Last week I was booktalking to our 8th Grade Honors L.A. class. The good and bad thing about the make-up of this class is that there are very few boys in it. VERY few...if all of the male species are present, there are only FOUR. So, this is the class that I get to break out all of the "girl books."While viewing the presentation, I noticed that I had put a bunch of "heart" books in a row, so we all had a good laugh over how so many covers have the same image or concept. Then we talked about how there was also a trend to have dead girls on the cover.
Later, I found this article on Publisher's Weekly online that talked about much the same thing. Even if you don't read the article word for word, you should check it out. The author has taken quite some time to show us how so many YA covers today resemble each other. There are the "wind-blown hair" covers, the "flower" covers, the "hand" covers, and the "girl-alone-in-the-big-bad-world" covers. It is quite fascinating...and so true! I knew it!
What is really funny is that I have four of the "key" covers the author talks about on my desk right now, and I didn't even notice the similarity.
And please don't worry that I only mentioned "girl" books to this class. There was plenty of titles that appealed to both genders, I promise.
What do you think about these covers? Which ones do you like best? Why do you think they all look alike?
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3 comments:
That is awesome, especially to see all of the covers side by side. I never really thought about their similarities before.
Have you seen THE CHOSEN ONE and THE NINETEENTH WIFE? Very, very similar and about similar topics.
I thought THE EVOLUTION OF CALPURNIA TATE and THE WATER SEEKER felt similar, too.
So many of the covers look like carbon copies. Which is good I guess, because it makes a really original one stand out!
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