Over 6,300 votes were cast, and the final buzzer has sounded! The confetti is floating through the air! Your 3rd Annual Tournament of Books Champions are The Lightning Thief series by Rick Riordan, and on the Teen side, the Legend trilogy by Marie Lu! The voting on the Juvenile side was a slam-dunk, with Percy Jackson outscoring runner-up, The Day the Crayons Quit, by a 2 to 1 margin. On the Teen side, however, it was a buzzer beater, much like Villanova’s win over North Carolina in the NCAA Championship Game on Monday night, with the Legend trilogy squeaking past The Hunger Games trilogy by only ONE vote!
Along the way, The Lightning Thief series outscored the graphic novel series, Amulet, in the first round by a wide margin (over 2oo vote difference); in the second round, it beat Drama by over 100 votes. In the Exciting Eight round, it was up against another famous series, Harry Potter, and again was the clear winner. In our Favorite Four, it faced the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series and continued to outpace its opponent by over 200 votes. In the Championship round, Percy Jackson battled a box of crayons and it was never even close!
In the Teen competition, the Legend series had an easy first match against 13 Reasons Why, but faced stiffer competition against Life as We Knew It in the second round. The Exciting Eight found Legend up against The Outsiders and it outscored its opponent by only 40 votes, but regained its game face in the Favorite Four, when it faced The Book Thief and was a clear winner. In that Championship round, though, Legend had to dig deep to face its fiercest rival, The Hunger Games series, and ultimately emerged victorious!
Thanks to everyone who voted and especially to our wonderful LMC Directors at all of the DPS 109 schools for promoting our 3rd Annual Tournament of Books. We’re already looking forward to next year’s competition! Until then, keep reading!
