Earlier this year, students at Kealing Middle School received a lesson in bookselling from our Kid’s Book Buyer, Meghan G. As an added challenge, we asked them to select a book and write about what drew them to that one in particular, what kind of reader they think it would appeal to, and what the book’s marketing copy and cover express to them right off the bat as potential readers. What we got back is a truly thoughtful collection of essays from a group of passionate young readers. This is the second essay in a month-long series. Perhaps these great essays will give you some insight into the bookselling process and maybe even some summer reading ideas!
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Why We Think My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece Will Succeed
By Amelia, Abby, Sofia
We think that My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher is different from other books. The color of the cover and the style of the writing make it eye-catching and attractive to curious customers looking for something new.
The cover of the book has a color theme inconsistent with the norms of today. It’s made up of cooler colors – pastel versions of blue, green, and purple. The fact that the colors aren’t red or black, or very bright colors, makes this book stand out from all the rest. It doesn’t have the picture of a person on the cover, which is also a common artistic choice nowadays. All of these factors make the book a little bit more interesting, and a little more intriguing. The title isn’t monosyllabic, or one word meant to sound epic or meaningful. One of the most annoying things in recently-published books is a title like ‘Revenge’, or ‘Eternity’. We like the fact that this book has a sentence as the title; a title that makes you think, instead of making you turn away because it’s trying to sound deep but feels artificial. The title inspires curiosity about what will happen in the book; makes you wonder; gets you interested. The tone of the title, at first, seems mysterious, but your view changes as you read the first two sentences of the book because they make it clear that the book is in fact quite sad.
Finally, the summary doesn’t spoil everything about the book. It doesn’t have any quotes from the text, and it doesn’t tell you very much about the main conflict. It helps you understand the past of the protagonist, so you can start reading the book with less confusion. The summary doesn’t have question at the end, like, “Will she be able to save her brother from the evil demons in the cave?” This technique often spoils the entire plot of the book, and makes the story sound less intriguing than it probably would be if you actually read the novel.
All in all, this strikes us as a very unique book that caught our attention, and will catch that of other girls between the ages of 12 and 16 that are interested in realistic fiction. That’s a large group of people in the world, so stock up soon!
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