Google Alerts Round-up

It's time for my semi-monthly ego trip! I was busy in the run-up to the holidays, so I have a lot of them stored up. Throw out that first pitch, Chewie*, and let's play ball!

GTC at the BooksForKidsBlog likes that baseball's story is the tie that binds the nine generations of Sniders/Flints together in The Brooklyn Nine...

...and one of Mrs. DeRap's middle school students thinks The Brooklyn Nine was "a perfect amount of pages."

Meanwhile, The Brooklyn Nine appealed to the inner history buff in Sarah at The Reading Zone...

...and was a nominee for the 2009 Cybils Middle Grade Fiction Award. (Even though it wasn't a finalist.)

Karen and Stephanie at Fabulous Reads list The Brooklyn Nine among their Top 100 Books Ever (!) ...

...and Marjorie Ingall at Tablet Magazine: A New Read on Jewish Life thinks baseball fans will plotz over The Brooklyn Nine, and names it one of the best Jewish chapter books of 2009.

BookKids Blog recommended Something Rotten and Something Wicked as great gifts for teens who love mysteries...

...and the Grace A. Dow Memorial Library in Midland, Michigan puts Something Rotten at number 19 on their Tab Fab 50.

Senior Year English teacher Jenny W. plans to use Something Rotten in her classroom study of Hamlet...

...while The Garden Pear thinks Something Rotten is one of the best books ever (!)

Editor Liz e-mails with the news that Something Rotten was named one of YALSA's 2010 Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults: Twists on the Tale...

...and word that The Brooklyn Nine has been chosen as one of the Chicago Public Library's Best of the Best Books of 2009! (opens as a PDF)

The Allen County Public Library named The Brooklyn Nine to its 2009 Mock Newbery list... (opens as a PDF)

...while B9 is a nominee for the 2010 Grand Canyon Reader Award! (opens as a PDF)

Jessica at I Read to Relax! listed Samurai Shortstop among her favorite books read in 2009...

...while Kristine at Best Book I Have Not Read has The Brooklyn Nine in her Middle Grade 2010 To Be Read pile.

Doret at The Happy Nappy Bookseller lists The Brooklyn Nine as one of the 15 best sports books she read last year...

...and finally, Elizabeth Bird of the Brooklyn Public Library and the Fuse #8 blog includes The Brooklyn Nine in her last 2009 One-Sentence Reviews post of the year, saying, "Since I'm not a baseball person I didn't hope to be impressed by this nine generation tale of Brooklyn and baseball, but Gratz makes fine use of the characters and time periods in this oddly compelling little book."

I'll take "oddly compelling" any day of the week! Thanks, everyone, for all the kind mentions and inclusions on your lists. Here's to what's to come in 2010!




*(Did anyone notice Chewbacca is a south paw? Get that Wookiee a contract!)