The Ghost of John Oates, or Totally Judging a Book By Its Cover

Last week, local author Vivian Vande Velde visited our library. I told her how I "totally judge books by their covers" on my blog, as part of her talk to the students is about how authors don't get to choose their illustrations or cover art.

And then she gave me permission to judge one of her books by the cover:

According to Vivian's website, A Coming Evil is about "During the German occupation of France in 1940, 13-year-old Lisette meets a ghost while living with her aunt who harbors Jewish and Gypsy children in the French countryside." (If you visit the link for the book, you will see the new cover).

I would have never guessed that by the cover art.

First off, "Lisette" on the cover art looks older than 13. She also looks like an amalgamation of various photos cut out of fashion magazines from the 1980s. 

Her legs and feet are weirdly contorted, as the hand on the ground. Why is she awkwardly picking a flower? What are those yellow flowers in the forest?

According to Vivian, the beret appears to be cut out of red construction paper. Maybe the illustrator couldn't find a red beret in the issues of Seventeen he/she was cutting up?

What really gets me is the ghost. Vivian points out that the ghost is that of a young teen boy. Not in this illustration:

The ghost dude has a 'stache...and a mullet. Did tween boy ghosts have mullets during WWII? 

Also, it appears the ghost's head isn't completely on his body. When I asked Vivian if the boy had been beheaded, she said no. 

After looking at the picture of the ghost emanating the essence of the 1980s, I tried to place who could have modeled such awesomeness. I think I came up with the solution:

For it is John Oates private eyes watching you from the cover of A Coming Evil!

Note: Many thanks to Vivian Vande Velde for providing me with the cover graphics of A Coming Evil and letting me lampoon her book's cover. She did not, however, provide me with the picture of Hall and Oates. That was Wikipedia.


Note Two: Please check out Vivian Vande Velde's books at your local library. They are pretty awesome, especially Now You See It (a personal fav). Also, come out and meet Vivian on November 16 at the Rochester Children's Book Festival.