Goodreads scrapped Kidlit awards

[Quoth]

Francisca Staines
@franciscawrites@mastodon.scot

As if children's books aren't already losing visibility due to censorship now this...

This year Goodreads has removed all children's books categories from their Goodreads Choice Awards, meaning no more #MG or #PB categories. Worse, Graphic Novel & Poetry, have also been eliminated.

Here you can vote to ask them to bring those categories back:

Petition to return it
https://help.goodreads.com/s/suggest...ach-a-category

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Petition to return it
https://help.goodreads.com/s/suggest...ach-a-category

I can't take the Goodreads Choice awards seriously or care about the outcomes. Even more so than most popularity contests of its stripe. I remember one year when one of the biography choices in the final round was a book from the year before, as I knew because I'd read it the year before! I reported it but the poll was almost over before they finally removed it.

My guess is that poetry was removed because not enough interest and the kidlit topics removed because of agendas.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by issybird

I can't take the Goodreads Choice awards seriously or care about the outcomes. Even more so than most popularity contests of its stripe. I remember one year when one of the biography choices in the final round was a book from the year before, as I knew because I'd read it the year before! I reported it but the poll was almost over before they finally removed it.

My guess is that poetry was removed because not enough interest and the kidlit topics removed because of agendas.

I wrote to the person that started the suggestion/petition that:
1) The Elephant in the room is the way Goodreads does everything.
2) The ability to vote even if logged in seems "broken"

I'm of the opinion it's pointless, but I sympathise with the promotion of reading to young people. I'm not convinced Goodreads is now much use for young or older. I used to use it a lot and now never use it. It doesn't even seem good for series order any longer, maybe that's why that's often wrong on the parent Amazon page?

I was told today, not for first time, to use Booktok.

I think I'd need laughing lessons?

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by issybird

I can't take the Goodreads Choice awards seriously or care about the outcomes. Even more so than most popularity contests of its stripe.

Yeah, I saw a video a while back called Are the Goodreads Choice awards worthwhile? Several different book-centric YouTubers made a project of reading award winners from the past ten years. The guy I watched said it was not a very good list of books and the others doing the project had similar experiences.

He then compared the top Goodreads horror novels of the last ten years to the Stoker award winners of the last ten years.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by issybird

I can't take the Goodreads Choice awards seriously or care about the outcomes. Even more so than most popularity contests of its stripe. I remember one year when one of the biography choices in the final round was a book from the year before, as I knew because I'd read it the year before! I reported it but the poll was almost over before they finally removed it.

My guess is that poetry was removed because not enough interest and the kidlit topics removed because of agendas.

There was a poll for the best covers. I think Twilight won. It was a popularity contest as a lousy cover with hands holding an apple should never have won or even made the list.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Yeah, I saw a video...

The video isn't available any more.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The video isn't available any more.

It is. I goofed something up. I'll see if I can fix it.

Edit: fixed

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

There was a poll for the best covers. I think Twilight won. It was a popularity contest as a lousy cover with hands holding an apple should never have won or even made the list.

Twilight may be a bad book, but really that cover design is great.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Twilight may be a bad book, but really that cover design is great.

The cover design is lousy.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The cover design is lousy.

Good design is something simple that says something about what it represents. The Twilight cover does that extremely well.

I seem to remember having this exact conversation with you before, so I'll leave it alone after this message. But here is what the author had to say about why the cover is somebody holding an apple:

The apple on the cover of Twilight represents “forbidden fruit.” I used the scripture from Genesis (located just after the table of contents) because I loved the phrase “the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.” Isn’t this exactly what Bella ends up with? A working knowledge of what good is, and what evil is. The nice thing about the apple is it has so many symbolic roots. You’ve got the apple in Snow White, one bite and you’re frozen forever in a state of not-quite-death… Then you have Paris and the golden apple in Greek mythology—look how much trouble that started. Apples are quite the versatile fruit. In the end, I love the beautiful simplicity of the picture. To me it says: choice.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Good design is something simple that says something about what it represents. The Twilight cover does that extremely well.:

I have to agree. The cover is simple but effective.

[Critteranne]

Originally Posted by issybird

I can't take the Goodreads Choice awards seriously or care about the outcomes. Even more so than most popularity contests of its stripe. I remember one year when one of the biography choices in the final round was a book from the year before, as I knew because I'd read it the year before! I reported it but the poll was almost over before they finally removed it.

My guess is that poetry was removed because not enough interest and the kidlit topics removed because of agendas.

Poetry got 177,181 votes total in 2022. So it got more votes than Best History & Biography (174,380 votes total), which they kept. There are also a lot of popular poets, like Amanda Lovelace and Rupi Kaur, who might not be loved by critics but who are very popular with regular people.

I wouldn't be surprised if there is a combination of bean-counting and worries about book bans at work. It probably costs Amazon more to keep categories. (Cry me a long river.) But we would take the awards more seriously if there were more categories. They really should not delete all kidlit plus graphic novels and take away other options and then brag about being "the only major book awards decided by readers."

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by issybird

I can't take the Goodreads Choice awards seriously or care about the outcomes. Even more so than most popularity contests of its stripe. I remember one year when one of the biography choices in the final round was a book from the year before, as I knew because I'd read it the year before! I reported it but the poll was almost over before they finally removed it.

My guess is that poetry was removed because not enough interest and the kidlit topics removed because of agendas.

I agree with all of this and would add on the poetry issue: Amanda Gorman.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DNSB

I have to agree. The cover is simple but effective.

It's an ugly cover.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

There was a poll for the best covers. I think Twilight won. It was a popularity contest as a lousy cover with hands holding an apple should never have won or even made the list.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The cover design is lousy.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It's an ugly cover.

Please. Restating the same opinion, without any additional information or amplification, serves no purpose whatsoever other than to foster a playground atmosphere. Don't do it. Get over needing to have the last word; no one is going to be won over by mere reiteration.