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The Willoughbys, or Never Judge a Book by its Color

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Apr. 19th, 2008 | 04:12 pm

THE WILLOUGHBYS
By Lois Lowry
Houghton Mifflin, 2008

Category: Middle grade fiction



A month ago I offered to let my son read my new copy of THE WILLOUGHBYS, but he turned up his nose. I asked why and he told me, “I don’t usually like books with black and white-colored covers.”

I would have left it at that, but a few days later he happened to creep into my office in the wee hours. I was procrastinating from the morning’s work by reading a Boston Globe article about Lois Lowry. Suddenly I had a great idea for an experiment (aka more procrastination?). There was a link from the article, which was online, to an audio clip of Lois reading from THE WILLOUGHBYS …

Me: Hey, wanna hear something?

Unsuspecting son: What is it?

Me: An author reading from a book you might like.

Unsuspecting son: Sure.

I busied myself with actual work (!) until he was done listening.

Me: Well?

Unsuspecting son: Do we have the book?

Me, nonchalantly pulling my copy of THE WILLOUGHBYS off the shelf: Yep. Here it is. I hope you don’t mind a black and white cover.

Unsuspecting son, no longer unsuspecting: You tricked me!

Me: Hey, what would you like for breakfast?

The trickery, er, the experiment was a resounding success, though: he loved the book. I asked him to write a review for my blog, and this is what he turned in:

A couple of days ago I came downstairs early to see my Mom, and she tricked me into listening to a book clip. It was good and I liked one of the characters, Commander Melanoff, so I started the book. It was THE WILLOUGHBYS, by Lois Lowry. I started reading it and couldn’t stop! When I finally looked up it was time to get ready for school. I read when I was eating and on the bus. I finished after three days of reading. I was fascinated by the story. You should read THE WILLOUGHBYS.


All's well that ends well, yes?




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Comments {9}

Pam

(No subject)

from: [info]pamm
date: Apr. 20th, 2008 02:49 am (UTC)
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THIS shows why covers are SOOOO important. I would be a tad disappointed in a cover like that which may turn off readers for any reason. I don't care if it GOES with the book. You must appeal to readers who'd rather watch TV or play videos...

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Loree Griffin Burns

(No subject)

from: [info]lgburns
date: Apr. 21st, 2008 02:54 pm (UTC)
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I actually like this cover a lot. And I didn't care for the TRACKING TRASH cover at all when I first saw it. And so the upshot of it all, I think, is that I KNOW NOTHING AT ALL WHEN IT COMES TO BOOK COVERS!

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Pam

(No subject)

from: [info]pamm
date: Apr. 21st, 2008 03:34 pm (UTC)
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FWIW, I liked TRACKING TRASH'S cover! :-)

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Loree Griffin Burns

(No subject)

from: [info]lgburns
date: Apr. 22nd, 2008 11:23 am (UTC)
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Thank you, dear!

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kellyrfineman

(No subject)

from: [info]kellyrfineman
date: Apr. 20th, 2008 04:58 pm (UTC)
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You are tricksy, lady. And smart.

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Loree Griffin Burns

(No subject)

from: [info]lgburns
date: Apr. 21st, 2008 02:55 pm (UTC)
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Tricksy. I like that. Much better than Trixie. Someone should write a book with a character named Tricksy in it.

(Notice how smootly I am deflecting your thoughts from my, er, trickery.)

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kellyrfineman

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from: [info]kellyrfineman
date: Apr. 21st, 2008 05:56 pm (UTC)
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It's not my word, I'm sorry to say. It's Gollum's.

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writerjenn

(No subject)

from: [info]writerjenn
date: Apr. 20th, 2008 07:01 pm (UTC)
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Hee hee! It was a book ambush.

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Loree Griffin Burns

(No subject)

from: [info]lgburns
date: Apr. 21st, 2008 02:51 pm (UTC)
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Yes! Good thing he liked the book.

I was happy to read that your writing retreat was productive ... and that you and Kelly and Angela are home safe and sound.

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