Don't Judge a Book . . .

We've all heard that one, right?  But we do it anyway.  And although the recent phenomenal and surprising success of Susan Boyle offers a great opportunity to write about the ways we take each other for granted, I really meant it in a much more literal (and literary) sense.

Authors don't get to choose their cover art, which should come as no surprise to any reader who has ever scratched her head over a cover that seemed to have nothing to do with the novel inside.  It always comes as a surprise to my middle schoolers, who often describe characters based on the cover and not the writing in the book.

Still, you'd think a publisher would want the most successful, eye-catching cover affordable, right?  That's why books are constantly being reissued with updated covers.

Which of these two books would you be more likely to pick up, for instance?  

The first image is the newer edition, so Penguin is hoping you picked door number one.  Personally, I'm partial to the blue copy because that's the one I own.  And because, if you look very carefully, you can see the shadow of the sea monster rising between the two pillars of rock.  The sea  monster is very, very important.  (The Changeling Sea by Patricia McKillip: great short fantasy.  One of my favorites.)

How about these two?  

The one on the left or the one on the right?  They're both copies of the fabulous Lament by Maggie Stiefvater.  The left-hand one is the more recent of the two (thank goodness) and definitely the one I would have bought.  This time it's not a case of liking something because I own it.  Much as I love this book, since I own the right-hand cover copy, I pretty much always keep it face down.  (Sorry, Maggie.  But I know you like the left-hand one better, too.  And I've noticed the first image disappearing rather quickly off of websites!  In fact, when I came back to this entry a few weeks after I posted it, both images were of the latter cover!  Ha!  I had to go recopy from library thing.)

Here's another puzzler for you.  If a particular artist is well-known for providing the cover art of a particular author, is it cheating for a publishing company to have that artist do almost the same sort of thing for a different (but similar) author?

Here's a cover for one of Patricia McKillip's books, done by the inimitable Kinuko Y. Craft.  Kinuko Craft has done most of McKillip's recent covers (probably the new one of The Changeling Sea, though it's hard to tell).  This graphic doesn't really do it justice.  The colors are much richer "in person," more like a medieval tapestry.  (See the back of this cover, in better detail,  at the end of the blog.) 

Next is the cover of Juliet Marillier's very enjoyable Wildwood Dancing.  You may be able to tell that it, too, is by Craft.  I certainly could, because when I saw it in the library I immediately snatched it up, thinking I'd somehow missed news of the latest McKillip.  After the shock of discovering that a Craft painting contained the novel of a different author, I thought the novel might have a bit of an uphill battle with me.  However, Marillier's own style and unique take on the tale of the twelve dancing princesses drew me right in.  

Not Patricia McKillip, but I'd be happy to read Marillier any time I'm waiting in between McKillips.  

But the question is, do you think the publisher (Knopf publised Wildwood and Ace usually publishes McKillip) chose Craft to illustrate Marillier's book because her style is somewhat similar to McKillip's and they figured the crossover would be good for sales?  Or was it all a big accident?

Here are a few more of my favorite covers.

This cover totally rocks.  It's from Spirits That Walk in Shadow by Nina Kiriki Hoffman, whom I love.  Gotta say on this one, though I liked it enough to read it twice, I don't think the book rocks quite as much as the cover. 

   This book rocks absolutely just as much as its cover.

 (Savvy by Ingrid Law.)

And, just so you can really appreciate Kinuko Y. Craft . . .

We know we're not supposed to judge by the cover.  But a great cover really gets you off to the right start!

Savvy by Ingrid Law

Oh my gosh, I adore this book!  I'm not a gushy person by nature, but the book is just as fantastic as the cover art.  (And, yes, I do judge books by their covers, which is unfair and probably worth its own blog.)

The premise was one of the most original I'd come across in a long time, which is saying something, because "Thirteen-year-old comes into magic powers" doesn't seem all that original.  Oh, but it is.  Mibbs Beaumont is part of a family who each develop their own particular "savvy" at age thirteen.  Her older brothers' powers disrupt electricity and the weather.  Since she is just a few days from her birthday, Mibbs is awaiting the arrival of her savvy with great anticipation.  But then her father is in a horrible accident, and everyone's priorities shift.  An unlikely cast of characters joins together as Mibbs embarks on a crazy journey to help her beloved Pappa.

Every character in the book is written with authenticity, originality, humor, love, and individuality.  Mibbs' voice is 100% believable, and her assessment of the people around her is focused and insightful. Though there are definitely lessons learned, they're learned from Mibbs' thirteen-year-old perspective.  At no point do you feel that they are the author's lessons being preached through Mibbs' mouth.

I wish I could make this the required summer reading book, but it's probably a little too girl-focused for some of my manly-middleschool-men.  Plus it doesn't have anything to do with the curriculum.  And it would just crush me to hear my students complaining about it in any way.  Still, I wish I could require people to go out and read it.  

(G: no violence, no sex, no language.  I could read it to my four-year-old, but he wouldn't get it.)

The Black Book of Secrets by F. E. Higgins

Here's another selection from the Virginia Readers' Choice list.  The cover is intriguing, though hard to see in my small graphic.  The first sentence, if you don't count the "Note from the Author" is awesome: "When I opened my eyes I knew that nothing in my miserable life prior to that moment could possibly be as bad as what was about to happen."

And the premise is engaging: a mysterious "secret pawnbroker" and his assistant buy people's deepest, darkest secrets and write them down in (of course) The Black Book of Secrets.  It's a fast, engaging read, and it held my interest throughout.

All that said, this just didn't quite make it to the level of London Calling or Savvy (which I haven't yet blogged about).   First, I think the "I found this mysterious manuscript" bit is somewhat overdone. Though I couldn't, of course, at the moment name even one other author who does it.  (Dragonology?  Help me out here.)  Second, I think the mystery about the frog is probably not going to be a mystery to most middle school boys.  (In the book's defense, it's not critical that it be a mystery, but it would be more suspenseful if it were.) Third, the ending feels as though it ought to be satisfying, but I was disappointed.  I'm not going to go into too much about it here, because I think the ending will be quite satisfying to many.  Maybe it's just that I've read a lot (a lot a lot) of fantasy, and it just wasn't that surprising.  

Still, there have been plenty of times when I've read a book and thought "Ehh" (how do you spell that sound that goes with a shoulder shrug), and my middle schoolers have loved the book.  So I hope this is one of those times.

(PG-12: References to some nasty, intriguing things like body snatching and teeth pulling.)

Swallowing Darkness by Laurell K. Hamilton

I thought I'd take some time out from all the YA reading I've been doing and check in with the Meredith Gentry series.  This is the seventh, and I've read the previous six (which surprises me; I didn't think there'd been that many). 

I think I like this series better than the Anita Blake series, or at least better than what the Anita Blake series has become.  There is a lot (A LOT) of sex and violence in this series as well, but the sex seems less pointless.  Meredith is part human and part fairy, descended from a fertility goddess. So, basically, she is bringing the magic back to fairy through sex.  There are things I like and things that bug me about this book, but overall it was fun.

I like most of the characters in the book, and I do like seeing what magical power Merry and her men are going to awaken next.  Also I am a total and complete sucker for the Wild Hunt, which plays a big role in this book, so I was sold there.  (I've been enamored of the Wild Hunt since I read and reread The Dark Is Rising as a child.  Look for it to appear in my own writing.)  I thought the Hunt scenes were intriguing and very well done.  In fact, the research on the entire fairy aspect appears thorough.  I'm by no means an expert, but the few things I know are authentically represented in this series.  Finally, despite the fact that the Anita Blake series has degenerated into almost entirely pointless porn, there is one thing both Merry and Anita have in common.  They are so very much not rescue bait.  If there is something difficult that must be done (killing, dismembering, whatever), they saddle up and get it done.

That said, there are a few nagging points.  First, I repeatedly get the sense, both in the Anita Blake series and in this one, that Laurell K. Hamilton is not big on mapping out everything ahead of time.  (I could be wrong, in which case I deeply apologize.)  However, it seems like every time a protagonist is in a tight spot, the solution is, "Hey, what if she develops this magical/sex-related ability?"  Or . . . what if the goddess gives her (or someone, um, "near" her) a new magical/sex-related ability?  As much as I like the fact that the goddess goes to bat for Merry, it seems a little too deus ex machina a little too often. Finally, Merry has been whining for six books now (six, really?) about how her poor little mortal self is so fragile and killable. But she's got the Hand of Blood, and the Hand of Flesh, and the goddess on her side.  And now she has an additional important artifact.  Plus, she's surrounded by all the best fairy fighters, many of whom are getting their god-like powers back.  And, apparently, no matter how magical or immortal, the fairies can all be killed by bullets.  Let's stop the whining, shall we?

Still, that said: fun read.  (Rated X: sex, gore . . . but, really, less than usual)