This bookmark-finishing style will be discussed in the May Needlework Nutshell. Subscription box in the sidebar. Are you sick of seeing this message?

Thanks to Monday’s Children’s Literacy and Reading News Round Up over at Scrub-a-Dub-Tub, I’ve discovered a Battle of the Books competition at one of the School Library Journal blogs.

Clicking on that link should take you to the most current post. The competition just started on Monday, so there’s not too much catching up to do. You can scroll through to earlier posts or use the links on the right-hand side. You’ll have to click “read more” (or “read mo” in at least one case) to get the full posts.

The competition seeks to name the most outstanding book of 2008, as judged by a collection of industry insiders, mostly authors, it seems. Here’s a bracket with the Sweet 16 contenders. You can participate by voting in the People’s Choice Poll.

I enjoyed Roger Sutton’s statement on the Round 1 competition between The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves and Ways to Live Forever and the comments it inspired. I think it’s great and necessary to provide readers of all ages with challenging and thought-provoking books as well as fluffy and rip-snorting good reads as well as dark and depressing sagas.

Want to be inspired to read a book (or two?) check out Judge Ellen Wittlinger’s Statement on Round 1 Match 6: The Hunger Games vs The Porcupine Year. I am both eager and afraid to read The Hunger Games. Dystopian novels are not generally my cup of chai, but wilderness survival is.

This is a super-fun format for a competition, and I especially like the comparison reviews. The match-ups are often bizarre, but that’s part of the fun, I think. Some readers cringe at competitions, sorry that all books can’t be winners, but I’m not one of them. I love a good competition, win or lose. Honestly, just to be chosen to participate in this crazy game makes a book a winner: they’re all on my Recommended Reading list.

What do you think–should we have a Battle of the Bookmarks competition? Put me in, Coach!