Cover issues

Found this article; thought of Alissa.

I don't know that I have much to add to the conversation, besides agreement that, yes, it's creepy to look at a display of books and see only torsos, or feet. Lately, when we do get a face, there's a good chance that it's the same face on a different book. Book covers are supposed to be dynamic marketing tools, pulling potential readers in with an interesting image that will set that book apart from all the others.

(The reused-images things isn't limited to teen books, nor to covers of faces. But you knew that.)

So how do you get a teen interested in a book that looks just like all the other books? How do you convince someone that Sarah Dessen's books aren't as fluffy as the covers suggest? Or that House Of Stairs is still a creepy read and holds up well, even though the only in-print version hasn't had a cover re-design since 1991? It's easy when it's a teen who trusts your judgement--one you've recommended books to before--but when it's a teen who hasn't been in before, or hasn't spoken to you before, it can be hard to overcome the decisions of the publisher's art department.

And this isn't even getting into proper representation--the great Whitewashing debates, or the unwillingness to show overweight or unattractive girls, even on books about ugly and/or fat girls. That's a whole other issue that's been covered elsewhere.

So maybe this is more of a link round-up than any commentary on trends, or on the original article. But the fact that I can do such a link round-up--without much effort, even--says we have a number of problems that need solving.

some decent audio book selections

Let's start with my least favorite, shall we?

I didn't expect much from this story but it was such a mess of pop culture madness that I could barely finish it. I didn't find the narrator particularly engaging but the story read like a bad screenplay.

Maybe they'll make another mediocre movie out of it.





This one was awesome. I didn't know what to expect but what unfolded was a creepy ghost story. The audio book really emphasized the creep factor.

It reminded me of an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer -- ever see the one with the haunted frat house?

What would you do if people kept disappearing from your school? What if you realized that the people who disappeared all used the same desk. And now that desk has messages carved in it...

Add to it the fact that Cryer's Cross is in the middle of nowhere. And the new guy in town doesn't speak. Good stuff.

This was the funniest thing I've listened to in a LONG time. Not since Catch the Fly have I laughed this hard.

The book starts off with a bang. Seth gets dumped in the middle of Applebees. Of course, while he's being dumped he notices that his father is with a strange woman. Eeek.

He tries to work through all of this in a "secret" podcast. Of course, it quickly becomes the hottest download at school. Whoops.

Seth is hilarious and his friends are an awesome collection of characters.

A must listen!

I expected this one to be another flimsy dystopian romance, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Cassia lives in a world perfectly crafted for everyone. The society has matched her with her best friend and they are slated to be married. Everything is planned for her... but one day there is a glitch. Could she be matched with an aberration instead of her best friend? Why are her food portions getting smaller? And what exactly is she being trained to do at work? Will Cassia trade her safe, perfect world for the possibility of freedom?

It all comes together beautifully in a creepy, futuristic way reminiscent of Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series.

The author has clearly created a very complete and detailed world. I can't wait for the sequel.

Revolution? Not so much.

Ok, so the cover of the hardcover wasn't thrilling, but the paperback is ridiculous! Is she going to eat the key? Is she smelling it? Is she using it as some kind of medium? Maybe they're trying to embody that wackadoodle time travel part of the book... personally I'm trying to forget that section so that I can love the rest.

Ok, rant over.

Throat

I didn't think I'd like this book. I'm sick of vampires and the cover looks like porn. Ew.

But, it was oddly fascinating. I expected the juxtaposition of epilepsy and vampirism to go somewhere creepier, but that's ok.

And maybe it's just my childhood love of astronomy, but the fact that most of the book took place on a NASA base was awesome. And her love interest is a NASA nerd. YAY!

Ok, so not a deep read but definitely amusing. :)

Let's talk about Books Sharon Could Not Finish

Before y'all get bent out of shape, this is just a few of the books that *I* couldn't finish. Just because I didn't like them doesn't mean that someone else didn't.



I tried really hard to get through this one. I really did. I just couldn't. The noir thing just doesn't do it for me and I really didn't see a lot of teen appeal. Plus, I had trouble following the story and caring about the characters. I think I got about halfway through this one.











I picked this one up because the kids were raving about it. I don't know if it's my age or what, but I just can't read books that have *that* many different fonts. I could barely see the emails let alone understand them.

I think I got through 2 chapters. I'll take the kids word for it!







I tried listening to this one because a friend recommended it. I got through a little more than half of it before I gave up. The problem is that I just didn't care. I didn't know for whom I should be rooting and why. And in the end, I decided that I just didn't care to see what happened.








I tried this one before I gave up trying Printz winners just because of the seal. I got through about a chapter of it before i gave up. I just couldn't follow the jumble of events. Maybe I'll try it again later. Or maybe not.










I tried this one mainly because it looked funny. It was a while ago, but I remember thinking that the author kept saying the same thing over and over again to explain the plight of vampires. Blah blah. Who else is sick of vampires? I think I got through 5 chapters.








Does anyone else have a list of shame like this? :)

Bitter End

Ok, I am really curious what other people thought of this book because I was extremely disappointed.

I LOVED Hate List but this story read like a sappy After School Special. The characters seemed two dimensional and predictable and the whole story line felt contrived.

Alex has just lost her mother and is flailing. Then she meets Cole, the handsome new student. They start dating, he fills her need to be loved and then he gets controlling and creepy. She brushes it off and the abuse escalates until he's beating the crap out of her in a dark parking lot. The whole thing read like a bad horror movie. I wanted to scream at her the whole time. NO, don't have sex! The monster will KILL YOU if you're not a virgin!

Her father was too tangled up in his own grief to notice that his daughter "tripped in a parking lot" and ended up with a black eye and broken tooth? And that the creepy guy was leaving roses on his daughter's car and screaming outside the house in the middle of the night?

I think the weird combination of self-aware on an adult level and adolescently oblivious really struck a bad chord for me. While I like the idea of dating violence in YA fiction, this isn't doing the trick. The whole thing seemed like a cautionary tale written by overzealous caretakers. I wouldn't be surprised to see this one made into a Lifetime movie.

I really would have liked to hear more about how she got rid of him, too. Hanging up on him didn't seem like a particularly good end to me.

The Other Side of Dark

I just finished this book while sitting here at the Children's Desk. Wow.

It's a combination of ghost story, historical fiction and modern tale of grief and ptsd all rolled into one. This author did a serious amount of research on Boston history, Olmstead and the history of slavery.

Told from alternating points of view, Law and Katie tell their stories of their relationship with a historical house in the Emerald Necklace of Boston. Katie is haunted by ghosts of slaves and Law is fascinated by the architecture and torn by his parents' clashing opinions on what should be done with the property. At the same time, Katie is dealing with the devastating loss of her mother and Law is struggling with his race identity. It sounds like a lot, but Sarah Smith really makes it work.

It's chilling and detailed and even has a saitsfying end.