don't judge an author by his covers

This is me (behind the paper), my co-worker Ginger (left), and author Richard Peck. Why do I so often look slightly sedated in photos? I don't know. But that's beside the point. Richard Peck writes mostly American historical fiction for the 4-8th grade set, which is not my favorite genre, but the writing is so good that I read and enjoy them anyway. Earlier this week, he visited my library. He's an engaging speaker, and I'm glad I got the chance to meet him.

He touched on a few topics, like writing, the subjects of his books, etc., but there was a refrain that ran throughout his talk. Mr. Peck's mission is to bad-mouth his publisher's art department up one side of the country and down the other.

See that look on his face? That's the way he feels about at least 9 out of 10 of his covers. It was pretty funny, if a bit obsessive. The man never gets the covers he asks for, and the books are less appealing as a result. Which is probably true. They're not bad covers, just very sedate. By his telling, the art department ladies have it in for him and give him the exact covers he asks them not to do. For The Teacher's Funeral, for example, he asked for a fist fight, and they gave him a photo of a one-room schoolhouse.

The international examples got truly bizarre. His most famous character is Grandma Dowdel in A Long Way from Chicago, a cantankerous and independent woman living on a farm in Illinois. Yes, she has a shotgun, and yes, she is extremely wary of unexpected visitors who may be salesmen, but it's all very funny. In Japan, the cover for the book looks more like a deleted scene from Deliverance. I couldn't find a close-up graphic, but squint sideways at the above photo and you might get the idea.

Once you leave out the cover ranting, there were only about 20 minutes left of presentation (okay, maybe 30), but it was good. He's a big supporter of libraries and all the research you can do there. One of his most memorable statements for me was (and I paraphrase): people say you should write what you know; forget that. No one wants to hear about what you know. Write about what you can find out.
I like that. I can find out quite a bit.