Let’s call this edition of interesting links something to the tune of “everyone’s got covers on the mind” because there are a lot of posts about cover trends lately. Of course, that’s not the only thing that has been talked about. There’s been a lot of good things to read in the last couple of weeks. I’m serious in saying there is a good day’s worth of reading here.

• So let’s start with cover pieces. First, the incredible Kate Hart has a breakdown of the 2011 YA cover trends, which includes everything from the percentage of covers featuring girls drowning to the percentage of covers that feature people of color. There are pie charts and graphs. This is the kind of post you have to read in chunks because there is so much here. 

• Once you spend a little time there, check out this post by Justina Ireland in defense of the girl in the pretty dress and the post by Jennifer Hubbard about extreme cropping and headless models. I know I’ve talked about the messages these book covers send (especially when you look at them all in one place, at once), and I don’t disagree with either Ireland nor Hubbard about how sometimes these covers DO work or ARE done well.

• Here’s a collection of YA covers out this spring, rounded up by the folks at The Enchanted Inkpot and categorized. Not much in terms of reading but take a gander at them.  

• And once you read those posts and look at those covers, you absolutely need to check out Sarah Andersen’s post about what her high school students like and don’t like on YA covers.

• But wait, there’s more! Salon has an article that borders on defending the practice of whitewashing covers. I’ll leave it at that, but I am really fascinated by an experiment that Saundra Mitchell is trying with a book she’s put up on Amazon and Barnes and Noble called Breathkept. Note this was a free download on her blog, so the sales here are from those who didn’t know. The original cover features a girl of color, but now Mitchell’s switched it up to a shadowy couple. She wants to see if there’s a sales difference. Bonus: she has a few more links about whitewashing worth checking out. 

• The Salon piece above talks about a study where people had different perceptions of gay people after reading a novel featuring one (especially when they didn’t know the character was homosexual). It’s an interesting psychological phenomenon called “experience taking.” There’s a longer piece about that over at MSNBC’s website worth reading. I tend to have this happen to me a lot — but most of the time, that change in perception is short lived. I can probably count on one hand the number of books that have truly changed my thinking on a grand level. Not that I don’t think it’s possible. But I wonder how much has to do with the quantity of what you read, too. Are those who don’t absorb literature more likely to be impacted or maybe are those who read a lot less likely to notice as much? 

• Ever wonder how books end up on the New York Times Best Seller list? Veronica Roth will tell you eight things you probably did not know on YA Highway. I didn’t realize how little impact pre-ordering had, and I have to say I now feel a little less like I’m as supportive as I try to be by doing pre-orders. 

• Breakfast at Tiffany’s is going to become an ebook. But that wasn’t really what I was most interested in here. It was the little nugget at the bottom about how there will be a rerelease of Capote’s In Cold Blood. I wonder if they’ll change the cover (which I love so much).

• Speaking of my man Capote, he and I have the same cocktail preference with our mutual love for screwdrivers. Here’s a fun piece on 10 authors and their favorite drinks. I’m, of course, bummed only one woman is represented.  

• I’m really tired of the entire 50 Shades of Grey controversy/phenomenon/obsession/discussion, but I had to post this. Without doubt, Becky’s round up and thoughts on the issue are the best I’ve read and also the most important for any librarian dealing with challenges on this book to consider, too. The last paragraph made me cheer: “My final comments are for those libraries out there who are pulling the book.  You are an embarrassment.  Stick to your guns people.  If you bought the book, you had your reasons.  Don’t pull it off the shelf.  Stand up for yourselves.  If you don’t have enough respect for yourself to do it on your own, use the arguments in my post to help you. And if you are someone who is pulling the book, you might as well quit.  You are not upholding your end of the bargain as a public librarian anymore.”

• The website’s reputation is questionable, but the post was interesting enough to merit a mention. Here are the top 50 most influential books of the last 50 or so years. Note these don’t mean the best, but rather, they were among the most influential for one reason or another. I think I’ve only read six of these titles. 

• Teens are so freaking smart and well spoken, especially when they’re treated with respect by adults, aren’t they? It’s amazing how the second they’re given the chance to say what they’re thinking that sometimes they are way more intelligent than any adult, too. Here’s a great example of a teen blogger talking about books and reading and why he blogs from the Huffington Post.

• Are libraries a feminist issue? I left after reading it wondering if the writers were too limiting in their perspective of the role of libraries, and since this was a piece centered on UK libraries, they didn’t talk about how the bulk of public libraries in the US were founded by women or women’s groups. I thought about those two things for a long time, and I was pleased when I went back to see they’d commented about how this wasn’t an exclusive issue of feminism but one thing feminists should think more about. I’d say then they hit the nail on the head.

• Ever thought about the different types of reviewers there are? Here’s a funny post about book reviewed nomenclature. On a more serious note, another piece that hit the rounds this week was about book reviewers and what value they serve. The claim is that Amazon’s really leveled the playing field for reviews and probably in a good way. Hey, look. The Atlantic also talked about the internet and book reviews. This was a tl;dr for me, but that’s because it’s The Atlantic, so I didn’t try too hard, either. I guess part of me doesn’t CARE about these sorts of things as someone who does write and share book reviews. I do it because I like doing it and not because I feel like I have to prove anything to the industry.

• Separately, I’m going to plug this gem of a blog post from Sarah Moon about what value she gives to the book world through her reviews. I know I write with my experience and knowledge as a librarian at heart, but I have huge respect for so many of the bloggers who aren’t doing this with any professional goals in mind but rather because they simply love books (and I love books too, but I can’t separate my own experiences from what I do, either).    

• It’s possible there’s a lack of religion in YA fiction, and I know I’ve seen this topic pop up a number of times recently. But I’m pointing to this one specifically because it sure seems to make the problem look more troublesome than it is. The issue is this: the challenge of religion and spirituality is in a lot of YA books, but just because it’s not the central force doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. I can think of a number of books off the top of my head not on this list that highlight the issue of religion and faith in YA fiction (including one of my all-time favorites). Religion hasn’t and isn’t disappearing in YA. It’s just being explored in much different ways and in ways that work toward showcasing how many Things make up a Character. They’re way more than simply their beliefs in a higher power, even if it is a huge part of who they are. 

• The New Yorker is starting a book blog. I’ve typed and erased commentary a few times, so I’m just leaving it at that.

• Any author trying to pitch to a book blogger needs to read this great post by Steph Su. It’s geared toward self-pubbed authors specifically, but many of the things she lists are things even traditionally published authors do in their pitches that are automatic turn-offs for me. 

• Just how is a book born? The snarktastic infographic here.   

It’s killing me not to sign off this post with “that’ll cover it.”