But it was an altogether different story in the US, where the cover turned out like this, which is well, frankly, a lie. And racist.

The publishers have relented, and in October, it becomes this:

This story isn’t new. It’s been going on for weeks and we have tweeted it and mentioned it before. But the fact that it is still going on, now in the mainstream press rather than the blogosphere, makes it worth noting again here.

Follow the story, first with the author’s blogged unhappiness and apparent powerlessness, then the good news and finally some of the mainstream commentary here, here, here and here.

It’s an important victory and one in which the blogging world of children’s and adolescent literature played no small part in achieving.

Been doing a lot of reading. As you do in this game. But not just YA books. Plenty of recent adult award winners, books for younger readers, newspapers and magazines. Not to mention the online stuff. And something is really beginning to bring out the inner pedant.

Books for the ‘adult reader’, newspapers, magazines and books for younger readers have the occasional typo or editing issue. They are there, but not often. Picture books, hardly ever. But YA? It seems to be the norm rather than the exception lately that there is at least one (but often more) glaring error in each title. And it’s not just local. A couple of major international award winners have had mistakes leap out that are at best annoying, and at worst disrupt the flow of the narrative.

A few examples, just from memory, but they stick in the mind. No names, no pack drill:

• Homonyms: how hard is it to check whether the correct word is ’slither’ or ’sliver’ (twice in two pages) or ‘discretely’ / ‘discreetly’? Although the ’s’ words aren’t even homonyms if you listen hard.
• Spelling: if a word like ‘gazumped’ is in the text on several occasions, please spell it correctly.
• Checkable facts: Even Wikipedia will do to check the name of the protagonist of a landmark 20th century novel when it is used in an intertextual reference. Or the postcode book for the correct spelling of one of Sydney’s best-known suburbs, both wrong throughout.
• Grammar: ‘he went with x and I’.
• Proofing: the singular ‘woman’ used when the sentence clearly requires the plural. Or a novel that depends on font differentiation in the narrative forgetting to apply it, causing confusion.

Why is it so? I’m not blaming the authors – their job is to write an engaging narrative. But something is not right, and is it fair to our YA audience not to offer excellence in all aspects of their reading experience? Or doesn’t it matter?

Image used under Creative Commons licence.

Not only is the story available in the written form, Valente is providing an audio of her own reading. Rather liking the idea of a Leopard of Little Breezes, we share the beginning paragraphs:

Once upon a time, a girl named September grew very tired indeed of her father’s house, where she washed the same pink and yellow teacups and matching gravy boats every day, slept on the same embroidered pillow, and played with the same small and amiable dog. Because she had been born in May, and because she had a mole on her left cheek, and because her feet were very large and ungainly, the Green Wind took pity on her, and flew to her window one evening just after her eleventh birthday. He was dressed in a green smoking jacket, and a green carriage-driver’s cloak, and green jodhpurs, and green snowshoes. It is very cold above the clouds, in the shanty-towns where the Six Winds live.

“You seem an ill-tempered and irascible enough child,” said the Green Wind. “How would you like to come away with me and ride upon the Leopard of Little Breezes, and be delivered to the great sea which borders Fairyland? I am afraid I cannot go in, as Harsh Airs are not allowed, but I should be happy to deposit you upon the Perverse and Perilous Sea.”

Valente is seeking donations to keep the writing flowing, but is making the story available regardless.

And it was the Chasing Ray blog that drew our attention to this initiative.

Colleen Mondor of the Chasing Ray blog says it all.

As far as YA book covers go, the following are in contention:

• At Seventeen (written by Celeste Walters, cover design by Stella Danalis)
• Hamlet, a novel (written by John Marsden, cover design by Chong Wengho)
• Kill the Possum (written by James Moloney, cover design by Marina Messiha)
• Screw Loose (written by Chris Wheat, cover design by Bruno Herfst)
• Something in the World Called Love (written by Sue Saliba, cover design by Allison Colpoys)

We are not sure when the winners will be announced, but we will keep you posted. Meanwhile, a display and poll amongst your readers might see who agrees with the judges’ final decision. Check the other categories, too.

How does it work? Simple. Original new writing. A chapter a week. Syndicated to newspapers, mostly in the US.

The Papertigers story is in the context of Newbery winner Linda Sue Park’s latest work, A Long Walk to Water. Based on the true story of a Sudanese refugee, the novel will be serialised over coming weeks in many US papers. We will probably have to be tantalised by the sample chapters.

There is no point in trying to paraphrase Aline’s concise description of the Breakfast Serial’s mission. Here, read her for yourself and explore the Serials site to discover other gems. If anyone is aware of an Australian newspaper running Breakfast Serials, please let us know. The site mentions Australia, but the link is not active.

If serialisation was good enough for Dickens, it’s good enough for us.

Take a stroll through Corling’s other imaginings while you are there: Lemony Snicket, Pacman, The Horrors of Literature …