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Books, Library Serf
Book Covers with Goggles
21.04.12 | Permalink | Comment?

Something random for the weekend.

Skybreaker, Kenneth Oppel

Behemoth, Scott Westerfeld

Skyship Academy: The Pearl Wars, Nick James. This one is new! “In 2095 when a fifteen-year-old slacker discovers that he has the power to control Pearls, fragments of space debris that are a dying Earth’s most important energy source, government forces work to capture him.” (catalogue summary) The second in the series, Crimson Rising, is due out this September.
Books, Grimm
Book Cover Lookalikes
17.02.12 | Permalink | Comment?

This one book cover (First Day On Earth) made me think of this other (I’ll Be There):

Maybe, a passing resemblance.

First Day On Earth by Cecil Castellucci is new to the library. Mal disappeared for three days a few years ago. People think he had a breakdown, but Mal has a feeling he was abducted by aliens. At a support group of alien abductees he meets Hooper, who knows some mysterious, out of this world secrets. The truth is out there.

I’ll Be There by Holly Goldberg Sloan was one of our picks of 2011, in which Sam and Riddle live an anonymous, disconnected life on the run with their rather awful father, until one day Sam hears Emily giving a truly awful rendition of “I’ll be there” by the Jackson Five, which leads to a long, harrowing journey towards discovering a legitimate place in the world.
Books, Grimm, Sci Fi
Book Cover Lookalikes: Space
05.01.12 | Permalink | Comment?

These two book covers caught the eye: space is purple!

Does a similar cover have a similar story?

Across the Universe, Beth Revis. “Amy, a cryogenically frozen passenger aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed, is nearly killed when her cyro chamber is unplugged fifty years before Godspeed’s scheduled landing. All she knows is that she must race to unlock Godspeed’s hidden secrets before whoever woke her tries to kill again–and she doesn’t know who she can trust on a ship ruled by a tyrant.” (catalogue)

Glow (Sky Chasers), Amy Kathleen Ryan. “On board a space ship traveling across the galaxy, sixteen year old Waverley and Kieran are part of the first generation born in space. They are in love but one day they are wrenched apart and find themselves fighting for their lives.” (catalogue)

Huh! Spooky.
Books, Grimm
Moar Book Cover Lookalikes
23.12.11 | Permalink | Comment?

Today: a weaponry face-off.

In the Blue Corner:

King of Ithaka, Tracy Barrett
Here Lies Arthur, Philip Reeve
VIII, H M Castor

In the Red Corner:

Huntress, Malinda Lo
Fury of the Phoenix, Cindy Pon
Steel, Carrie Vaughn

Happy Christmas!
Art, Books, Library Serf
Book Cover Lookalikes: Spilt Pearls
07.12.11 | Permalink | Comment?

On the subject of cover themes, Mel commented that She’s So Dead to Us and Black Tuesday have almost identical covers. So true! Here they are:

Let us know if you spot any more.

We’re currently on the lookout for Steampunk goggles.
Books, Grimm
Book Cover Lookalikes: Miscellanea
06.12.11 | Permalink | 1 Comment

The sporadic game of this looks a bit like that continues this week, with a small selection of similar design aesthetics proving you can judge a book a little bit by its cover.

Delicious things in front of faces:



Mood: upbeat and good humoured, with the vampires poking a bit of fun (and providing darkness).

Faery books with ornate titles and winteriness:



Mood: romantic thriller of the urban fantasy variety, so swoony and a bit dangerous.

Flowing long dark hair, top left corner, sea-like colours!



Mood: wrenching.

Until next time!
Grimm, Sport
Cover Cousins: Football
06.09.11 | Permalink | Comment?

Maybe it’s a bit counter intuitive to post about American football in the lead up week to the Rugby World Cup, however here are two similar covers that couldn’t slink under the radar:

Payback Time, Carl Deuker – told from the perspective of an un-athletic school sports reporter, Payback Time tells the story of a successful Seattle high school football team, and most particularly their secret weapon Angel.

Leverage, Joshua C Cohen – a challenging story of steroids, football, and bullying, and the way that things can escalate out of control in a terrible way.

There are more book cover patterns here.
Books, Grimm
Book Cover Lookalikes
06.09.10 | Permalink | Comment?

Some pairs in a variety of genres, because they’re easier to find than fours:

1) Sitting on the dock of the bay wasting time



I was thinking that maybe if you like Deb Caletti’s books you might also like Suzanne Colasanti, yes? Either way, jetties are nice places to sit and think.

2) And stretch



I like these two.

3) Dark and romantic



Both of these are about forbidden, secret love – The Secret Year focuses on dealing with a secret relationship that ends in tragedy; Perfect Chemistry is a tale of star-crossed lovers from opposite sides of the tracks, like a socio-economic Romeo and Juliet.

ETA: Crazy Beautiful by Laura Baratz-Logsted, an edgy retelling of the Beauty and the Beast story (cf Beastly by Alex Flinn), where the beast is Lucius who has blown both his hands off in a home made basement chemistry accident explosion thing, and the beauty is the perfect Aurora*.

4) Humorous farm animals on a blue background



Ducks are, I think, inherently humorous. The cow needed the tiara for that extra je ne sais quois. Both are stories about finding yourself and your voice, really. Both have inherent humour.

5) One freaky eye

I saw these pictures on this blog here, which seems to be the definitive cover lookalike spotting blog – they’re almost depressingly sharp-eyed.

6) Two freaky eyes



Same idea, different execution: unnaturally oversized eyes can convey horror just as well as nasty red ones, I think, and both of these books are horrors, if you stop and think how disturbing zombie cheerleaders would actually be.

* Here’s a challenge – role reversal in the Beauty and the Beast world? With a beautiful boy and a beastly girl?
Grimm
More Lookalikes
10.08.10 | Permalink | Comment?

Some additions to the lookalike bookcovers collection: we thought Possessed by Kate Cann looked a little bit similar to some of the other covers we’ve done a spotlight on recently, like Blackbox, for example (see this post here):



Possessed, like its thriller-like lookalikes, is tense and a bit spooky (there may be ghosts? Anyway, there’s a disturbing manor house).

Here’s also more grass, with a couple of sporty inclusions (see the others here):





My personal favourite is the Julie Anne Peters one – why sit on grass when you can sit on a lovely fold out chair on grass? So comfortable.

Now we’re going looking for shoes, or something.
Grimm
Book Covers: PDA Under Cover
02.08.10 | Permalink | Comment?

Teenagers these days, they get up to all sorts when you’re not looking. Not only is everyone here being very sneaky, but these book covers are mostly purple, except for the green one.

Boys, Girls and Other Hazardous Materials, Rosalind Wiseman – maintaining your nice girl image, frenemies, bullies in the lacrosse team, romance. High school is a delicate balancing act.

The Unwritten Rule, Elizabeth Scott – love triangle, shouldn’t date your best friend’s boyfriend story #1.

Something Like Fate, Susane Colasanti – love triangle, shouldn’t date your best friend’s boyfriend story #2. (You really shouldn’t.)

Lost It, Kristen Tracy – we think they’re trying to find it under whatever that green thing is. The School Library Journal called this one “hilarious and poignant”, which sounds like a thumbs up.