It seems that now a days YA books are more focused on the romance aspect of relationships, and while that's fine I know there are a lot of readers that prefer things like family, friendship and brotherhoods. There not hard to come by though sometimes one has to look more closely.

I adore families in YA. We all have one and kind of know the process. They are chaotic, sometimes stoic, can be annoying but always loveable. Each person has their own place in the family and that place cannot be filled by anyone but them.

Mari's Favourites

My absolute favourite family, is the Weasley family from Harry Potter. I come from a small household so I'm always fascinated and a little shocked by big families. The Weasley's are perfection. They are rowdy, loving, ginger headed witches/wizards! They aren't the most well off, but money isn't what they live on. Their home is filled with love and that's the most important thing in a family. It's a place where you feel safe and loved.

A more realistic family is in Morgan Matson's Second Chance Summers. It presents a modern family who decide to get away for the summer to their old cottage. The relationship that really stands out in this book, is between the main character and her father. You can see their bond clearly. Taylor was evidently a daddy's girl and it was great to see that relationship. We also get to watch the Edwards family come together in the face of tragedy and it's really refreshing and beautiful to watch.

P.E.'s Choice

Mari already picked my favourite, the Weasley family, and it was pretty hard to think of another really prominent family. 

Then, I remembered White Cat by Holly Black. Cassel is part of a family of "Curse Workers" and he is the only one without any magic. Throughout the series, there is an enormous emphasis on family. Cassel's family is a bit like the mafia because they have all engaged in illegal activity, and Cassel struggles to reconcile loving them and wanting to be good. The forgiveness, the anger, and the knowledge that family will always matter makes the Curse Workers series one of my favourite worlds to visit. 

Who is your favourite literary family?

Covers and cover art. As humans we are really into beauty, the definition of which is blurry. But it is beautiful. We like beauty in everything; our homes, our clothes, our partners and ourselves. Then why not our books. They are filled with beautiful characters and places so why can’t they have beautiful covers?

YA readers and bloggers are very lucky in the sense that YA literature tends to have beautiful covers. They are bright, decorative, artsy, fashionable and plain stunning at times. They call to you. 

"Mari! Pick me, pick me” 

This is great. Books should be beautiful, it’s called marketing. And literature doesn’t need to be plain, especially when the words inside are so colourful.

Covers like these make me facepalm. That poor author worked so hard and he is probably very proud to be published. But somewhere in the peripheral of his mind he's probably wondering why the cover artist chose that cover.

Why Me!?

Of course this isn’t always the case. I mean if simplicity was a cover instead of a word, Stephen Chbosky’s Perks of Being a Wallflower would've taken the medal. Yet, due to the fact that the insides are beautiful, and that Chbosky has created a wonderful story, with dynamic characters. As well as some luck and a dedicated fan following, the book is an all time favourite for many and not to a mention Hollywood movie with Emma Watson!!!

Speaking of Emma Watson, would Harry Potter be what it is today if the cover artists didn’t feel like adding the lighting bolt to the end of the P in Potter? That lightning bolt might have been the reason that little 11 years old boy/girl picked up the book and that lightning bolt might've been the catalyst that started the revolution that is Harry Potter!

The YA section in my library houses one shelf, albeit a large shelf but it's still one shelf. So how is the library so full? What are all the other books? I don’t know.

When I walk down the adult fantasy isle, my favourite genre being fantasy. I can’t find much that I want to pick up, despite the fact that fantasy tends to have more of the interesting covers, may it be YA or adult. Walk down the non fiction aisle and I just might fall asleep, unless there is a book on volcanos; then I might blink a few times.

Point of the story being, JUDGE THE BOOKS BY THEIR COVERS! Do it. I know you do it anyway.

One has every right to judge a book because the book is interesting looking therefore it might be good. I think this gives publishers more of a push in making their books more pleasing to the eyes. If you're going to do it, then do it right. Do justice to those books because that author has worked hard and deserves a book cover that he or she can readily boast about. 

-MARI