How embarrassing! I made a video! Actually Tara Nathan made it for me, and I think it’s goofy, but it’s a start in creating a YouTube presence for my Doodlebug series. Yikes. For more of this sort of thing, visit (and subscribe to?) my YouTube channel.
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7XNxUmbYKFkG5Pr5jQ3_A?feature=guide
Title page, verso. I’m loving the juxtaposition of name and character that lets us know about the competition between these two.
Here’s the cover by Louis Glanzman. He knows what skaters look like. He knows how to use a cover to show a dynamic, and to show where the focus of the book is. He knows the Bronx. And that’s a very believable Veronica. Next, the title page.
This at least seems to be in the right spirit of the characters, although it also seems designed to prove Peter’s assertion that
Veronica Ganz
Doesn’t wear pants.
Good Lord. Once again i am forced to digress. Here is a girl who has never thrown a punch in her life. Veronica Ganz with cleavage.
Here’s our girl on the book with her own name. Why would you ever change this cover?
I’m sure some marketer could tell me.
Pause. Station break. I had to hold off on the REAL Louis Glanzman cover because I encountered this gem. From my beloved Dell Yearlings books comes this tragic depiction of Veronica, who is in EIGHTH GRADE, for pete’s (Peter’s) sake!
Then there’s this one. Isn’t it fetching? A real New York sycamore tree. Yeah, it looks more like Brooklyn than the Bronx, but don’t most illustrators live in Brooklyn these days? This is a dainty-looking Veronica, but at least her hair’s the right color. As for Peter — well, he’s a nice Jewish boy, once again. How I do prefer Glanzman’s Peter.
Of the three I’ve shown, this one is preferable to me — but still, doesn’t it have an air of “Peter and Veronica, up in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g?” Which would never happen!
Is this what we have to do to sell a book about a boy who becomes friend with his bullying enemy on the cusp of high school?
As a child, I thought this one of the most interesting books ever, and I still think the relationship is sparkling, original, funny, and most of all true. That’s more than I can say for these covers.
Next up — the original Glanzman.
How could anyone not like Veronica?
That’s what this cover says. And indicates: she’s a cutie in pink (as if Veronica Ganz would ever ever wear pink) and she’s got swinging blond locks (like the girl on the current cover) and a come hither look in her eye. And Peter who (like the boy on the current cover) has dark hair (like he never ever would, making me wonder whether he’s been darkened up because he’s supposed to be Jewish. Or is that crazy talk?) Also, Peter is looking kind of disco. It’s hard to imagine his mom ever springing for the satin jacket. Snaps to the illustrator for making this look like New York, with real brownstone, a real stoop, and even a garbage can.
