Fly on the Wall by E. Lockhart

Gretchen Kaufman Yee considers herself to be a normal girl in her Manhattan High School for the Arts, where everyone is different and special.  An artist with a love for Spiderman and a growing collection of comics, Gretchen makes a wish to be a fly on the wall of the boy’s locker room.  Little does she know she’ll actually end up as a fly, privy to seeing the life of her male classmates from a different point of view, including her crush, Titus.  And by see it all, I mean, ahem, she sees it all.  Hello?  I want to know what happens in boys’ locker rooms too!  The storyline of Fly on the Wall by E. Lockhart is intriguing and told with her vibrant language.  Lockhart is fantastic at creading multi-faceted, believable characters – the kind of quirky girls you’d want to hang out with.

Now I didn’t intend to pick up another E. Lockhart book, but here is our daily lesson in marketing: if you create a recognizable brand and pretty packaging, readers will be inclined to pick up your books.  Lockhart’s books have a signature circle on the spine bearing her name, and the cover colors I have encountered are eye-catching pinks and reds.  Megan McCafferty’s Jessica Darling series also has a distinctive look to it, with the books displaying striped color blocks on the bottom.  I know the idea is not to judge a book by its cover, but let’s face it, we do.  When I moved to my new apartment, I color-coordinated the books in my library, and the kid’s section is way more vibrant that my adult section.  The cheerful colors definitely work to attract readers, and I think they also speak volumes about the fun, exciting, messy, and spectacular stories to be told.

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