Flora's Dare and the Andre Norton award

[deborah]

I have such mixed feelings about Flora's Dare having won the Andre Norton award. On the other hand, I have mad love for the only other one of the nominees I'd had a chance to read so far, namely, Graceling. On the other hand, I think that Graceling seems to be getting a lot of (very well-deserved) buzz, while Flora's Dare Seems to be much less well-known, at least among children's literature folks. So here's hoping that Cashore and Wilce both get all of the buzz they deserve, and both get widely pushed on young adult fantasy readers as the splendid books they are.

And yes, I KNOW I have to read everything else on the list! I am so ashamed of myself. But first I have to review these five books sitting on my desk, and before I can do that I need to finish one of them, and then I need to *cough* write the paper I will be presenting in two months.

Comments

[lady_schrapnell]

I had a vague nagging feeling that I'd totally forgotten the other books on the shortlist when I yayed about Flora's Dare having won - oops! You're right about its having got a LOT less buzz than Graceling though - and also a lot less than the only other one of the shortlist I've read, The Adoration of Jenna Fox. (Graceling would beat it NO problem for me.) Buzz in YA is -- complicated sometimes, I guess.

[steepholm]

Do you mean Graceling would beat AJF? Or FD?

[lady_schrapnell]

Oh, Graceling would beat Adoration of Jenna Fox! I had major reservations about AJF, as you might remember. (I'm still happy that Flora's Dare won, but I liked Graceling a lot too.)

[deborah]

I need to make time to read AJF, don't I?

[lady_schrapnell]

Weeeell. I thought it was interesting and laudable for the size of the questions taken on, but pretty seriously flawed. But a lot of people have loved it so maybe you need to find out if you're with them on it.

[jordanwillow]

The fact that I haven't yet read Flora's Dare is one big reason why I'm not in a position to judge any of this objectively, so take this as you will: I was very pleased that it won, partly because I get the feeling (from friends I trust) that it was the book that should have won, and partly because of just what you said. It's more in need of buzz than Graceling is.

BTW, it's interesting that they're both Fall 2008 Harcourt books (FD September, Graceling October). I don't know, but I wonder, if one was promoted at the expense of the other? Buzz is a mystery to me. It's hard to know sometimes if it really is growing of its own accord, reader to reader, or if the publisher is investing tons of energy and $ into spreading it.

Wasn't this Wilce's second Andre Norton nomination for a Flora book? That also makes it nice that she won this time around.

[deborah]

you know, I really have no idea how awards and publisher effort play into each other.

And yes, this was Wilce's second nomination.

[writinghood.livejournal.com]

I've read Lamplighter, AJF and Graceling; I haven't read Flora's Dare (though I read, and loved, the first one). I'll at least say that while I liked Lamplighter, I'd pick DJF over it and Graceling over both.

[writinghood.livejournal.com]

By DJF I meant AJF, Adoration of Jenna Fox. :D

[deborah]

Heh. So Graceling is the only book we overlap with on the entire list. Clearly I need to remedy that!