The Disreputable Copying of Frankie's Cover!

I was in the fiction section of the library today and walked smack dab into an endcap (yes, I actually walked into it) and looked up to see the cover of The Disreputable History of Frankie-Landau Banks staring me in the face. Except why was it in the regular fiction section? And what was up with the Victorian woman on the top of the envelope?

I did a little research and it looks like there are quite a few different covers for this book, but my library happens to have the most copycat-ish of them all. I've heard about (and seen) this happening with stock photography for smaller YA fiction titles before, but sharing the cover of a Printz and National Book Award winner? Wowzers.

Update: I did a little searching to see if anyone else had caught this copycat, and sure enough, someone did! Kudos to She Reads and Reads for seeing this first (though her copy cover shows one of the alternate covers, "She" catches yet ANOTHER similar cover as well!).

Cybils Finalists

With all the blathering on I do about the Printz Award, one might think it was the only award recognizing quality YA literature. But of course it is not, and among the other awards out there are the Cybils, the children's and young adult bloggers literary awards (and what kind of a blogger would I be if I didn't talk up these awards?). Cybils are awarded for a variety of categories spanning reading levels, formats and genres, a full list of which appears on the site. And their finalists were announced this morning, generating a few new titles to add to my to-read list!

So why the Cybil when there already exist so many other awards? As explained on their website FAQ, "We wanted a literary competition that combined the freewheeling democracy of the Internet with the thoughtfulness of a book club. Cybils lets the public nominate books here on our Cybils blog, but then bloggers team up to pick the finalists and winners. The winning books must combine quality and 'kid appeal.'" In addition to identifying works that boast literary merit and kid appeal, it also fosters a sense of community among bloggers, and draws attention to great blog and bloggers.

Anyhoot, the categories of greatest interest to me are:

Fantasy and Science Fiction (broken into Elementary/Middle Grade and Young Adult)
Graphic Novels (broken down similarly)
Non-Fiction (same breakdown as above, finalists currently pending)
Young Adult Fiction

My favorites at this stage in the game are Suzanne Collin's The Hunger Games for YA Fantasy and Science Fiction and The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart for Young Adult Fiction. Of course, I haven't actually read any of the other finalists, so I guess I should probably get on that pronto before the winners are selected. I'm not much of a romantic (or too big into commercialized holidays), but I'm definitely excited for Valentine's Day when we get to see who the winners are.

Holiday Cheer: Don't Look Here

Yesterday, having just finished Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott, I started reading The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins. Both are really great books that suck you in, but upon reflection of my latest reads, I've noticed something: YA novels are depressing.

A cursory review of the biggest titles of this year - even The Disreputable History and Paper Towns, with their witty dialogue and clever/spunky characters - reveal the following major commonalities:

• Deception
• Deprivation
• Loneliness
• General Misery

When did teen angst turn so dark? No wonder teens are bringing guns to school and murdering their classmates. Forget video games, absentee parents and heavy metal - it's those books they're reading!

Seriously though, this week's reading is almost making me wish YA was as easy and fluffy as "the critics" (in quotes because they don't actually read YA, they are just critical of it) say. After I finish these Printz contenders, I think I'm going to have to take a break and catch up on my Janet Evanovich, or maybe turn to Sesame Street.

If I Could Turn Back Time

Ever since I met a cute boarding school boy on my trip to Paris the summer after my junior year in high school I wished that I could have gone to boarding school. I'd have settled for a private school where I could wear a plaid skirt and knee highs every day. Instead I went to public school and played field hockey. In college I visited the Lawrenceville School on a trip for a Sociology class and decided that I'd live out my dream by becoming a teacher/housemistress. Instead I became a librarian and read books set at boarding school.

With their high school dorms, secret societies, general hijinx, and amount of living that goes on without adults to interrupt or interfere, it just seems like the coolest place for a teenager. To this day, whenever I read a book or watch a movie where the characters attend boarding school - Dead Poet's Society, Outside Providence, Rushmore, School Ties, Harry Potter, Looking for Alaska, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks - it brings me back to that longing.

Or maybe I'm just really loving The Disreputable History for the witty, intelligent writing style that brings the reader lines like "So when Matthew wore that shirt, it was like he was still Clark Kent, only Clark Kent wearing the Superman insignia, which was very meta. And hot."

Yeah, it's that.

And the boarding school thing.