Boys Rule Boys Read!: March Madness "Free Throw" Contest!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

March Madness "Free Throw" Contest!

March is here again, guys. Glorious, glorious March! The month for one of the year's great events, March Madness, otherwise known as the NCAA Basketball Tournament. March Madness is always fun. Every year there are exciting games. Every year there are major upsets. Every year some team from comes out of nowhere and surprises the whole world. (Remember Butler getting into the championship game last year?) It's a great time of year! And so, in honor of this great event, we hold a March Madness contest of reading every year! This year the theme will be the March Madness "Free Throw" Contest.

The rules are simple. Each book review you send in will be a "free throw" worth one point. The three boys with the most points at the end of the contest will win prizes from our outstandingly cool prize

box. There are books, t-shirts, stickers, and many more things is that box--as you can see from the picture. Easy, right?

Wait a minute, did you say that's too easy?? All right, I'll make it more interesting! If you send in reviews of any of the following books, then each review will be a "three-point free throw" and count as three points. These are books that I think are great and don't get the recognition they deserve:

The Tiger's Apprentice, Tiger's Blood, and Tiger Magic--all by Laurence Yep. These books are Terrific with a capital "T" that stands for "Tiger." See my review here.

The Chronicles of Prydain books by Lloyd Alexander. Outstanding! More guys need to read them. See my reviews here.

A

ny nonfiction book by Russell Freedman. I'm currently reading his book on World War I called The War to End All Wars. I also read his book Washington at Valley Forge and was deeply impressed. (see my review here) Mr.Freedman is one terrific writer and you guys should get to know him!

The Case of Case of Mistaken Identity and The Ghostwriter Secret by Mac Barnett. I really enjoy these Brixton Brothers books and hope I can build an audience for them.

Got that? Wait another minute--that's still not challenging enough? OK, then, I'll give you a chance to earn five points for a "Half Court Free Throw" by reading eithe

r The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings or The Hound of the Baskervilles

by Arthur Conan Doyle. My admiration for the first book knows no bounds. It's an epic story about growing up and taking responsibility but it's long and I think it scares guys off. But I bet you MANLY MEN won't be scared of it!! And The Hound of the Baskervilles is a terrific Book Every Guy Should Read. (That link is from a post from our brother blog, Boys Rock Boys Read. Scroll way down on that post to see what I said about The Hound of the Baskervilles) These books are older and longer but they are T-Riffic!! and I want more guys to read them.

OK--have you got all that? The contest runs through March 31. The winners will be announced on April 1. If you need instructions on how to send in reviews, they're all there on the left-hand side of the page. I'll publish the reviews but we are too busy for me to post them every day. So if you send a review and don't see it right away, don't worry. I'm going to do my best to post them twice a week. AND--don't forget that you can review graphic novels, biographies, nonfiction or audiobooks! So get on the ball and start shooting those "free throws!" Ha ha--get on the ball!! Get it?? Oh, well...

3 comments:

Trina said...: Recently, I had to prohibit Super A from reading a series of graphic novels that he so wanted to read. The content was simply too mature for him. He actually cried and was about it. My challenge was to find a series of books, because he loves series, that he would say he loved just as much. I suggested Bones. They don't look anything like manga, so at first he rejected one I bought, Vol. 1. This week I tucked it in his book bag and told him to just give it a try for silent reading. He hasn't stopped talking about it and just requested that I get the next in the series. Thank you for suggesting this series to us! I am going to write about this tomorrow in my blog. I hope it's okay that I mention your recommendation to us.; March 3, 2011 at 3:09 PM
children's books said...: Wow definitely some great books on show there!; March 4, 2011 at 11:05 AM
Tammy said...: My children just finished The 39 Clues series. They discuss them with their friends and are anxiously awaiting the next book to be published. If you want to see your son crave reading material, I recommend this series!; March 29, 2011 at 11:19 PM

Here's How Our Blog Works

If you don't know how to post comments or reviews to our blog or if you want to read what we and other boys have written, here's what you do:

1. Every post has a place underneath it that says "Comments". Click on it and it will take you to a place in which you can write something. When you're done, click on a way to identify yourself. You don't have to create a Blogger/Google account (unless you already have one); you can click on "Name/URL" or even "Anonymous." Then click "Publish Your Comment." We try to get your comments and reviews posted right away, but sometimes we get busy with other duties. So, if you don't see your comment right away, don't panic. We'll post it soon.

Don't forget--any boy can get a free book the first time he writes a review. If you live too far away to come to the Myers Park library, go ahead and write to us anyway. We'll try to find a way to get a book to you. Besides, all the other boys out there would love to hear from you.

When you tell us about a book, please give the title, author, what the book is about, and why you did or didn't like it.

2. Blogs go "front to back"; that is, the newest post comes up first and the older ones are put further back. You click on the "Blog Archive" to read older articles. The posts for this month have the titles listed. You can click on other months to catch our other posts. (Our introduction is in June of 2007; if you're new to this blog, you might look it up.)

3. Underneath each post you'll see a line that says "Labels" and several other words such as "graphic novels" or "Andrew Clements." These extra words are links to a subject; for instance, if you clicked on "graphic novels," it would pull up all the posts about graphic novels. There's also a section below on some of our best posts on the most popular subjects

4. Did you notice that the posts from last year don't show up month by month as they did before this year? If you click on the triangle next to the previous years, the months will drop down and you can go back and see what we and your fellow readers have written.

The Iron Guy's Review Policy

1. Since the Iron Guy works for the terrific Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, I review only books that the library already has or will get soon.
2. If you are an author or publisher or agent and think you have a book that boys will go crazy over, please leave me a comment (with your email address so I can contact you) under any post. I will look and see if we have the book. If not, and if the book looks good, I will contact Those Who Order Books and see if CML would be interested. (Please note--CML does not usually order self-published books) PLEASE do not just send me a book! I appreciate the offer but but first I want to see if CML has it or will get it soon.