Statistics Fun

 So the announcements last night were rather hit-and-run, were they not? I apologize for that. But now you get to read a very long ramble to make up for it! I think some of you may get a grin out of at least ONE of our fill-in responses.

Overall, the Verve Lit 2012 poll ended with 48 votes. I am very blessed with this, because I had been praying for about 50. Thanks to all those people!

First I'll start with the Series category. Most people skipped the other categories and voted in Independent. Only 17 people voted in Series, two votes each for Benjamin Pratt and The Red Blazer Girls. The other thirteen were filled in, and is where we got our winner!

Auralia's Colors by Jeffrey Overstreet - Goodreads describes this as a series about monsters and witches. One of the obviously-not-Christian reviewers couldn't get over how glad she was it had no inclination to Christian values.

Dragons in Our Midst by Bryan Davis - ... a series about a boy who finds out he was a dragon in a past life, and learns how to have faith. Whatever that means. Take what you wish from that synopsis.

Swipe by Evan Angler - A person must receive the mark in their wrist or they-don't-get-that-job-at-McDonalds. Yep. It got a lot of good reviews on Goodreads.

The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner

Peter's Angel by Aubrey Hansen - This book releases next month from the winner of the Independent category. It's historical fiction.

Ranger's Apprentice by John Flanagan - Self explanatory. I think everyone has heard about this book, which is probably why someone voted for it. It's about wizards and menacing cloaks, apparently.

Pirates and Faith by Molly Evangeline (received 3 votes) - Winner of Series. I plan on reading the first book soon.

Provost's Dog by Tamora Pierce - Not really sure what this book is about. Wikipedia says it's a fantasy.

The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis - ...

The Destiny Trilogy (by Sarah Holman) - The independents took over ever category, didn't they?

Firmament by J. Grace Pennington

Then there was the Realism category. I was sad because the only book that didn't receive a vote was in the line up: The Running Dream. This is such a great book!
The Penderwicks - 4 votes ; Okay For Now - 3 votes ; Wonder Struck - 1 vote ; fill-in 8 votes...

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Swipe by Evan Angler
Chomp by Carl Hiaasen
1984 by Geore Orwell (could some one explain to me how this is a children's book...? Anyways, in 1984 they spelled George without the second G.)
The Pirate Daughter's Promise by Molly Evangeline (2 votes)
Trickster's Girl by Hilari Bell
The Destiny Of a Galaxy

Independent - only 7 skips.

Red Rain by Aubrey Hansen - 29 votes
The Destiny Trilogy by Sarah Holman - 8 votes
Fill-in: Johnny Vic by Ann Rich Duncan (Historical Fantasy) ; The Pirate Daughter's Promise by Molly Evangeline (3 votes)

Reader's Choice - 7 skips as well. I think people are sending me a message that they prefer Indie novels.

Firmament: Radialloy by J. Grace Pennington  - 26 votes
The Pirate Daughter's Promise by Molly Evangeline - 14 votes
The Charity's Diary Series by Elisabeth Allen - 1 vote -- Aw, come on! I feel rather bad that she only got one vote, her series looked utterly delightful. :-)

I plan on reading all three Reader's Choice books in this next year.



 And there are your stats! I don't know about anyone else, but I got a giggle out of George Orwell being voted for... I mean his work sounds very interesting... but I'm not sure how he fits our niche. Haha.

Updates Aug 2nd

 Hello, readers!

It's August (most obvious statement ever), and the voting period for the Verve Lit Award has crossed the halfway mark. You can vote HERE, on this website, or on Facebook.

And if you haven't seen it yet, here is some news I posted on Facebook about a book/series that became eligible in two categories because of YOU GUYS! :

Big news! I was checking the fill-in responses on the poll, and Molly Evangeline's books have qualified in two new categories: The Pirate Daughter's Series [edited; this is not a trilogy] in SERIES, and The Pirate Daughter's Promise in INDEPENDENT (a book must receive three votes as a fill-in to qualify in a new category).

Also, the only books in the whole lot that have not received one vote are The Running Dream and Wonder Struck. I guess my fellow Indie-published/Small Publisher fans are sending a message! ;-D

If you haven't voted yet, you still have until August 15th. Don't wait too long, go out there and support your favorites (even if it is a fill-in :-) ).

(source)

VOTE HERE VOTE NOW.

Tada! Voting is HERE. Nothing fancy, and you don't need to put any personal info in. I'll update this post with the options as soon as I can fix a few coding problems...

You may only vote once on the poll. Authors may vote for their own books. ;-D

 It has come to my attention that some people were voting for the same book in each category through the fill-in option. These extra votes will only count in the category one placed them in, and will only be valid if over three people add that book in the fill-in option.





By Category, your options are:

Series

• Benjamin Pratt & The Keepers of the School by Andrew Clements
• The Red Blazer Girls by Michael D. Beil

Realism

• The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen
• The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall
• Okay For Now by Gary D. Schmidt
• Wonder Struck by Brian Selznick

Independant (Self-Published)

• Red Rain by Aubrey Hansen
• The Destiny Trilogy by Sarah Holman

Reader's Choice Wild Card

• The Charity's Diary Series by Elisabeth Allen
• The Pirate Daughter's Promise by Molly Evangeline
• Firmament: Radialloy by J. Grace Pennington

Tomorrow, tomorrow.

HEY READERS.

Tomorrow the poll will be open! You will be able to give your favorite books a vote of appreciation! It will be fantastic!

 As I said earlier, the voting now runs from July 15th to August 15th, 2012.

 There is also another surprise.

 There's a wild card category! Because I (Jess) was unable to get my act together, the lovely looking books that our blog readers suggested were not reviewed or officially nominated. So to make up for this, voters will have the option tomorrow of supporting one of these books:

• The Charity's Diary Series by Elisabeth Allen
• The Pirate Daughter's Promise by Molly Evangeline
• Firmament: Radialloy by J. Grace Pennington

That's it for now. I will be posting updates and news (plus a late review or two) later this week. If you would like to see another book on our wild card list, please comment on this post by this Tuesday. My final list will be updated on the 'nominations' page by tomorrow.

For the smaller updates and random polls, check out our Facebook and our Twitter.

Blessed,

-Jess

Yay! *updates*

 For some reason, I was terrified to ever post something that wasn't a book review on here, but now I see that was ridiculous and ya'll need updates!

 First off, I'd like to welcome LeAnne to the Committee! You can check out her bio on the committee page. I am looking forward to her review of The Destiny Trilogy by Sarah Holman. It is such a blessing that someone volunteered to review a self-published book because I was about to completely freak over how much I was going to have to do by myself in the next month. LeAnne, you rock. :-D







 Secondly, I just found out my library got in Ruby Redfort and Cheesie Mack, which have been sitting on my Bucket List for a long time. Although I'm nervous, because someone said that Ruby Redfort has some big deal about a Budha, and Cheesie Mack is crude. We shall see. At least I'm not going to have to buy them!

 Picking books has been really difficult. Anyone taking a gander at my Goodreads 2012 Reading Challenge will see that I've read a lot a books, and mostly it's because I wanted to find a wide variety for Verve Lit Awards. Okay, there was some personal reading fun going on there too. The problem is, most awesome books are too inappropriate for the theme of VLA. Whereas books like Dream of Night and The Wednesday Wars are super awesome, but published before 2011. I know that the Committee voted unanimously that books from the last decade (2002-2012) should be open for nomination, but I was holding out for books this year. Oh well, I guess Dream of Night, The Wednesday Wars, The Penderwicks, and Melanie Dickerson it is! Tomorrow I'll be posting a poll for you all to decide which Melanie Dickerson book we pick to nominate! Then, I'll finally get around to nominating the awesome and completely reading-worthy Wonder Struck.






I think next year, we're going to make this less difficult. Promise.


 Blessings,

Jess Verve