STACKED

books

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?

Double Take, Part XIV

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Here’s one with a recently released book and a book yet to be released. Remember what happened last time when two soon-to-be released titles had the same cover? Now, they’re not perfect double takes, but they’re really darn close.

First:


The Sky Always Hears Me and the Hills Don’t Mind is by Kirstin Cronn-Mills and was published September 1, 2009 by Flux. I like this cover a LOT – I like that we don’t get a face on shot of the girl and I love the cloudy sky. It fits the title so well. I’ve had this one on my to-read pile for a while but haven’t gotten there quite yet.


Dreaming of Amelia by Jaclyn Moriarty will be published April 2010 by MacMillan UK. Now on this cover, her hair is about the same color and has a similar aesthetic of loose pieces falling down her back, but the knot is on the side of her head, rather than on the back. She’s looking at the sky again, though this one is a light blue sky. The feel’s totally different than The Sky Always Hears Me but I like it.

Do you prefer one or another? It almost makes me think it’s a shot from the same photo shoot, so the same girl with a slightly different hair style. What do you think?

Double Take, Part XIII

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Here’s another great double take for you!


Does This Book Make Me Look Fat? is a collection of short stories about body image. It was published in December 2008 by Clarion Books. Pretty memorable cover and I think it’s quite fitting to the book itself.


Check it out — it’s the same image but they’ve given this one a bit of a different crop. They did the same thing with the book, too.
Writing Great Books for Young Adults was published by Sourcebooks in September 2009.

Who did it better? I personally like the first one better because she looks more like a teen than the second one. Something about the cropping makes her look way older.

More Cover Talk

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I received an ARC of Boys, Girls, and Other Hazardous Materials a few days ago in the mail. I’m excited to read it, partly because I need a break from my recent diet of rather depressing dytopias, and partly because it’s written by Rosalind Wiseman, who also wrote Queen Bees and Wannabes, a nonfiction volume for parents of teenage girls that was evidently the inspiration for the movie Mean Girls (a movie enjoyed by both males and females in my high school – some males saw it about a dozen times in the movie theater, I kid you not).

Here is the cover design of the book I received:That design will never see the light of day in a published format, though, because Penguin Group has changed the cover to this:


When publishers choose a cover, they’re making a strong argument about who they believe will be – and should be – interested in the book. The first cover appears to be more gender-neutral, while it seems to me that the second appeals to a more female audience. I don’t know much about the book aside from the title, which I think could appeal to both genders pretty easily, but it looks like the publishers have opted for a girl-centric readership. (The protagonist of the book is also a girl, but the subject of “Do boys read books narrated by girls and vice-versa” is the subject for a whole other, much longer, post.)

I am almost universally opposed to having real photographs (or depictions that look as if they could be real photographs) of actual people on the covers of books. It prevents me from forming my own mental image of the person, which is a large part of my reading enjoyment. (This one isn’t that bad because their faces aren’t showing.) Also, as the cover controversy for Justine Larbalestier’s Liar has shown, the models for so many of these covers all look alike. I understand that publishers want to sell books above all, so if they find something that works, it makes financial sense for them to stick with it. I still lament the fact that truly creative and attention-grabbing covers on YA novels aren’t as ubiquitous as they should be.

What do you think about these covers? Do you have a preference? After I read the book, I’ll have a better idea, but teens grabbing a book from the library shelf aren’t going to have that knowledge going into it either. Honestly, I’m not crazy about either cover – the first isn’t as interesting as it tries to be, and the second is just too much like so many other YA covers.