Battle of the Books, We the People bookshelf grants

It's heating up over at the Battle of the Books. Catch their tweets here. "Judge Partridge" they're calling me. I like the sound of that. It has a certain heft, doesn't it?

Here's the brackets -- a complete list of the contestants and judges and how the books advance.
I'm on for Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson and Washington at Valley Forge by Russell Freedman. My winner goes toe to toe with Meg Rosoff's pick between Here Lies Arthur and Tender Morsels. And the final arbitrator of the whole show is Lois Lowry. Ahem... make that Judge Lowry.

Good news on another book front: National Endowment for the Humanities’ We the People Bookshelf grant program has awarded 4,000 libraries across the United States free hardcover editions of 22 classic books. This year's theme: Picturing America.

Check out the books for grades 9 to 12:

• Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis
  
• Restless Spirit: The Life and Work of Dorothea Lange by Elizabeth Partridge
  
• Travels with Charley in Search of America by John Steinbeck
  
• Viajes Con Charley - En Busca de America by John Steinbeck (translated by Jose Manuel Alvarez Florez)
  
• Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville

Pretty impressive company I'm keeping! Steinbeck, Tocqueville and Partridge? I know this is really an award for Dorothea Lange and her incredible photography. Still, I'm happy to bask in her glow!

And because I love great images, check out this one below by Julie Paschkis from the front page of the We the People website. Beautiful! And I love image within image within image. Always magical.