105 Ways to Give a Book

The 48 Hour Book Challenge: THE WINNER IS...

48 Hour Book ChallengeAll right, I'm calling it. The winner of the 48 Hour Book Challenge is Midwestern Lodestar! This dark horse librarian by training read an amazing fourteen books with a total of 3155 pages! She read and blogged for about 26 of the 48 hours. What an introduction to the kidlitosphere!

As host of the contest I was contractually obligated to spend a lot of hours reading and blogging. MotherReader did log in thirty hours, eight teen books, and 2262 pages. But as I spent some of my time overseeing the contest, I want to direct the attention to a blogger who logged 27 hours, 10 books, and the second highest page count, 2692 pages. Congratulations to Jen Robinson’s Book Page! In her words, "I found this 48 hour book challenge utterly consuming. I didn't cook anything during the 48 hours, didn't put away the dishes in the dish drainer, didn't bring in the mail, didn't go for my usual walk. I could never keep this up all the time, but I learned that it's amazing how much reading and reviewing you can get done, if you make it your top priority."

I gave myself the loophole of rewarding an alternate challenge, something that didn't fit all the rules. This blogger included a few younger elementary age books in her reading list, but got through an impressive number of them. So with 15 books and about 2220 pages under her belt, Little Willow takes the alternate challenge by storm.

The prize for the each of these winners, is a $35.00 electronic gift card to Amazon.com. Buy books with it, or a nice little fondue set. Totally your call.

If you haven't been spending today making the rounds, let me direct you to the list of final participants. Many of them logged impressive numbers of books and hours. Great job, guys! Everyone found some great books to share for your summer reading selections.Thank you to all the participants for joining me on this adventure. Thanks to all the blogs who supported the challenge with links and blogtime (like airtime, I guess). It was so much fun starting this summer off with a splash in the blogosphere. Next year? You bet!!!

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure what it says about my personal life to have spent the most time on this, second to our wonderful host. I'm sure that not having kids helped a lot in this area. Anyway, thanks again for hosting this excellent event. I really enjoyed it. I'll definitely look forward to next year! I think it will help me with making reading more of a priority in the meantime, too.

MotherReader said...

Don't worry, Jen, there were a few others who came pretty close. I just didn't want to start a list. And what I think it says about you is how much you can dedicate to a task and how much you learned about making reading a priority - sometimes. As for your personal life, I'm sure we make no judgments there. It's just lucky we hit an open weekend for you, and that I could tell my husband "Fathers Day? I don't know what you're talking about."

Greg Pincus said...

A tip o' the hat to all the reviewers and to you, mother reader, for the plan and the leading. Cool idea!

Patty said...

Hey Motherreader! You forgot me! I thought I signed up, but maybe I didn't do it right. Anyway, here's my blog entry...

All About the Book

Gail Gauthier said...

Fourteen books and over 3,000 pages? I'm starting training for next year tonight.

Anonymous said...

I've clearly got to get into shape for next year's challenge. Goodness.

Thank you, Mother Reader, for organizing the festivities.

ZG said...

Wow! I'm stunned. Thanks so much for the prize - which I will definitely enjoy - but mostly for giving me an avenue to get back to reading. I had a great time and have loved reading everyone's reviews today, too. Hurrah to Mother Reader for the fabulous idea and hurrah to all of us who love kids and books!

Liz B said...

Has someone put together in one place all the titles that were reviewed? I'm still not ready for ALA or I'd volunteer. But I'd love to see a list of all the books & reviews.

Congrats to all, and I loved this, the reading, reviewing, the reading blogs, and I cannot wait for next year!

ZG said...

Liz B -
Great idea for a list of all the books - I'll compile the list and post it over at Midwestern Lodestar.

Unknown said...

Congrats to the winners and to everyone else who participated. You are an amazing group of people! And thanks again to MotherReader.

Little Willow said...

I applaud you again, Mother Reader, for setting up this great challenge and encouraging literacy and readership! Fantastic books, fantastic blogs. Every participant is literate in many senses and posted thoughful, expressive reviews. Glad to be in such good company. Thank you.

ZG said...

As promised, the list of all of the finished books read by participants of the 48-Hour Challenge is now posted on Midwestern Lodestar. Stop over and have a look.

Bkbuds said...

Sigh. Next year, the monsterlings will be a tiny bit older and the husband will be locked inside the house with them while I join you.

Sorry I missed out on the fun. Hope everyone had a blast and has caught up on their sleep.