My good friend recently bought me a book. Recently meaning about an hour ago. And this book just happens to be "The Thirteen and a Half Lives of Captain Bluebear" by Walter Moers. How awesome can ya get? So anyways, I have not started this book yet, nor should I until I finish this post, but I'm going to take this time to state a few points.
I judge books by their covers. AHHHH! But who doesn't? The way I see it, everyone who has seen a friend say, "That book looks weird.", has said "Don't judge a book by it's cover." in cheery tones. But then those people just turn around and judge books! By their covers! Over and over and over again!
The Thirteen and a Half Lives of Captain Bluebear is a pretty book. It has a yellow and blue cover: color scheme, check. It has a comical, cartoon picture of a unusual mythical animal: a Bluebear. Check. It has flowing script in dark, brooding blue tones. Check. The back cover describes an adventure in which a mythical creature finds love, loses it, finds it again, and slaughters innocent monsters. Check. The reviews plastered on the back cover have slight drug references and little-known connections. Check.
Yay. But really, what's so bad about judging a book by it's art? What's so horrible about stating the horrible? If you go to a museum, most likely you will find a piece or two of art you dislike. But do you speak out against the Mona Lisa? The Starry Night? An Andy Warhol? Okay, maybe and Andy Warhol, but I really don't get why (One) cover art is horrible, or (Two) why it is socially acceptable to praise terrible artwork.
And that is mon avis.
DAMN BOY! u can really write! I thought when I started reading, here we go, doing the stupid weekly ela assignment, but when I started reading, I kind of really liked it. You have great description and tone. You didn't even talk about the book, well you did, but not how I expected you to. Anyway, I really liked it, but what do you mean by "socially acceptable to PRAISE terrible artwork". aren't we kind of lik, agreeing how bad it is? anyway, great job
ReplyDelete<3 dea
AWESOME! You have a great voice! I could totally hear you reading this. I have to say though that while it is okay to make judgments about a book based on it's cover, we should look at other criteria too. Read the blurb for one. A cover can tell you nothing about a book! I hated the cover of one of my favorite books of all time but I read the blurb, gave it a shot and now I have read every book in the series five times in the last 2 years as well as the 20 other books written by the same author! You mention a lot of things besides the cover in your checklist anyhow so I think you are aware of the fact that other things matter. You just didn't highlight them.
ReplyDeleteStill, great job!!
I.
ReplyDeleteLOVE.
THE.
THIRTEEN.
AND.
A.
HALF.
LIVES.
OF CAPTAIN BLUEBEAR!!!!
It's the best book in the universe. Probably.
Nice post Kellen Campbell. I think I agree with you for the most part. This definitely was your voice and I really liked that. It was also pretty funny so enjoyed reading rather than yawning after the first paragraph. The only thing about it I think could be better is it should be longer! It looks long with the huge print, and as I was reading it I liked it so much I was pissed when I got to the end. Other than that this was a really good post. And I think that your idea is good, but their are some books with crappy covers that I thought might be good. I'm not saying I don't do it sometimes, but occasionally it's a terrible idea to think that way.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean. I have an awful tendency to judge books by their covers, by doing this I've ended up reading spectacular literary works much later than the first instance of my seeing them. I don't see what's so hard about crafting a decent-looking cover for a book, something that I wouldn't be embarrassed on the train with. *sigh* Perhaps people's standards have lowered or, maybe, they just have horrible taste. Either way, it's a rather frustrating epidemic...
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