How to use this Page

Hockey fans of a certain age may think this post is about an erstwhile Detroit team nicknamed the "Dead Things" that, once upon a time, couldn't buy a win. Then local fans started throwing dead octopi on the ice and later the team created an octopus mascot and things started looking up.

But it's not. This post, I mean. It's not about hockey at all but about dead things. Dead things on young adult book jackets. And a challenge about dead things on YA book jackets.

[Spoiler alert: If Carrie Mac's The Gryphon Project (Puffin Canada, 2009) is on your to-be-read list, click away now. Actually, you probably should not have clicked on this post at all because talking about dead bodies gives away some of the plot. But only up to about p. 129, so you're cool.]

The cover of The Gryphon Project, designed by Sam Weber, is quite attractive. Handsome, athletic and possibly naked young man with longish, flowing hair. What's not to like?


Nice, right? Then you find out on or around page 129 is that this image depicts the lifeless body of a major character. Yeah, he's dead. Technically, he is being kept in a state of stasis while the powers that be decide whether to bring him back to life or not. Dead bodies on the cover? It's a little creepy. I can find only two other YA novels with dead things on the cover: The Curious Incident of the Dog in Night Time by Mark Haddon:

The adult UK editions are more graphic. And funny.

. . . and Gordon Korman's No More Dead Dogs:


No sign of another book for teens with a dead human body on the cover. Now the challenge. Can our readers find any more? Double points if you know of one for middle graders, and I'll send you my copy of The Gryphon Project if you know of a picture book.

Unlike throwing octopi on the Red Wings' ice, I don't think this will become a trend. If it caught on, we might be seeing gruesome cover art for titles like these:

• Now We Are Six Feet Under
• Hatchet
• Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!
• Green Eggs and Ham: The story of ptomaine poisoning
• Tuck Everlasting: Modern Methods in Embalming
• Chitty Chitty Bang Bang you're
  6 Comments on The Dead Things Challenge, last added: 1/7/2010
  Display Comments
  elsewhere.org said, on 1/5/2010 10:15:00 AM
  

  Generation Dead and its sequel Generation Dead: Kiss of Life almost count--they've got dead-looking humans, although I think they're actually undead.
  
  If manga counts as "books for teens", some of the Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service books have fairly macabre covers.
  
  If nonfiction counts, there's Corpses, Coffins and Crypts: a History of Burial, for grade 6 and up.
  
  But I think the best candidate is The Afterlife, with the bleeding corpse of its protagonist on the cover.

  elsewhere.org said, on 1/5/2010 9:38:00 PM
  

  Oh, hey, a picture book! George, the Goldfish
  
  And more non-fiction, with what looks to be a photo of a dead hummingbird: I Found a Dead Bird: The Kids' Guide to the Cycle of Life and Death

  Julie Larios said, on 1/5/2010 10:03:00 PM
  

  Dead birds must be the limit of what most picture book writers think most picture book readers (and their parents) can handle - there's also SHE'S WEARING A DEAD BIRD ON HER HEAD by Kathryn Lasky, and THE DEAD BIRD by Margaret Wise Brown. Dead birds everywhere. My favorite "dead things" cover, though (no birds, sorry) is for Babette Cole's DROP DEAD.

  Carol Brendler said, on 1/6/2010 4:15:00 AM
  

  Wow. Creepy. I didn't know about Margaret Wise Brown's book--or any of the others for that matter. Poor George the Goldfish! Hey, elsewhere.org, let me know where to send your copy of THE GRYPHON PROJECT. carol (at) carolbrendler (dot) com

  tellgreatstories said, on 1/6/2010 2:21:00 PM
  

  The up-coming Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan, the second in her zombie series, has a creepy dead woman on the cover. While I appreciate the dead body on the cover, as it's pretty accurate of the book, I really liked the cover of the first book, The Forest of Hands and Teeth, which was more haunting with no dead bodies.

  Carol Brendler said, on 1/7/2010 4:08:00 AM
  

  I added the link to Dead-Tossed Waves at the end of the post. That image is both disturbing and beautiful.
  
  http://www.carrieryan.com/dead-tossed-waves.php

  Add a Comment

This was the week that I discovered I’m a much tougher cookie than I thought I was. Had a big rejection that I admit knocked me for six, I expected to be depressed for the week, and then found myself bouncing back into gear within the day. Of course, it left everyone who witnessed my sudden intake of breath and sob (note to self: do not open emails at work, especially when you’re the receptionist and everyone walks past your desk) thinking isn’t she supposed to be sad, but hey, you can’t be sad forever.

So what have I accomplished this week?

Well thanks to Kim Kasch and a not-so fun Harry Potter Personality test, I discovered I’m Severus Snape.

I started, finished, revised, finished again, and submitted a story to the Cafe Doom Writing Contest – can’t give anymore details than that as the story will be posted on the forum along with the other entries (twenty-four so far) for voting purposes, so it has to remain pretty much anonymous. Just look out for one containing…. :) Only kidding.

I wrote a flash short story that I intended to send to 52 Stitches when it opens on November 1st, then I decided it was probably not scary enough (or rather not scary at all) so I sent it along to Every Day Fiction instead. I hate the title I subbed, so I’m hoping if it’s accepted they’ll allow me to change it to ‘Travelling Along the Conveyor Belt’.

‘Nobody Smiling’ didn’t place in the Apex Digest Halloween competition, so now I can sub that story to 52 stitches when it opens. Silver linings and all that.

Received my copy of ‘Twisted Dreams’, which contains my story ‘Dead Bolt’. I should have received it ten days ago, but Lulu mixed up the order and sent me a copy of a book about the Lusitania instead. I complained (of course) and they said I could keep that book and they’d get another copy of Twisted Dreams out to me. I feel it is now my duty to feature the Lusitania in a short story.

And on a final screeching note – It’s one week to NaNoWriMo. If you hear an alarm while reading this, don’t worry it’s just my panic button going off.