Avi – An Unconventional Librarian

Ragweed by Avi

A mouse has to do what a mouse has to do.

Did I ever tell you about that time I met Avi and went all stupid fangirl over him? Yeah. Anyway, Avi writes good stuff for middle grades. Maybe you’ve read Crispin: Cross of Lead or The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle?

No? Check them out. Now I normally don’t like little scurrying critters but some writers make me want to rethink my thinking. Avi, of course is one of them:

Ragweed is determined to see the world. He leaves his family and cozy country home and sets off by train for the big city. What wonders await him: music, excitement, new friends…and cunning, carnivorous cats! Silversides is the purring president of F.E.A.R. (Felines Enraged About Rodents), a group dedicated to keeping cats on top, people in the middle, and mice on the bottom. Can Ragweed and his motley yet musical crew of city nice–Clutch, Dipstick, Lugnut, and Blinker–band together to fight their feline foe?

Dontcha love it?

What’s your fave Avi story?

Like everyone else, PammyPam likes to have fun and play games. I know very little about sports, but that doesn’t mean I wanna be left out of the festivities!

That said, I have created my own March Madness bracket: Unconventional Librarian style

You’ll notice my bracket is incomplete. That’s because I’m having trouble narrowing down the possibly winner. To be sure, I understand statistics and probabilities but that doesn’t make the choice any easier.

Let’s examine the bracket, ok?

You’ll see I have some good authors pitted against each other. YA and children’s authors mixed in; some dead, some not. The author death bears little weight on their standing, as you can see, because Keats (that’s Ezra Jack) died over two decades ago but is IN THE LEAD against Jerry Spinelli and Avi.

How is that possible? Well, it’s kind of like Moneyball. I call it Moneybooks (chuckle). When determining what authors should move up, I looked at not only the number of books published but also the reach of the novels under her belt. Take Louisa May Alcott. Good author. Dead lots of years. But as of now and probably for eternity her books will remain timeless. Natalie Babbitt, great storyteller, but hasn’t reached that status yet. And since she’s still alive, there is still time for her to compete in years to come.

Same kind of consideration on the other side. Spinelli against Avi. Avi’s good. Spinelli’s good. Spinelli speaks to the John Q Kid in all of us. Everykid, if you will, that perhaps Margaret Wise Brown does not.

Looking over the bracket, I’ve noticed it’s YA against Early Childhood. Who will win? Who has the most staying power?

Who should be my final TWO? HELP!

Tell me what your thoughts are.