Indisputably Fun

Back in high school—and I’m sure you’re all very familiar with this—they have this thing called superlatives wherein students rate other students based on arbitrary factors that more often than not come down to popularity. Of course, there are those superlatives that are based more off of stupidity, such as Class Clown, which is a short way of saying Kid Who Shoots Milk Through His Nose and Makes It Look Cool.

They’re insanely fun—to think up, to vote on, to read. For some reason, it’s exciting to see your classmates categorized all nice like that. And since superlatives are usually a senior thing, it’s a good way to remember who’s who when you look back ten years later. (Oh her? That’s right, Most Likely to Succeed was our class president.)

Well, Katy Upperman, Jessica Love, Alison Miller, and I were talking about this one day in 2011. It went something like this:

Person #1*: Wouldn’t it be fun if we rated books like teens rate their friends?
Person #2: Unbelievably fun.
Person #3: But we’d be doing all the rating, so it’d be like we were the gods of superlatives
Person #4: And we can have fun categories!
Person #2: Undeniably fun.
Person #1: And everyone can play along!
Person #3: Can there be prizes?
Person #4: Yes, definitely prizes.
Person #1: This is going to be fun.
Person #2: Indisputably fun.

Or something like that. Well, we’re getting closer to the end of 2012, which means we now have dates for the blogfest. Mark your calendars because from Dec. 17 to 20 we’ll be blogging about our favorite books in dozens of categories. This year’s categories are similar to last year’s, and they are:

Monday, December 17th: Head of the Class

Favorite Dystopian

Favorite Science Fiction

Favorite Fantasy

Favorite Contemporary

Favorite Action/Adventure

Favorite Historical Fiction

Favorite Comedy

Favorite Mystery

Favorite Romance

Favorite Paranormal

Favorite Family Drama

Favorite Genre Bender

Tuesday, December 18th: Popularity Contest

Class Clown

Most Likely to Become a Rock Star

Mostly Likely to Start a Riot

Biggest Flirt

Fashion King and/or Queen

Girl You’d Most Want For Your BFF

Boy You Wish You’d Dated in High School

Most Likely to Become President

Quirkiest Character

Villain You Love to Hate

Favorite Parental Figure

Coolest Nerd

Wednesday, December 19th: Elements of Fiction

Most Envy-Inducing Plot (Or, the plot you wish you’d thought of yourself.)

Most Formidable World (Or, the setting you most definitely would NOT want to travel to.)

Wanderlust-Inducing (Or, the setting you’d happily travel to.)

Loveliest Prose

Best First Line

Most Dynamic Main Character

Most Jaw-Dropping Ending

Best Performance in a Supporting Role

Best Use of Theme

Thursday, December 20: Best in Show

Favorite Cover

Cutest Couple

Most Likely to Succeed (Or, pick a Printz Winner.)

Most Likely to Make You Miss Your Bedtime (The book you just couldn’t put down!)

Best Repeat Performance (Your favorite sequel or follow-up.)

Favorite Finale or End of Series Novel

Romance Most Worthy of an Ice Bath

Breakout Novel (Your favorite book by a debut author.)

Best Old-Timer (Your favorite read of the year, published BEFORE 2012.)

Most Likely to Make a Grown Man Cry

Most Pleasant Surprise (The best book you didn’t think you’d like, but totally did.)

Most Creative Use of a Love Triangle

Sleeper Hit (Book you found so awesome you wish it had been hyped more.)

Favorite Outlier (Your favorite middle grade or adult 2012 book)

Pick your own category

The more people who play along, the more fun we’ll have. So hurry up and read those 2012 books you’ve been dying to start. Get ready to pick your favorites.

Oh! And did I mention a fun giveaway at the end of the blogfest? Yes, there will be that. But all of the secret things will be revealed in due time.

For now, make note, take a button, and get excited.

Just for fun: What high school superlative would grown-up you give your teen self? (And if you’re still a teen, even better: What superlative would you give yourself?)

*It doesn’t really matter which of us is which. We’re basically interchangeable.