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books

Double Take, Part XVII

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What I like about this double take is how complimentary the two books would be!

Ending Violence in Teen Dating Relationships by Al Miles is a non-fiction title published by Augsburg Books in April 2005.

Leaving Paradise by Simone Elkeles — the paperback edition — was published in April 2007 by Flux. Although this isn’t a book about teen dating violence, I think that readers of this title might also be interested readers in the other one (and vice versa).

It’s the same stock image, just cropped differently and with a lighter treatment. When I stumbled across the first book, I instantly identified it as the same image on Elkeles’s title. In both cases, I think the cover is a perfect fit, and I love the wider focus on Leaving Paradise.

What do you think? I actually think the double take here is kind of a cool one.

Where have all the fat girls gone?

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I’ve got a beef with young adult fiction right now, and it’s this — for all we try to do to promote body acceptance, we sure don’t like to show that in our covers. When was the last time you saw a fat girl (or boy – I’m inclusive here) being portrayed in a realistic manner on a cover? I’m loose in defining realistic, too. I just don’t want them being the villain or being the one belittled. Think about all of the covers you see: they’re ALL thin. Every. Last. One. Of. Them. Even if the book doesn’t talk about the weight or shape of a character, the cover makes him/her thin.

Let me give you a little illustration. We can thank the hard-working ALA “Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults” committee for compiling a list of books about body acceptance. I have taken that list and generated a gallery of those covers. For simplicity’s sake and for the sake of not needing to be politically correct here, I am using the term “fat.”

Tell me the trend you see:

Food. There is no fat girl here. The girl in the story is fat.

A rear shot of a boy with his shirt puffed out. We don’t know if he’s fat or not because we don’t see a whole body.

More food and still no fat girl.

Oh, a warning not to eat food. Still no fat girl.

I don’t even know what to say. To be fair, this is an older book with a cover that reflects the art trends of that time. But really? She looks goofy and she’s eating a cookie. You don’t see her body. She’s a floating head. And the skeleton below? Eesh.

2/11/10 Edit: I compiled this post not having read all of these titles. The ones I didn’t read, I tried to glean a sense of the theme from the ALA list. Fat Chance isn’t in the same league as the other titles on this list, but I think that there’s still something to be said for this cover and the EATING aspect. Plus, she has a fat face.

Isn’t this a book where she’s PROUD of being who she is? We get shoes and part of her legs. We don’t know she’s fat.

She’s got a pretty face, but we don’t see that. We see a scale and her feet. Where’s her pretty face and “atrocious body?” I know that the pretty face is meant as something else, but taken in context with the cover, it gives a different impression.

When I pulled this one up, I got excited because we see a fat body! There’s no face though, and quite frankly, she looks goofy and vilified, doesn’t she? Her stance is defensive and unapproachable while the skinny girl next to her is jovial and approachable.

Ahh, we get not only food on this one, but a skinny girl. This is about plus sized modeling and yet, there’s nothing to show that off.

This one, we get a face (which is thin) and a girl in black to cover her “fat.” I don’t think she’s fat at all.

We’re almost there now, except I’d hardly call this fat, either. And we see only her stomach that she’s pinching to make a “fat roll.” Where’s her face? How come we don’t get a full body shot so we can determine she’s really and truly fat?

This butt is curvy — also known as NORMAL. I like this cover, but again, it’s a part of a body rather than a whole person.

Apparently, Lara is so large they couldn’t bear putting an image of a person on the cover. It’s just a shirt dress floating in the wind (thin as air, right?).

I know she’s fat in this one, too, but why isn’t she there? I think that’s a book or something, but regardless, it’s a perfect hour glass shape.

We want good role models for girls to love who they are, but what do we see on every cover? Thin girls or fat girls looking goofy. Why can’t fat girls (and boys!) be on covers like their thin counterparts?

I’m sure you can’t forget the Liar controversy, where the cover featured a white girl when the main character was clearly not white. Why is it we put thin on the cover when the character isn’t (and in some cases is JUST ALRIGHT WITH THAT?).

So I want you to tell me: why can’t we do this? Can you find me a cover with a fat girl who is — how do I say this — a normal, every day person? We know our world isn’t full of perfect bodies and we know we want people to come to love who they are, but if we can’t see it in the world (especially in books that are meant to highlight these said issues) how can we make people believe they are ok?

Edit 9/30/11: This post has generated a lot of discussion recently, and I wanted to lead you to a few follow up posts I’ve written on this subject here and here.

Double Take, Part XVI

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The last post was wordy, so this one’s just a double take. If you like these posts, you’re in luck, as I’ve got a wealth stocked up right now! In this edition, we’ve got a book that’s been out for a couple of years and one that will be coming out.

Safe by Susan Shaw was published in October 2007 by Dutton. I love the orange against the black.

Lifted by Wendy Toliver isn’t out yet but will be published by Simon Pulse in June 2010. Obviously the cropping’s different, but it’s the same stock image. Although I think it works as well as it does for Safe, there’s a part of me hoping this gets changed. Having the same exact cover, along with a very similar use of location for title will get so confusing for not only readers but those who serve them.

Do you think one’s better than the other?

Oh, one of our readers, Terry, pointed out this one, too:

Everything is Fine by Ann Dee Ellis was published March 2009 by Little Brown. It’s a little too psychedelic for my tastes….

Not quite double take, but more like a creep-alike

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This was one of my first posts here at STACKED, but it’s one of my favorites — so I’m reposting it with a couple of additions.

These all run on a similar theme, so they’re not exactly double takes. Rather, I like to think of them as creep-alikes — while some people may find the idea intriguing or interesting (and both are fair descriptions), I find these covers a bit creepy. Perhaps that’s the intention? Maybe it’s just the idea of not liking feet (the notion of them being feet of dead people doesn’t bother me).

Most recently, there’s Alane Ferguson’s Angel of Death: A Forensic Mystery. This one was published by Puffin in February of 2008. Shortly before that one there was this:


Jaime Joyce’s Toe Tagged: True Stories from the Morgue. I haven’t read or seen this one myself, but from my knowledge of the publisher and reading the description, it sounds like a middle grade book. This was published by Scholastic in March of 2007.

But perhaps we owe this trend to the original trendsetter, Mary Roach.


Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers was published by W. W. Norton in May of 2004.

Do you know of any other books with similar covers? While they give me the willies, I still think there’s something unique and memorable about them.

Edit (8/4/09) — There’s also a new book coming out with the infamous toe tag!

Liz Wolfe’s Let Sleeping Dogs Die came out August 1, 2009 and was published by Medallion Press.

Edited 11/23/09 to add this bad boy:

M. R. Hall’s forthcoming title The Disappeared (Simon & Schuster, 12/09) is another addition to my collection of toe-tagged fun.

*Updated 1/19/10: I found another one!


This one’s Molly Fyde and The Land of Light by Hugh Howey. It was published December 2009 by Broad Reach Publishing.

Edited 6/2010:

Another one, this time a large print edition of a book put out not too long ago

With a Passion Put to Use by Keith McCarthy was published in large print May 2010 by Severn House Publishing.

You know, at first this trend creeped me out, but now I’m utterly fascinated. Do you know of anymore? I’m starting a collection.

Double Take, Part XV

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This one’s not a perfect double take but close enough to be memorable!


Double Minds by Terry Blackstock was published in early 2009 by Thorndike publishers. I love that the orange stands out so well against the black background. The face creeps me out a little bit, though.

Shadow Hills by Anastasia Hopcus isn’t out yet, but the ARC has been making the rounds on a number of blogs I read. This one will be out in June 2010 by EdgmontUSA. Again, I love the orange against the black, but I think I like the yellow font for the title just a teensy bit more than the white on the other cover. But honestly? As much as they both look similar, I like them both. I don’t think one’s done it better than the other.

What about you? Is one standing out more?