Fire, on the other hand, is a little too high-school for my middle school, so I don’t have it in my library, but I wish I could, because I know so many kids who would really love it. I loved Graceling, but I found the first half of Fire difficult to get through (largely because I was dreading the return of Leck, who was in Graceling, and because I didn’t care for the animal abuse). But by the second half of Fire, I was enjoying the characters and the story and was thoroughly engrossed. I ended up liking it way more than I thought I would from the beginning.

Of these two books, I definitely preferred Fire.

FIRE was one my personal favorites last year. At least I got to vote for it in the Undead Poll.

I especially loved Calpurnia because I had the delightful experience of meeting Jacqueline Kelly when she visited a local bookstore. She read the Thanksgiving chapter to us. The audience was small, only four people, so we had a chance to talk to Jacqueline. Conversation touched on the cover of the book, which she chose after rejecting another, to The Wind in the Willows. A memorable author and a remarkable book that makes science come to life.

Well, I’ve read both, and while I agree that Calpurnia was slow, I also agree that Fire was much stronger than Graceling, and I thought that the love/friendships in Fire were much more formulated than in Calpurnia. (This is just the opinion of one fifteen-year-old girl, though.:P)

But, opinions differ from person to person, so…

congrats to the 10 contestants who are perfect so far.