Comments on: Chess Rumble by G. Neri, Illustrated by Jesse Joshua Watson

By: caribookscoops

caribookscoops — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 02:30:56 +0000

Natasha!!! I’m excited that to see this review, I know I am little late on the party, but since I was the one who picked it for book club I thought I would chime in.

Technically I am a Reading Coach – meaning I specialize in working with struggling readers and work with teachers across all subjects include reading resource teachers to use reading and support reading in their classrooms. It’s a newer breed of educator and a job I love.

Anyway, I am actually not sure how many teen aged boys in general would be seen walking around with a book except for the book worm type, but this book really hit home to me (as a white middle class woman who has worked with a lot of minority students) and I thought of several students in the past and present who might benefit from and enjoy a book like this.

We have it on our list of books to buy this year for our reading program and I have given the title to our school psychologist because he is looking for books like this – that talk about hard life issues in a way that can reach kids. I don’t think he has had a chance to read it, and he may be a little skeptical because of the chess part, but I think once he gives it a chance he will like it.

By: jesse joshua watson

jesse joshua watson — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:58:45 +0000

Thanks, Natasha! The element I had thought was a tad iffy on the cover was the text treatment. I may have gone much more graffiti style, but the publisher thought that being hard to read would alienate some of the non-urban readers. Hard to tell.

Ellen, I was not bitter nor making judgements on the commenters as you suggested. Critique it fine. I was just clarifying what Natasha said in her post, that this book was not intended to get them to pick it up, but rather urban boys who may not be very into reading. And they said they were middle class white ladies in the post and the comment above, so I was basing it simply on that info. Not trying to stir up a race or class war. Lol.

By: Alipet813

Alipet813 — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 03:20:27 +0000

I kind of like the cover. I asked my Black boyfriend and he said he would have picked it up as a middleschool-ish aged kid. LOL Thank goodness I had a Black dude around. Us middle ages white ladies have NO IDEA!!

By: Susan @ Reading Upside Down

Susan @ Reading Upside Down — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 01:58:16 +0000

Not having read the book myself, the cover seems reasonably appropriate and likely to attract the kinds of readers that the book is targetting.

From your description, I think the format (similar to picture book) and writing style (verse) would perhaps be more likely to alienate the intended readership. My 10 year old son is an enthusiastic and advanced reader, but he recently put aside a fantastic book after only a few pages because he didn’t enjoy the verse format. My daughter loved the book.

By: Ellen Hopkins

Ellen Hopkins — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 01:55:55 +0000

Wow, Jesse… sounds bitter to me. How can you possibly know those commenting are “middle class white ladies?” And, black, white, middle, upper or lower, why is their opinion somehow unworthy. Covers can be critical to a book’s success, and often less can be more. Only time will tell if this cover actually makes enough readers “respond just the way” you hoped. Critique is subjective. Try not to take it so personal.

By: Natasha Maw

Natasha Maw — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 01:55:45 +0000

Jesse – I’m thrilled that you have seen a great response with the book. Although, I personally do feel like the cover wasn’t a great representation of the book, I did like the inside illustrations and you are very talented. As I stated in my review, it’s obvious that I’m not the target audience and was honestly wondering what the response was. I read this book for my book club – all middle class white ladies! Everybody really liked it. One is a middle school reading resource teacher who loved it (she picked it for book club) and is adding the book to her recommended reading book list, another a city librarian who enjoyed it as well. It’s women like these that are discussing the book and how to get it into the hands of the intended audience and wondering how they’d respond.

By: jesse joshua watson

jesse joshua watson — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 01:29:32 +0000

Huh. Several middle class white ladies talking about how they don’t much like the presentation of a book clearly not intended for them. Sounds ok to me.

However for the target audience, the author and I have seen tons of kids respond in just the way we had hoped.

By: Liviania

Liviania — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:57:16 +0000

I don’t much like the presentation of CHESS RUMBLE. I did enjoy G. Neri’s SURF MULES, and while I’m not sure I’d've picked it up on my own, the design more clearly appeals to teen boys.

By: the1stdaughter

the1stdaughter — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 22:05:37 +0000

Interesting…but I’m not sure inner city kids are going to “get” the cover art. I think they may just find it humorous, but what do I know I’m pretty much in your same position. It’s amazing the power of a good cover, truly it can make a book either take front and center or sit on the shelves for years before someone recognizes it’s brilliance.

By: Leigh Russell

Leigh Russell — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 20:33:15 +0000

It’s an eye catching cover but I agree it clearly seeks to attract a narrow target market. That said, I think it’s strong and interesting. If it reflects the content of the book then I’d say it does a good job. I’m very aware of covers right now as my publisher has just selected the design for Road Closed, the second in my series of crime thrillers. I posted the design for Cut Short, the first in my series, on my blog and received lots of helpful comments. I’ll do the same with the cover of Road Closed soon, to see what readers think. It’s quite scary!