Jacket Wrap

I'm back.

Once again, I could not help but notice 2 book covers with strikingly similar jacket designs, and because everyone I know gets really tired of hearing me discuss books/children's literature/literary theory, I had to blog about it so I don't annoy the crap out of my friends and family.

I first read Laurie Halse Anderson's YA nocvel "Speak" when I was an undergrad. I loved it of course, and I watched the film version when I saw it on television (starring a now uber-famous Kristen Stewart and also a personal favorite of mine, Steve Zahn). I remember looking at the cover of the book, and thinking how significant the design on it was in the context of the story and the symbolism of it.

In the novel, the young protagonist Melinda is the victim of a rape. She is outcast from her former friends and her peers and throughout the majority of the novel, she does not speak to anyone. As an art assignment, she must create a tree of some sort, and as she works on the project, she progresses. Just as her tree grows, so does she; one of the major themes is finding one's own voice.

 Here's is the cover of Anderson's novel:

I could not help noticing the cover of another book today as I was neatening the shelves of the library. I have not read this book yet, but here is the cover:

According to Amazon, this book is about a girl named Megan who has to stay with her uptight grandmother whom she wants nothing to do with. She's determined to get through the visit without any drama, but  falls into a twisted love triangle with potentially fatal consequences. I have no idea what the significance of the tree branch on the cover is, but I do find it rather interesting that the book's cover has been redesigned recently so that it looks like this now:

I think the key seems like a more fitting symbol for a book about secrets, because secrets, like locks, need to be unlocked. The trick is finding the right key.

I might have to pick this book up now and see what it has to offer.



.  .  . By the way, I have TONS of secrets, and I never plan to tell them. .   .like Melinda, I sometimes choose not to speak.  .   .