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October 19, 2016 by Travis Jonker

These Books Own Their Corner of the Market

October 19, 2016 by Travis Jonker   9 comments

Sometimes a book comes to represent a certain genre or style so completely that every book published afterward that is even remotely similar will be compared to it. It owns its corner of the market. It is the symbol for that particular type of book.

Here are the books I can think of that loom large in their corners of the market. Any to add? Let’s hear it in the comments.

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The Interactive Corner:

Press Here

Press Here by Hervé Tullet

I feel sorry for other books that have interactive elements now. Press Here came and broke that ground, and now every other interactive book has to be resigned to the fact that it will be treated with a shade of skepticism (“Wait – this new book appears to be doing something kinda like Press Here, and yet . . . it’s not Press Here“).

The “A Main Character is Eaten at the End’ Corner:

Hat Back

I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen

Characters were eaten in books before I Want My Hat Back, but if it’s happened in a book since, you can bet it gets compared to Klassen’s modern classic.

The Graphic Novel Memoir Corner:

Smile

Smile by Raina Telgemeier

How can you tell Raina Telgemeier’s books own this corner? Because any time a new book in the same vein arrives, she’s quoted on the cover.

The Diary Corner:

Wimpy Kid 1

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

If it’s illustrated and in diary format, Jeff Kinney’s series is the first thing that folks think of.

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About Travis Jonker

Travis Jonker is an elementary school librarian in Michigan. He writes reviews (and the occasional article or two) for School Library Journal and is a member of the 2014 Caldecott committee. You can email Travis at scopenotes@gmail.com, or follow him on Twitter: @100scopenotes.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. kimbra power says

    October 19, 2016 at 8:52 am

    Wordless Picture Books…Jeannie Baker, David Weisner, Aaron Becker, Molly Idle
    Love your work Travis, thanks for always getting our ideas flowing.
    Kimbra

    • kimbra power says

      October 19, 2016 at 8:53 am

      Wiesner Wiesner Wiesner!!!

    • Travis Jonker says

      October 19, 2016 at 8:54 am

      Thanks, Kimbra! Is there a book that you think most represents wordless picture books? Is there one?

      • Nicholas says

        October 19, 2016 at 10:59 am

        Tuesday. The classic wordless picture book.

      • Anna says

        October 20, 2016 at 1:38 pm

        If you go old school: GOOD DOG CARL etc.

  2. kimbra power says

    October 19, 2016 at 8:59 am

    Free Verse/Novels in Verse…
    I head to Karen Hesse Out of the Dust…
    and now of course Brown Girl Dreaming, The Crossover, Inside Out and Back Again…
    but before these was Love that Dog.

    I LOVE when students are into these books as they are such a niche… so yes for me, Sharon Creech owns this corner of the market.

  3. Jennifer Sniadecki says

    October 19, 2016 at 11:43 am

    The “Death-and-Loss-yet-there’s-Hope” corner, in my opinion, belongs to Dan Gemeinhart. The Honest Truth, followed by Some Kind of Courage.

  4. Betsy Fraser says

    October 19, 2016 at 1:17 pm

    I was asked a reference question today; someone doing a program with police and kids wondered about a picture book that used the police positively (she’s looking for a funny picture book with any kind of first responder) – and all I can think of is Officer Buckle and Gloria. Anyone else?

  5. Jill Bean says

    October 20, 2016 at 10:33 pm

    I think The Monster at the End of the This Book qualifies.

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