Out
The Gilded Ones
The Left-Handed Booksellers of London
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Tuesday, May 18, 2021

What a Journey it has been...When the Ground is Hard!

I'm going to carry the wounds of this Smackdown for a long time.  I don't know if I will ever recover.  From the very start, my favourites have been doomed.  I've learned lessons though - like not to get my hopes up.  

I spotted Dig, by A.S. King on the list at the beginning of our Smackdown, and my heart leaped into my throat.  Although I hadn't read it yet, A.S. King is the best thing since sliced bread.  I crossed my fingers and prayed to the book gods that it would be assigned to my group.  No.  It wasn't.  Not only did I not get to read it and help determine it's fate, it was eliminated.  Savagely.  FIRST ROUND.

Fear not, I recovered.  I read Frankly In Love, and it made me laugh.  During the terrors of teaching during a pandemic and trying to keep my parents alive when they don't understand the protocols, Frankly made me laugh.  And cry.  I could see it making it all the way to the end of Smackdown, champion belt wrapped around it and fists raised in celebration.  And then I was out numbered, and it got eliminated.  

Since then, I have been lost in this smackdown.  Every time I choose a book to win, it doesn't, and I lose a piece of my heart to each bracket of books we choose between.  I tried to rally Frankly in Love back into the mix as a Zombie Pick, and that failed as well.  The two finalists were two books that didn't belong in the finals, and my favourite was no where to be seen.  With this fatalistic mindset, I started reading When the Ground is Hard.  Is it as magical as an A.S. King book?  Not so much.  (And I've read Dig since then, and it isn't her best, in my opinion.  To truly find the magic of King, you need to read Still Life With Tornado, Everybody Sees the Ants, The Year We Fell From Space, or Dust of 100 Dogs.)  Is it as funny as Frankly in Love?  Not so much.  

But, it is sassy.  I wish I could find a better word, that made me sound more credible as the all-knowing chooser of best books.  Because I am.  Adele has a powerful voice, and I was pulled into the haunted room with her and Lottie.  I wanted to hoard condensed milk and biscuits under my bed, I wanted to put out fires with green branches, and I wanted to remain by their sides long after the book finished.  I found myself swept into the class system of Swaziland mixed race students, and I learned more with the turning of each page.  At the same time, there were so many parts of the story that we all can connect to - the pain of being demoted in our social circles, the sting of former friends turning against us, and the glimmer of hope when we spark a new friendship

I can only beg at this point, if there is any justice for the books we've lost along the way this smackdown, that When the Ground is Hard rises from the ashes and knocks those other two out in the final round.  A girl can hope, anyway.  

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