S. Worthen | Weblog

Over the past two days, I have followed the Humiliation contest with bated breath. There were tight races on all sides of the competition. Would Noddy in Toyland or The Weirdstone of Brisingamen come in last? Would Tuck Everlasting, Pollyanna, or The Bad Beginning come in third-from-last? Would Harry Potter beat out all comers, as lazyknight and griffinick hoped, and kashmera feared?

The contest which had the most interesting developments and changes throughout was the race for third place. Peter Rabbit was a close third place for most of the contest, but slipped back a day into the race, with Where the Wild Things Are first tying and then overtaking. And then poor Peter slipped back even further as Alice in Wonderful and then Charlotte's Web and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory came from behind to leave Peter in the dust.

I also learned how much t.v. shows and movies can distort perceptions of how many people have read what book. Tuck Everlasting, The Polar Express, Pollyanna, and The Bad Beginning have all been major motion pictures - and all of them did rather badly in competition. Similarly, although Noddy may be a popular t.v. show, Enid Blyton's books, first published in 1940s, were rarely read by most of the people I know - even among the Brits, from the country where, to the best of my knowledge, the show primarily aired.

Fascinating trivia about the people who voted emerged from the voting: who could have guessed that exactly the same number of people (60) have read A Wrinkle in Time, The Velveteen Rabbit, The Secret Garden, and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince?

In the end, though, there was a winner. Congratulations to rjw1 for being brave enough to admit that he's never read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe! Your prize, if you choose to claim it, is a copy of that very book. Or we can continue to mock or admire you for your careful pruning of children's literature from your reading diet, in favor of Science Fiction, even as a youngster.

Commiserations to black_faery, who helped us to discover just how obscure the classic Noddy books are by ending up with the fewest votes in the competition.

I think the game went very well this time around. I'd consider running another game of it in another 4-6 months. If I did, what would you be most interested in?
[Poll #567306]
Any other feedback on this game is welcome too.

Thank you for playing!