Prepositions and Pronouns Contest


Kenny Brechner - August 24, 2017

Young adult book trends often start out like an unlooked for thunderstorm, a few sprinkles here and there and then the heavens open. One new trend we’ve noticed at DDG are book titles featuring little more than a preposition modifying a personal pronoun. Though there were earlier titles, such as This Is What I Did, by Anne Dee Ellis, I trace this trend back to the success of Gail Forman’s If I Stay. It began to pick up steam with titles like We All Looked Up, by Tommy Wallach. A quick perusal of our Upper and Lower YA sections indicated that the deluge is upon us.

What to Say Next, Julie Buxbaum
Before I Let Go, Nijkamp Marieke
Before I Fall, Lauren Oliver
All I Need, Susane Colasanti
I Was Here, Gayle Forman
None of the Above, I. W. Gregorio
We All Looked Up, Tommy Wallach
This is Really Happening, Erin Chack
Once and for All, Sarah Dessen
Everything I Never Told You, Celeste Ng
This is but a small sampling taken from what we had in stock today. The real challenge comes in finding a way to honor this trend by creating a blurb entirely out of potential new titles in the genre that would be apropos for any of them. I had a go at it here.
“About all they lost. There was nothing now. He had been. The end of their story. After she left. The Days that were. As they knew them. The days that are. What is now. A different known. A different then. Fans of My Always One will be all eyes upon this terrific new book.”
Have a go at a blurb yourself below! (The sentences can represent real or made up titles) The best blurb will receive a special prize along with a congratulatory note written in title phrases.

4 thoughts on “Prepositions and Pronouns Contest

  1. Pam Tallmadge

    None of the Above
    Before I let go
    all I need once and for all-
    what to say next this
    is really happening
    I was
    here everything
    I never told you before
    We all looked
    up
    I fall.

    Reply
  2. Annette Rey

    In spirited spite of. Because of them. All they went. Over the up. Instead of down. Into the forward. For all that smiles. Readers will wash their tears away with After the Evermore.

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Michelle Singer Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *