After reading Peeps: A Candy Coated Tale by bits and pieces all week, who can blame me for peep-azizing my words at every chance? It’s infectious! The book is using a humor model that gets its laffs (strictly opposed to laughs, mind you) from pounding one conceit over and over. In this case, it’s inserting or overlaying the word peeps into text already familiar to the readers.
Do I know how to sell a book, or what? Thanks, Eileen, what a way to make a goofy book that only wants to be consumed at the same rate as the eponymous candy (i.e. limited) sound as dry as an animal carcass in Death Valley. It’s always death to overanalyze why something’s funny. And this book was funny – spotty in parts, but a hoot, overall. It’s a great example of a library book, in my opinion as well. Gimmicky hardbacks are not a good value, especially humor. They get dated so quickly. Then they just rot in your house.
Do we even need to discuss why this book would be appealing to teens? It’s got a bright, textural cover that sparkles, it’s spoofing our media, celebrity-obsessed culture, and there are pictures of CANDY on every page. Here’s your go-to for a resistant reader, at least while it’s still popular…
Now Postsecret appears to have some staying power. Except at Brooks Library. Despite the catalog’s claims to its availability, it is, sadly, not actually on the shelf here in Brattleboro. And I was so excited that for once my local public library had something I needed for this class. I spent a lot of time at the blog and at amazon.com reading reader comments. Being only able to read the blog made me wonder if perhaps I wasn’t reading the primary text, after all, since the project started online and the book is a best of the web selection.
Could this be the first example of text being online first and then becoming a book? It certainly is a good example of the case for online format as opposed to a book. The blog gets updated all the time and it’s free. The book’s content doesn’t change and it’s…not free. But it looks better on the coffee table!
Anyway, back to the staying power of this phenomenon. This concept is endlessly fascinating – there’s no limit to the amount of secrets that can get posted. It’s very timeless, too. I think it would have been popular in any era. It reassures readers who find others with similar fears and concerns. It makes us realize how similar we are to one another.
2 comments:
Wait, are you saying we shouldn't have Peeps in the library because it will go out of date? Is the value in the amount paid or in the amount used before discard?
No, I mean, a library should buy a trendy book like Peeps, not a kid.
Post a Comment