Friday, August 8, 2008

Proudly Announcing--The Olympics of Reading

Yes, my friends, it's that great time, that once-every-four-years spectacle of sports, the Summer Olympics! This is one of the truly grand and magnificent sports events of the world and, like the Final Four or the World Series, it never fails to provide drama and excitement. New heroes arise, old champions defend their titles, and some unknown athlete amazes us all. Something always happens at the Olympics that people talk about for years afterward. I really enjoy watching them. I hope you all do too. And, in honor of the Olympics, and because it's summer, the time to have fun, the Boys Rule Boys Read blog is proud to present
THE OLYMPICS OF READING!!!
Starting today and ending August 24 (the ending day of the Olympics), we'll give points for each review sent in. The three guys with the top three amount of points will win a Gold, a Silver, and a Bronze Medal.


Well, actually, we won't give out medals--we'll give out prizes!!! Here they are:

Gold Medal--this hip and very cool "Joust Read" T-shirt (as modeled by the lovely Darth Bill) We'll show you a close-up in another post--couldn't get the close-up to come out right.










Silver Medal--the choice of two books from our give-away shelves (and we've got some great stuff there!)














Bronze Medal--this Max Axiom "Shocking Story of Electricity" CD-ROM, which will work in a PC or a Mac.












So how do you earn points? Glad you asked! Like the Olympics, we have categories.

Archery (for giving us your best shot) This is the one-point category. You'll get one point for each review of a work of fiction. This could be a chapter book, a graphic novel, (not a comic book, but a graphic novel) or a paperback. Not some picture book, either!




Soccer (because nonfiction is a kick!) A review of a nonfiction book will be worth two points. This could any kind of nonfiction book--biography, history, science, sports, etc. BUT you CAN'T review some little 32-page book. We will know if you do! Read something worthy of you, me lads! There's a lot of good nonfiction out there, some of it as exciting as any fiction--or even more!! That's why we give this one more points; to prove that nonfiction is not boring.



Equestrian (Horse Riding--because you take a ride into our book list) If you send us a review of something from that list of books on the left-hand side of the blog (the one that says, "Here's a list of all the books we've talked about..."), you'll get three points. We want all you guys to know about this list and see all the great books that are on it. The list is divided into 5 categories: Chapter Books, Series Paperbacks, Graphic Novels, Nonfiction, and Others. Each entry gives the title of the book, the author, and the date it was reviewed. That way you can go back and read the original review and see if it would something you'd like. If a book has more than one date to it, that means it's been reviewed more than once. BUT you CANNOT repeat a review you've already done or simply review again a book you've written about. NOPE!! The Olympics of Reading Watchdog Committee will catch you! You can review something that Bill or Carl or one of your fellow readers has talked about but you MUST NOT re-do your own work. You can't just find a review and retell it or paraphrase--you must READ the book and then tell us about it. And we will not accept reviews of books that have been reviewed more than once (like some the Harry Potter or Percy Jackson books)

Weightlifting--any review of a book over 300 pages will get your four points. Any book--fiction or nonfiction. Any book that heavy will build up your muscles!




Marathon Running--this is a special category for anyone who can write a review of and convince us that you really have read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Some people say reading that one is like running a marathon--it takes long time and it's painful! Anyone who can do this deserves five points!




Now you might notice there are ways to combine categories to earn extra points. For instance, Carl wrote a review of The Yearling not long ago. It's on the list and it's over 300 pages, so that one book would get you seven points! But if you didn't think you could read something that long during the contest, you could read two nonfiction books from that list for 10 points. Or read 7 fiction books. Or read two graphic novels and two nonfictions for six points. Or a nonfiction book from that list for five points. Or...well, you see the point.

When you send a review, we want to know four things--the name of the book, the author, what the book was about, and why you liked it. Most of you follow that format anyway, but that's what we and your fellow readers want in a review.


We'll accept reviews from today until 6:00 pm on August 24. Don't try to sneak any past that time!! The Olympics of Reading Watchdog Committe (O.R.W.C) will find out!! We'll anounce the winners as soon as we can after that time.

Good luck and may the best reader win!!!!!

The Boys Rule Boys Read Olympics Team

1 comment:

Lord Vader said...

I have two reviews on some Star Wars books. The first one is Queen Amidala by Jude Watson. It is 111 pages of her journal. It covers the episode 1 movie on her thoughts. I liked how it filled in some things that you don't get from the movie (like her struggle to become queen and her thoughts on Qui Gon throughout the episode.) A lot of it is like watching the movie, but it was still a good read. My second is Star Wars Jedi Quest: The Trail of the Jedi also by Jude Watson. This one is 128 pages long and takes place between episode 1 and 2. Anakin and Obi-Wan are on a Jedi training exercise when their pilot who is the person they are suppose to track goes missing. Clues are still left for them to follow but they were not left by the pilot. Many bounty hunters are looking to capture the master and padawan team and there is some good fighting strategies in this book. I liked this one more than the Amidala one.

Mikie (a.k.a. Lord Vader)