Here at Flavorwire, we’re suckers for a great book cover — even if that book cover never actually made it into production. After all, it’s not too much of a stretch to imagine that sometimes the best book covers come from those designing without the constraints of publicity departments or authorial preferences. To that end, after the jump you will find a collection of unofficial book covers for famous works — created by students, career designers, or mysterious people on the Internet — that we totally love. Publishing houses, take note: we would buy these if ever we saw them in the pulpy flesh. Did we miss your favorite (or your own)? Link us to more literary design goodness in the comments. … Read More
Roald Dahl
The 25 Books Every Kid Should Have on Their Bookshelf
This month marks the 70th anniversary of one of our favorite children’s books of all time, the beautiful, contemplative novella The Little Prince. To celebrate the book’s legacy (and to encourage any parents currently dragging their feet to get it for their little ones), we’ve put together a list of 25 essential books that every kid should have on his or her bookshelf growing… Read More
10 Celebrities’ Favorite Children’s Books
If you’re a fan of children’s books (or ever were), today is the day to brush them off and take a new look. That’s right, International Children’s Book Day, which falls every year on Hans Christian Andersen’s birthday. To celebrate the day, we recommend curling up with a good picture book. If you need any suggestions, check out the favorite kids’ books of ten famous readers after the jump. What’s your favorite children’s book? Let us know in the comments. … Read More
20 Great Writers on the Art of Revision
It’s a new year, and hopeful souls around the world are working diligently on their plans to revise — their health, their attitudes, their lives. But who knows more about the art of revision than great writers? Prepare to be… Read More
10 Great Authors We Should All Stop Pigeonholing
This week, we read a great article at Slate about Ursula K. Le Guin and the genre distinctions (or lack thereof) in her work. This article portends an even greater event, the publication of Le Guin’s new self-chosen best-of collection, The Unreal and the Real, later this month, so we’ve decided to take a look at Le Guin and other authors who have found themselves neatly boxed and categorized by the collective consciousness — but shouldn’t be. Click through to check out a few great authors we should all really stop pigeonholing, and if we’ve missed one, add to our list in the comments! … Read More
The Seven Deadly Sins in Literature
Today marks the release of Jami Attenberg’s The Middlesteins, a portrait of a woman obsessed with food and the efforts (or non-efforts) of her family to get her eating under control. We can say pretty confidently that the book made us never want to overeat again, and we got to thinking about the other books that make us want to give up our vices. After all, any sin you can dream up has probably been written about, usually by someone French. After the jump, find examples of the seven deadly sins in literature (whether actually deadly or just unfortunate). Indulge in a little naughtiness-by-proxy, and then let us know which sinful characters we missed in the comments. … Read More
Literature’s Greatest Author and Illustrator Duos
Some of our favorite book illustrations have become just as near and dear to our hearts as the stories themselves. What would Winnie-the-Pooh be in our minds without those beautiful drawings of the pleasantly rotund, honey-colored bear? The best illustrator and author collaborations make the text inseparable from the images, to the point where we cannot picture the stories without the pictures, or vice versa. To honor the magical relationship that takes place when the right writer and artist meet, we have rounded up some of our favorite author and illustrator duos of all time after the jump. … Read More
10 Fictional Schools That We’d Love to Attend
We’re huge fans of the campus novel, and this morning we’re adding another great one to our collection: Don Lee’s The Collective, which hits shelves today. The novel, which follows a group of young artists during and after college, got us thinking about all the wonderful houses of learning from books that we wish we could have attended — from grade schools to high schools to college. Though The Collective is set at a real-life school, Macalester College, we’ve narrowed our choices to fictional schools (though some of them may bear more than a passing resemblance to extant houses of learning) to make it a little more fun. Click through to read about ten literary schools where we’d love to study, and let us know where you’d go if you had the chance in the comments. … Read More
A Collection of Brilliant and Inspiring Letters From Famous Authors to Their Young Fans
Earlier this week, we pointed you towards a fantastic letter from Robert Louis Stevenson to a little girl, posted over at Letters of Note, wherein he bequeathed her his birthday. Though we are guilty of being fond of literary ephemera in all of its forms, we have to say that we particularly love reading letters written by authors and sent to their young fans, whether they consist of advice, encouragement, or just gratitude. We think something about the way an author writes to a child is very telling, and even more than that, we know how much of an impact such letters probably had on their recipients, a thought that fills us with warm goodness. Click through to see our small collection of inspiring, cheeky, and lovely letters from famous authors to their young fans — you might just find that they work just as well for kids of all ages. … Read More
10 Important Life Lessons We Learned from Children’s Books
This week, one of our favorite children’s book authors and illustrators of all time, Chris Van Allsburg, turned 63. Allsburg’s books were formative literature for us as children, so to celebrate the author’s birthday, we were inspired to think about all the life lessons we learned from children’s books — both picture books and early chapter books — that still stick with us. After all, the things you absorb at a young age can form the foundation for the person you will become, so we think it’s nice to look back and see if we can trace our morality to an evil French dentist and his dog. Click through for some of the life lessons we learned from our favorite children’s books — and let us know which morals you’ve held onto in the comments. … Read More
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