Category: Books

Got It Covered

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Is there a less apt proverb than “don’t judge a book by its cover?” I love judging covers! And LibriCritic has rounded up some of this year’s best covers in both mainstream adult and young adult. Lots of great choices in both categories. A couple of others I would add (based solely on cover design):

The Pale King by David Foster Wallace

Winter Town by Stephen Emond

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente

Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

It’s fun to play “judge the cover,” but design is also really important to a book. I didn’t dig The Hunger Games cover design at first and it languished on my shelf for a couple months before I picked it up (and was instantly hooked). More credit to cover designers, I say. It’s a hard job!

What are your favorite 2011 covers?

#ButIt’saClassic

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Confession: I hated Hamlet in high school.

It wasn’t that I hated Shakespeare or English class. In fact, I tended to like most of what we read. But I found it hard to care about the original emo king (“Just kill him already!” I cried at least one) and I’m not surprised current high school students aren’t in love with Hamlet either. The #worstbookever hashtag on Twitter offers a hilarious look into high school reading requirements. Publishers Weekly features a few highlights–Hamlet included, of course.

When I reread Hamlet in grad school, I found myself with a much greater appreciation of the play. (“Alas, poor Yorick!” is a hugely famous quote, so it’s easy to forget the sadness of the scene. Hamlet is holding the skull of the one person who ever treated him with affection. Tears!) So it’s not like these kids on Twitter are totally lost. And honestly, who really loves homework? For me, this brings up the question of what kids should be reading in high school. Is it worthwhile to give them “classics” they hate? You’re not going to win every reader even with the best book, but I wonder if syllabi need to be updated.

I’d be curious to hear English teachers’ takes on this. Any books/plays your students particularly hate or love? What would you cut from your syllabus or make sure to keep?

The E-Clause

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The big news in publishing now is how to deal with e-readers. Along with that comes questions regarding publishing contracts, some of which are decades old. I’m guessing that’s the reason HarperCollins is suing Open Road Integrated Media over the latter’s e-book edition of Jean Craighead George’s children’s book classic Julie of the Wolves. HarperCollins originally published the book in 1972 ,and Open Road (founded by former HarperCollins CEO Jane Friedman) came out with its e-book edition in October.

Although Open Road says they were granted rights by author George, HarperCollins counters:

“Our contract with Jean Craighead George, the author of Julie of the Wolves, grants us the exclusive digital rights to the book, and Open Road’s e-book edition violates our rights. We intend to take all appropriate steps to protect our exclusive rights under copyright against infringement, in this case and in any instances that might occur in the future.”

It sounds like someone–the author, the agent, one of the publishers–really dropped the ball on this one, and I don’t think this will be a rare lawsuit in the years to come. Publishing contracts can be hard enough to understand without trying to update each one with regard to new technology. I’m curious to see how this will pan out.

The Ghost of Tween Series Past

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By this point, you’ve heard White Christmas and Jingle Bell Rock. You’ve trimmed trees and lit menorahs and baked cookies. You’ve shed a tear for Bedford Falls. So what’s left to get you feeling the holiday spirit?

The Retro “Christmas Chiller” Throwdown: Baby-Sitters Club vs. Sweet Valley Twins, of course.

Both 80s/90s tween series have a Christmas/mystery book, of course. (I can see the meeting on that one. “We have the Christmas special, and we have these mystery specials. What if we combined them and ohmygodguys kids will buy the hell out of this!”) Each book competes in fashion, boys, drama, and more.

I loved the BSC back in the day, and had a few copies of Sweet Valley Twins as well, so this throwdown touches my heart. Merry Christmas, one and all!

(No) Spoiler Alert

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John Green is one of the biggest YA authors currently writing. So the fact that Barnes & Noble accidentally shipped pre-ordered copies of his upcoming book, The Fault in Our Stars, is a pretty big deal. But I appreciated John’s response:

“I’m disappointed about this, but as my brother reminded me this morning, I am very, very lucky. I have the best readers in the world, readers who care not only about my books but also about each other. So thank you, in advance, for not sharing spoilers—whether you read The Fault in Our Stars before or after January 10th.”

Nerdfighters are a very cool group, and I’m confident the majority of early receivers would not think of spoiling the book for the others. There will always be some obnoxious people who want to take advantage of a situation like this, but I think most readers would enjoy getting the early copy and let others experience the joy of getting theirs. I know I’m looking forward to picking up this one!

By the Numbers

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There has to be a zillion “Best of 2011” lists before the end of the year. Best movies, best photographs, best internet memes (cats!). The world of YA literature is certainly no exception to this rule. Fortunately, over at The Hub, Kelly Jensen has done the hard work for us and put together a few comparative charts for all the big “Best of”lists. A couple of points I thought were interesting:

  • 25% of authors listed were debut authors. Nice job, guys!
  • Almost 70% of books listed only appeared on one list. So not a huge amount of list repetition. I see this as a good thing–it gets more titles and authors out there to potential readers.
  • Contemporary fiction held 33% of the lists. In an era when people say it’s all vampires and dystopian landscapes, it’s nice to see realistic books hold their own.

There’s a lot of great info, so I’d suggest going through it yourself. Any surprises? What’s on your “Best of 2011” list?