I’ve been blogging for over three years now, and I know I’ve never gone in for weekly or monthly features before. But, inspired by Erin’s favorite first lines, I have decided (at least for this year) to become a connoisseur of jacket flap copy, in a quest to find what makes an excellent jacket flap. At the end of the month, I’ll pick my top 5, and analyze (ha!) why they work for me. I’ve either copied them from the publisher’s websites or from the jacket flap of the edition I read, depending on how long it was and how much I felt like typing.

I guess I should set up some guidelines. The “perfect” (or at least really good) jacket flap will: be catchy, making me want to open up the book; reflect the tone and style of the book; be accurate — I hate it when blurbs make me believe that there’s more to the book than there really is; and be succinct, nothing overly wordy (the journalist in me comes out again). I’ll probably add to this as the year progresses, for for now that’s a good start.

So, without further adieu, I give you January’s Jacket Flap-a-thon.

My top 5:
5. Ptolemy’s Gate (Hyperion Books for Children): ” Three years have passed since the magician Nathaniel helped prevent a cataclysmic attack on London. Now an established member of the British Government, he faces unprecedented problems: foreign wars are going badly, Britain’s enemies are mounting attacks close to London, and rebellion is fermenting among the commoners. Increasingly imperious and distracted, Nathaniel is treating Bartimaeus worse than ever. The long-suffering djinni is growing weak and vulnerable from too much time in this world, and his patience is nearing its end. Meanwhile, undercover in London, Kitty has been stealthily completing her research on magic, demons, and Bartimaeus’s past. She has a plan that she hopes will break the endless cycle of conflict between djinn and humans. But will anyone listen to what she has to say? In this thrilling conclusion of the Bartimaeus trilogy, the destinies of Bartimaeus, Nathaniel, and Kitty are thrown together once more. For the first time, we will learn the secrets of Bartimaeus’s past, and get a glimpse into the Other Place — the world of demons — as together, the threesome must face treacherous magicians, unravel a masterfully complex conspiracy, and defeat a formidable faction of demons. And worst of all, they must somehow cope with one another….”

I thought this one captured the essence of the book quite well. You’ve got Bartimaeus as a weakening djinni, you’ve got a reference to Ptolemy, and to Kitty’s adventures with Bartimaeus. It’s not as catchy as I’d like, but I think it does a fairly good job drawing you in. I’d want to read this one. (Though, I have to admit, that if I hadn’t read the other two, I don’t know if I’d be as eager.)

4. Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow (Bloomsbury): “Blessed—or cursed—with an ability to understand animals, the Lass has always felt estranged from her family, who struggle to make a living in the windswept north. So when an isbjorn (polar bear) seeks her out and promises that her family will be provided for if she accompanies him to his castle, she doesn’t hesitate. But the great white bear is not what he seems, nor is his castle. Slowly the Lass unravels the mystery of the bear’s enchantment and the spell connecting him with the strange symbols carved in the castle’s icy walls. But on a journey to a place where the four winds fear to travel, the true horror of the bear’s spell is revealed, and the Lass’s courage—and love—will be tested.”

I was torn about this one — it’s an excellent blurb for a book I wasn’t overly thrilled with. But, in the end, I chose it because it made me really want to read the book. And so it did it’s job well, even if the book was less than I wanted.

3. Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little (Schwartz & Wade Books): “It isn’t as if Moxy hasn’t tried to read Stuart Little. She has. They’ve been practically inseparable all summer, like best friends. If the book isn’t in her backpack, it’s in her lap. If it isn’t holding up the coffee table on the front porch, it’s following Moxy into the pool. So you see, it isn’t as if they haven’t spent quality time together. But now it’s the end of August. The last day before fourth grade starts. The last possible second to finish summer reading. And if Moxy does not stay in her room and read ALL of Stuart Little, there will be “consequences.” (Which means she won’t get to play the eighth daisy petal in the “Goodbye to Summer Splash!” water ballet. Which will be tragic.)”

I liked that this one picked up the tone of the book. It’s a cute blurb for a cute book. (And it makes me smile.)

2. Omnivore’s Dilemma (Penguin Books): “Today, buffeted by one food fad after another, America is suffering from what can only be described as a national eating disorder. Will it be fast food tonight, or something organic? Or perhaps something we grew ourselves? The question of what to have for dinner has confronted us since man discovered fire. But as Michael Pollan explains in this revolutionary book, how we answer it now, at the dawn of the twenty-first century, may determine our survival as a species. Packed with profound surprises, The Omnivore’s Dilemma is changing the way Americans think about the politics, perils and pleasures of eating.”

This was on the back of the paperback version, but I liked it mostly because it was short. Jacket flaps for adult books tend to go on and on and on…. but this one is quick and succinct, and gets across the importance of Pollan’s argument.

1. Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! (Candlewick): “Varlets, Vermin, Simpletons, Saints — in these pages, readers will meet them all. There’s Hugo, the lord’s nephew, forced to prove his manhood by hunting a wild boar, a beast whose tusks can “slice a man, groin to gorge.” There’s sharp-tongued Nelly, who supports her family by catching and selling live eels, and the peasant’s daughter, Mogg, whose downtrodden mother teachers her how to save a cow from a greedy landlord. There’s also mud-slinging Barbary and her noble victim, Isobel; Giles, the talented beggar; Alice, the singing shepherdess; and more. With a deep appreciation for the period and a grand affection for both characters and audience, Laura Amy Schlitz has created a series of riveting portraits. Read silently or performed before an audience, the collective voices tell an unforgettable human story about what it took to survive in the Middle Ages. Robert Byrd’s insightful pen-and-ink drawings take inspiration from an illuminated thirteenth-century manuscript. Together, illustrator and author have constructed an exquisite bridge to the people and places of medieval England.”

This one is excellent. It captures the feel of the book — medieval England — and points out that they are a series of short plays. And it mentions the absolutely beautiful illustrations. Perfect.

The worst one (you didn’t want to read 5, anyway):
Matilda (Puffin Books): “‘The Trunchbull’ is no match for Matilda! Who put superglue in Dad’s hat? Was it really a ghost that made Mom tear out of the house? Matilda is a genius with idiot parents – and she’s having a great time driving them crazy. But at school things are different. At school there’s Miss Trunchbull, two hundred menacing pounds of kid-hating headmistress. Get rid of the Trunchbull and Matilda would be a hero. But that would take a superhuman genius, wouldn’t it?”

AAAHHH! I don’t know what I would have done with Matilda, but this isn’t it. It’s horrid. It’s banal. It’s stupid. Yeah, it’s the basic plot, but it doesn’t make me want to read the book. (It sounds stupid.) And the book is wonderful.