With a label like this,

clearly the contents were going to be awesome. But they were awesome even beyond our expectations:

Thanks so much, Dina and Disney-Hyperion! The cookies are almost too cute to eat, but we’re all looking forward to a Pigeon-themed afternoon sugar high.

For more Pigeon madness, see our reviews of The Duckling Gets a Cookie?! and Don’t Let the Pigeon Run This App!

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Elf on the Shelf sticks around post-holidays to keep an eye on our New Year’s resolutions.

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…packaged with paperbacks of the previous novels, Graceling and Fire. It’s tormenting Cindy and me, since we won’t have time to read Bitterblue—never mind reread the first two!—until all our Guide assignments are read and reviewed. Alas.

If you’re lucky enough to be reading it now, no spoilers!

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In the box (and now Out of the Box) we found individually wrapped goodies like chocolate covered pretzels and blobs made of popcorn, caramel, and other stuff my dentist would hate. There were just enough to go around our small office but we weren’t sure what was inside some of them. Luckily, small labels on the back made it all clear.

Here’s a close-up of the description for that ambiguous candy on the left:

This reminds me of the pitfalls of using a thesaurus to help write book reviews. I don’t know about you, but if I’m not careful it can lead me down a slippery slope to purple prose. I can’t be sure that’s what happened here — it might just be a translation issue — but I picture someone at Sweet Jubilee Gourmet getting tired of the word “coated” and deciding to kick it up a notch the only way a writer can.

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Extreme promotional blurb close-up!

What do you think—is this an in-office memo? Or is it meta-narrative marketing genius?

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before heat...

The book oscillates between charming and disconcerting. The faceless party-goers (anonymous in a Peanuts-adult sort of way) seem out of control, ignoring the children who are out of place at the raucous party. The two children side-step potential hazards and cautiously examine the more questionable guests. The girl reinterprets each scene for the boy to make the unchild-friendly place more tolerable, and her inventive descriptions are cleverly illustrated under the heat-sensitive sections.

...and after.

The boy’s discomfort is evident; as he cowers from the influx of strange items and people, the girl protectively ushers him through the chaos. The pair climbs a tree and finds some respite in nature. The story ends on the back cover as the children walk away together with backs to the reader, a reminder that they are destined to become adults like those they have left behind.

I wish it wasn’t so difficult to use the heat-sensitive pages. Eventually I used a hair dryer to uncover the images as the marketing materials suggested. I liked subtle details such as a squirrel mother with half-finished laundry—the animals seem more responsible than their human counterparts.

This book will undoubtedly appeal more to adults, who will pick up the story’s commentary on neglect and lost innocence. Although they will probably be fascinated by the interactive illustrations, I’m not sure kids will get it. But, like me, they may enjoy stepping into this alternate universe, where seemingly ordinary objects are revealed to be “fulla canaries” or other surprises.

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My six- and eleven-year-old daughters had no interest in following the rambling story, thank heavens, because neither did I. What we were eager to get at were the instructions for drawing chubby Little Man and the various creatures and objects he sees, outside and at the Halloween Costume Ball. We laid the book on a table (the flexi-bound book stays open nicely), and while my older daughter and I were all about using the directions (some are trickier than others), my first grader just went ahead and drew the animals, using her sister’s pictures for inspiration.

Jack-o’-lanterns, candy, bats, and owls are all here, plus lots of cute woodland critters. An index makes it easy to look up directions for each item—a good idea, as I imagine we’ll visit this book again. While I doubt the book’s recipe for Little Man’s favorite dish, escargot, will have kids eagerly donning aprons, it might appeal to adult readers, who also might be interested in drawing some of the odd, not-so-Halloweeny items. (Anyone care to draw a grater grating some lemon zest?)

Get your Halloween on, folks, and get drawing.

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My discomfort with this new edition lies not in the decision to change the cover image, but with my worry that the new art does not accurately represent the story to a new generation of readers. If I were unfamiliar with the plot—about newly knighted Alanna’s journey to Tortall’s desert and her capture and acceptance by the Bloody Hawk tribe—I would guess from the new cover that it‘s about a contemporary teenage girl who has a magic pendant and is caught in a love triangle a lá Twilight.

Looking at this edition reminds me of some of my other favorite books that have been reissued with new covers, some of which I’ve grown to appreciate (the 2007 edition of Natalie Babbitt’s The Search for Delicious)

and some of which I have not (any post-Trina Schart Hyman editions of Patricia C. Wrede’s The Enchanted Forest Chronicles).

Which original cover art do you think shouldn’t be tampered with? Which new covers are welcome updates?

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“Why is it always the redhead?” thought I. From Anne Shirley (and doesn’t it look like this little lady’s ready to break her slate over somebody’s head?), to that other beloved little orphan with a similar-sounding name, to Ron Weasley, and Julianne Moore’s Freckleface Strawberry alter ego, we gingers must develop a thick, if easily sunburned, skin. But wait; don’t feel too sorry for stock photo girl. Here’s a different picture from the same book:

Little Red looks like the aggressor; just another fiery, hot-tempered one of us.*

Which brings me to my point: if you’re going to use staged photos in your books (I’m talking to you, endless nonfiction series), first try to mix it up a little; don’t assume your readers won’t recognize the same kid in two different pictures. Next, please, oh, please put a little more thought into your audience. We say this over and over again in reviews, but what teens are going to take seriously a book—purportedly aimed right at them—that uses such totally square (and in the case of the aforementioned Angry Carrot, too young) supporting images? Another example, this time from Jenny MacKay’s Hot Topics title Gangs:

 

A group of Abercrombie-wearing kids sitting around an outdoor mall does not a street gang make, and no teens—be they “queen bees,” “goth kids,” “nerds,” or “floaters”—will be fooled into thinking otherwise.

—Elissa Gershowitz aka Pippi

*(see Facebook page: “Why Are Bullies in Movies Always Fat Red-Headed Kids with Freckles?”)

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The “trilogy plus one” is receiving a full redesign (in hardcover, no less) by publisher Simon Pulse, from the covers to trim size and page design. While the new jacket for Extras does pay homage to the original, the new Uglies cover with its haunting covered face bears a closer resemblance to the opening credits of the (adult) TV show Dexter than it does to the original cover. The new Pretties cover reminds me of another grown-up show, Nip/Tuck, making me wonder if the makeovers are an attempt to market the books to an older audience. Though the new covers don’t appeal to me personally, I’ve seen plenty of positive buzz about them online from adult bloggers.

I feel these remakes lack the pizzazz of the original books: their smaller size, mysterious teenaged faces, and eye-catching spines. And while the images on the new covers are startling (as is the use of sterile white), they just don’t do justice to the uniqueness of Westerfeld’s dystopian world. Ironically, the new versions look like New Pretty Town–style extreme makeovers of the originals—sexed-up and stripped down. I’m the first to admit I can be averse to change, but in this case, change seems unnecessary and a little compromising. What do you think?

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