German Uglies

Posted on by scott

Okay, you’ve had to sit through me getting my cranky on in my last post. So here’s something much more happy-making:

Yes, it’s the German covers of the Uglies trilogy.

In a funny way, these are the most “realistic” of the covers for the trilogy. The model for Ugly looks like a real girl. Her skin is a bit freckly, her eyes a bit small. Not that she isn’t pretty, but she’s definitely not a pretty.

But the image for Pretty is almost freakish. As I’ve often said, if we saw a pretty here in our world, we’d probably find them a bit weird and exaggerated. Plastic sugery arms races tend to go in strange directions, after all. (Warning: Following that link risks severe eyeball damage.)

And Special is the best of all. It takes the exact same face and makes it totally mean. Sort of like a Chucky doll with tattoos.

Casting your eyes over all three faces, you see the subtle change in expression that mirror Tally’s journey, from curious ugly to vacant pretty to imperious, cruel Special. How cool is that?

Big props to the designers over at Carlsen, the German publishers of Uglies.

By the way, does anyone know a German-language reason why the titles are singular?

127 thoughts on “German Uglies”

  1. That’s amazing. I like the special one the best. The pretty one REALLY creeps me out. Like that thing you posted months ago with the photo shop touch-ups on little girls.

    Will they have as cool a homepage as “die Midnighters” did? Becuase I could stand to wade through a web-page of German for a few more hours, just for the heck of it.

  2. Maybe it’s an uber typo. And they didn’t want to fix it. Lazy Germans.

    (that was a joke. No offense to any hard working Germans out there…)

    But they look really cool.

  3. Oh and the words below the titles apparently read ‘do not lose your face,’ ‘recognize your face,’ and ‘show your true face’ in that order. Other then the first one, I’m not sure how those really fit, but ok.

  4. wow! i like those covers! and, yes, way better than ours, not that i don’t like ours… but it’s cool that you can see the changes…
    *my goal has been accomplished! 1st to post! Woohoo!*

  7. Like that thing you posted months ago with the photo shop touch-ups on little girls.”

    Ooooh, yeah, I remember that. I was showing it to one of my friends a while ago to demonstrate the thinking behind Uglies (and encourage her to read it :D). That and the symmetrical faces. (Heeeeee, we had fun with that one, too.) And the facial averaging. The pretty looks to me like a combination of facial averaging and eye-enlargement.

  8. LOve the Specials one!

    I guess Germans don’t use plorals!

    Pretties is creepy!

    Why are there arrows on Tally’s face? WHY!!! 🙁

  10. Wow this is awesome!! No offense but they are way cooler than our covers. or at least more straight forward. Where is this mysterious post with the photoshop girls?!? I want to see this. They really are awesome. Dont get me wrong, i DO like the American covers. just i like this one more. where can i find more foreign covers???

  11. O and also i followed that link with the weird plastic surgery and Scott you were right. My eyes feel like their on fire (or maybe that feeling is from getting shampoo on my contact..) anywayz its deeply disturbing, not for the faint at heart.

  13. And the lines on her face are plastic sugery lines. Yes, the surgeons draw on you before they slice you up.

    Like my grandma always says, “Measure twice, cut once.”

  14. Yeah mine said that too (but she was talking about sewing clothes.)
    The ugly has the same eyebrows as me (really bushy.)

  15. wow… Those are some incredible covers. I really like how it’s almost a cycle, you can see the change in each one. Sort of like a “before and after” deal on those extreme makeover shows.

    But I must say that the Pretties cover reminds me of a Barbie.

  16. Wow, Scott. That’s just…totally icy-making.

    The Pretties one makes me want to bury my head under my pillow for a century or so. I know Tally talks about how when you look into Pretty eyes, you feel happy and warm and fuzzy…but all I’m feeling is a need to claw my eyes out.

    And the Specials one is officially the most amazing cover ever. (Even if the American version DOES offer a better idea of what flash tattoos are like…)

    As for the Uglies one…I remember seeing some show on MTV in the wee hours of the morning during one of my common bouts of insomnia. I usually don’t watch MTV, so why I stayed on that channel for more than a second or so, I have no clue. Anyways, it was all about these people, ranging anywhere from eighteen to up in their sixties, who were all getting plastic surgery for some reason or another. I distinctly remember it showing the surgeons drawing on them to this day.

    In any case, cool covers. Thanks for showing them, Scott.

  17. the pretty cover freaks me out! i have no idea why they are singular, but the covers are cool. i like the ugly and special covers the best!!

  18. if we could have the american uglies and pretties, but the german specials, that would be so0o0o0o0o0o cool!

  19. i also have a question! (not related to topic!)

    why does the post day say the 14th, when it is only the 13th? i’ve been wondering about that ever since i started reading the blogs.

  20. but then i had an idea. maybe it is australia time and date. if it is, or isn’t, could you tell me.

  21. It’s already the fourteenth over there in Australia. I’ve got a friend who lives over there, and we’ve constantly gotten confused over when is a good time to chat with one another due to the major time differences.

    Ha. We make New Years Eve…and Day…an interesting event.

  22. Uhhh. Germans definitely have plurals, but I don’t know if they have plural adjectives. Either way, really awesome covers Scott. The Special one and the Ugly ones are my favorites. The Pretty one looks like a doll.

  24. Those words are informal plurals in English without an article in front of them, which is an understood grammatical work of slang here but in Deutschland might require a more gender-specific application to be understood correctly. Using the English word on the German cover gives it a similar sense of its use (without resorting to THE Uglies, THE Pritties, THE Specials, making them sound like bands). This avoids using “wrong” English words on a public who might not be inclined to pick up a book with a grammatically incorrect (in their eyes) title.

    Scott, have you seen how the words are translated in the book? Do they translate literally, leave them in English? That might be a clue as to why they went with the singular on the cover.

  26. Shiz. I went and looked at the Becky Carter site. I don’t think I’d seen that one. They’ve really got the vacant stare thing going there. Not one of those women/little girls looks alive. The photos of the children are especially disturbing.

  27. I think David is probably right in his reasoning as to why they changed the titles. The only other reason would be that they made a mistake, or thought the original title was a mistake. Seems like they should have translated the titles into German as well…

  28. I remember hearing something about a grammatical rule with titles, but I may be wrong about that. I thought that I heard that book titles aren’t generally plural, though.

  30. ohh those are sooo fawesome!!!!!!!! they are way cooler than the american ones (aren’t they all?) the pretty one is really creepy, like a drugged barbie. and the special one is cool but kinda reminds me of the grudge instead of chuckie.
    and are you on a post roll?? i came on yesterday and now there are 3 new ones!!

  31. I love the covors! I do think the eyes on pretties are a little too big, kinda creepy. But I definately love them.

  32. Uh…

    The Pretties cover person really, really freaks me out. Her eyes are, like, huge and she looks like she’s made of plastic–like a Barbie. I think the Specials cover turned out the best–she looks pretty but has that creepy look to her.

    So, yeah. And, Heather Wade, I’ve never heard that about books. Are you sure?

    (and is it just me or has this blog gotten CROWDED?)

    -Topaz

  33. Topaz, you stole what I wanted to say! The Pretty cover girl’s eyes are HUGE. They literally look bigger than her mouth. I like the Ugly and Special ones, though.
    Topaz: I think that Heather was talking about in German. Not English (or we’d all be doomed).

  35. Hm… does anyone else notice that the arrows on the Uglies cover indicate the eyebrows being lifted and then in the Pretties they appear to be in the same spot? (Save for maybe moved a tad further apart, maybe?)

  38. I love our covers, because the eyes are such a main focus on them, but these are so cool because they really fit how Uglies, Pretties and Specials look. on our covers, they don’t. like on the cover of pretties, they have little eyes and crazy hair that they wouldn’t be allowed to have.

  42. ooooo i honestly think that these covers are the best yet and yeah, they do look the most realistic according to the book (as in- they look almost exactly like i pictured when reading the book) and you can REALLY tell the differance as she changes

  43. I don’t like the specials cover because i think they OVER did it. She’s still supposed to be beautiful, you know? Just a slight bit of cruelness. That girl is.. blue. Remember how Tally couldnt understand exactly why Dr. Cable was freaking her out so much? The creepiness of German Special is very obvious. Like.. in your face creepyness. I like our covers actually. They leave more to the imagination. =)

  44. Those covers are so cool! Are the arrows on Tally’s face saying that her nose is too big, and all of the lines ar the things they are changing? Ah, I see. Higher eyebrows, bigger eyes (she is called Squint afterall), and a smaller nose. That’s really cool! I love those covers.

  45. Shelby, you’re forgetting that since she’s one of the cutters, they can look any way they want. Dr. Cable isn’t a cutter, so she looks like all of the other specials. But Tally, Shay, Fausto, ect can get all of the freaky tattoos and surge they want. Therefore, you can probably tell why they freak you out.

  47. Does anyone know the graphic design company that created the covers of Uglies, Pretties, and Specials (American covers)?

  48. By the way, I always thought that the american covers of the Uglies trilogy were of real people…*sigh* It wasn’t until a friend of mine pointed it out that I thought twice.

  49. That is so cool. Why does North America always have the lamest covers? I absolutely love those. Wow…just wow.

  50. I’m really liking the subtitles–
    for Uglies, it says something roughly translateable to “do not lose your face.” For Pretties, it’s “recognize your face.” And for Specials, it’s “show your true face.”

  51. the pretty’s one kind of looks like on of those creepy porcelin dolls that my omah has(well she is german..ohma and all)

    i like how in specials they make the base color blue-the color for suspense-it really adds to the dramatic effect.

  52. um idk why but ill ask my german uncle that speaks german alot. well im not really liking the pretty/special people. its a little to chuckyish. and the last one looks a little more goth than i pictured but I really like the subtitles

  53. ShellTheShark- I agree that the eyes in our covor should be a little bit bigger; however, I don’t think that the hair is crazy. I think it’s just a red light shining on the hair. Not sure though.

  54. hey scott,

    the above explanation about requiring an article isn’t quite right. germans do add an “ie” or “eee” sound to the end of a noun or noun phrase to make it a sort of cutesy nickname, just like we do in English–and like you did with “uglies” and “pretties”.

    they shorten the word to its first syllable then add the “eee” sound. “nazis” is a good example. it’s short for “national socialist”. “national” in german is pronounced “nah tzio nahl” or “nazi” for short.

    yes, they use it with an article, but if someone were to title a book ‘nazis”, sans article, no one would blink an eye.

    i think the real reason might be that they don’t tend to turn adjective complements into nouns. don’t take my word for this. grammar books tend to be basic, so i couldn’t find information on this, but in english we take an adjective complement and freely turn it into a noun (ugly; she is ugly, she is AN ugly).

    this sort of thing makes instant grammatical sense to an english speaker, so that when you coin new nouns using adjectives (or verbs, or adverbs, or …) you are immediately understood.

    germans don’t do that. you can turn any adjective complement into a noun grammatically, by adding a noun ending, but then your adjective will mean “the [adjective] ones”. e.g. “ugly” = “haesslich” -> “die haesslichen” = “the ugly ones”, which is not the same as “uglies”.

    in any case, the meaning of the coinage in english wouldn’t be accessible to germans, and the direct translation (hasslichis; hubschis) is terminally awkward sounding.

  56. omg I love them! I just like that you can tell they’re all the same person but look completely different. A lot better than the American cover though the American covers are tons better than most international covers. The specials one is my favorite!

  57. I do love the German covers more than the American ones. On the Special cover, the tattoo looks moreintricate and interesting.

  58. Those covers look awesome. But I still prefer the American ones. I’m not sure I would be able to stand looking at the Pretties or Specials covers every time I picked the thing up to read. I might, you know, claw my eyes out.
    So I’m doing this article for my high school newspaper, and I emailed you about it, but I’m not sure you answer your e-mail, because some authors don’t. So I thought I’d mention here also that I’m looking to get a quick e-mail interview.
    preferably before my advisor eats me alive.
    thanks. let me know at writer_chick18@yahoo.com

  59. the pretty realy reminds me of GEMMA WARD so i guess there really are natural pretties in the world

    funny cuz i always pictured the pretties to look like gemma

  60. I agree with writer_chick, i like the American covers better. The german Uglies looks normal, but Pretty looks creepy beyond reason, and special looka too gothic. And whats with the sayings, they don’t make much sense.

  61. Those lines on her face on the Uglies cover indicate that her nose is too big. But in the book Tally told David her nose was too small. Anybody else notice that.

  63. i know im slow i didnt post yesterday but i love the covers we need more germans i like the covers more they make more sense

  64. after looking at the pretty for a while, it seems normal to me. Thats probobaly what happens with the futuristic society when they first saw the pretties.
    One question though, do all pretties have the same color hair??? exact same body?

  66. Those. Are. So. Fool.
    I like how they are the same person in the same pose.
    Why are the american covers so bogus?
    i may buy the English one just for fun.
    Can we please see the ALL the covers? that would be so icy.
    Please post the first three chapters of EXTRAS.
    Today I got a new skate board (i WILL stab you 13 times with a rusty nail if you call it a sk8board)

  67. The girl on the Pretties cover looks like a dolfie…I’ll never be able to look at them the same again. *shudders*

    But the German cover-makers did a fantastic job, I’m really impressed with how they turned out. The English versions of this series don’t really show that transformation (from non-plastic surgery to the extreme of it) so being able to see it on the cover is really…I dunno, it just hits you the lengths the people in the book go to ‘fit in’ and be ‘pretty’ etc. I also really like how the skin tones change, from more earthy tones to plasticy pink to frosty blue, it reflects the nature of the people a lot. I love, love, LOVE how they did the titles! Because I’m weird I can actually see them rotating on an axis when I look at the three books. Question though, isn’t “Extras” a part of this series? Or did I mis-read something, somewheres?

    I remember someone in my school did their Extended Essay for IB on the ‘perfect face’ (or most attractive, I forget now) and how people thought that (I think she only did women, but I could be wrong) the women who were more attractive were the ones whose facial features held the golden ratio (…or something else mathematical along those lines, it appears in spirally shells and nature…)

  68. Hm… Hey, Scott, I have a question about Pretty surgery! So, in Interior Design/Housing class, we learned about the 3/5 rule that applies to all design scenarios, not just buildings and stuff. The idea is that things look “off” to the eye if they do not have a ratio of 3 on top and 5 on bottom, or the 3/5 rule. Does that apply in your futuristic society?

  69. Oh my god I totally really love those covers! Alot! I wish I could read German just to have those books and be able to read them!

  70. wow. number 70?

    anyway.
    omygosh i love the special one! probably because she looks a bit emo. plus the blue tinge sort of highlights the icyness of it all.

  71. Wow i’ve just learned so much about the German language it makes me very very very happy. All i know about it spanish i don’t even think i know that much about spanish or english. Thanx for the lesson guys. And i do like the German covers i prefer our version of specials and uglies though. Our cover for uglies looked kinda scared like you could see her feeling not comfortable with the way she looked you know you could connect with her insecurites but this one it is just very literal and she looks kinda aggresive and i don’t recall tally as being aggresive in the first book. But their cover for Pretties was good.

  75. I think that the titles are in singular form, because their only referring to Tally herself.

  76. i like the american covers better!

    p.s. have you seen the brittish covers? they dont even go with the story!!!!!

  78. I really like the germans covers, especially Specials. Indeed, they’re more realistic. France has only uglies for now, and it’s the same cover as England.

  79. grrr… why dont you write a mew post! i am like going to ur blog every day waiting for a new one (yes that is how boring my summer is). still tho is it so much to ask. anyway i really like the covers. the specials one especially (he he). ooo, where can i see the french uglies Virginie????

  80. They’re all gorgeous, really. Why can’t the American versions be just as gorgeous? (Not that they aren’t gorgeous already).

    On a completely unrelated note (but at the same time kinda related) I just received my summer reading list a few days back. I can read uglies.
    AS A GRADE.-dies- And then all my friends got to hear me going on and on about how “you should really read Uglies it’s amazing it’s such a good book it’s a lot better than it sounds it’s really not that long!”

    So. Yeah.

  81. CCC RRRRR YY YY
    CCC CC RR RR YY YY
    CCC RR R YYYY
    CC RR RR YY
    CCC RRRR YY
    CCC CC RR RR YY
    CCC RR RR YY

    i dont get to see the 1st three chapters of EXTRAS before i go to camp for 2 weeks

    sorry for the uber obnoxios post

  84. @ Bri-la, the french uglies cover is just like the american one, and not the english one (sorry for my mistake above:o)) We’re not really original for covers in France, but fortunatelly we keep the original covers for books for young people and children. Book covers for adults are usually “uglies” hihihi

  85. Hey scott…

    Those covers are cool, I love seeing the transitions between them. I speak German but I wouldn’t be able to explain that grammar rule if I tried, Claire did a good job in post 54. It’s because you can’t take a word in German and convert it into plural (normally we do that by adding “n” or “en” to the end of the word) without adding an article (Die is for plural, pronounced “dee”). Like Claire said, Die Haesslichen would mean the ugly ones.

  86. I’m back from Nationals!! And now I have 2 go read the posts 2 make sure I havent missed anything!!

  87. Hey Scott,

    This just came to my head. I was wondering if Extras will be hardcover or not? Please reply.

  89. i LOVE the german covers…especially the one for special… i think i’m gonna buy these books…even if they are in german…just because i love the covers soooo much… if anyone else shares in my insanity…just go to amazon.de and search for Ugly – Verlier nicht dein Gesicht von Scott Westerfeld…

  90. just in case anyone was wondering i haven’t actually bought them…yet…but i think i’m gonna ask my bf to get them for me for my birthday…which isn’t till november 🙁

  91. It was Volleyball nationals. A tournament in Orlando…. our team went, it was so much fun!!

    When are you going 2 post some of the Extra’s?? I cant wait!!

  92. WOW that’s so kool. I was hoping you were going to say volleyball because that’s my sport! weird but kool. I’m also in a volleyball team.
    Anyway, can’t you at least tell us something about Extras, Scott? I’m dying here…….

  93. Nah, Tally went from curious ugly to vacant pretty to emo girl who fell in a freezing pond.
    But I think the covers are cool. I like ours better though.

  97. honestley i havent seen a special cover that really catches how scary a special would look like… the covers i’ve seen mostly catch the elegance of a special

  99. Hey peyton! i agree.
    that the specials is sort of cool but not as predator/wolf/scary as previously imagined.
    i guess thats so we’re not too freaked out to buy the book.

    but if someone just saw the book pretty? by itself?
    man it’d be awkward.

  100. Hey peyton! i agree.
    that the specials is sort of cool but not as predator/wolf/scary as previously imagined.
    i guess thats so we’re not too freaked out to buy the book.

    but if someone just saw the book pretty? by itself?
    man it’d be awkward.
    especially if you were a guy.

  101. Yeah I agree with Jess, it would be weird if you were a guy and there was a book called pretty in front of you with a scary looking girl on it!! But thats because they don’t know what it’s about!! But if they knew what it was about I bet they would read it!! lol

  102. I’m weird, then, I guess.

    I actually thought all three of them looked pretty?

    In different ways, of course. Like…
    The Ugly cover looks the most realistic. (aka she’s normal-pretty)
    The Pretty cover is, like mentioned before, basically a human Barbie doll. Which is creepy, but hey, some people COULD see it as pretty.
    The Special cover is pretty in the way that it’s not like.. traditional pretty. Which sounds really weird, but I’m not good at explaining stuff. Like, she’s pretty ’cause she’s different, she’ll stand out. Something like that?

    In other news: at least three of my friends are reading Uglies for our summer reading thing. I’m trying to get more people to read it. Any tips?

  103. I get what ur saying Meg-la, I just thought the girl on the pretty cover looked fake, like a barbie, thats why she looks so scary 2 me!! And if ur trying 2 get peopole 2 read the books, talk only about the books around them, and when they talk about something else, relate it 2 the books. then if they want 2 talk 2 u about something, they will have 2 read the books!! I did that without realizing it, and all of my friends have read them!! It may seem weird but I swear it works!

  104. Jessie, the team i’m in is a high school team. I will now be in varsity since i was in JV and i have to say, Congratz to you for making it to nationals, that’s really awesome. I’m not playing yet since it’s not volleyball season here yet but our team is really good.
    And about the Pretty cover: Yes, you wouldn’t call it pretty but the cover does show a Barbie, which is what pretty perfection is. I mean, isn’t a barbie supposed to have everything perfect, the right height and posture. However, the cover does not give off what the book is about when you see it. Especially what Jess said since it would be weird if someone saw it a it and it just said Pretty.

  105. Jessie, the team i’m in is a high school team. I will now be in varsity since i was in JV and i have to say, Congratz to you for making it to nationals, that’s really awesome. I’m not playing yet since it’s not volleyball season here yet but our team is really good.
    And about the Pretty cover: Yes, you wouldn’t call it pretty but the cover does show a Barbie, which is what pretty perfection is. I mean, isn’t a barbie supposed to have everything perfect, the right height and posture. However, the cover does not give off what the book is about when you see it. Especially what Jess said since it would be weird if someone saw it a it and it just said Pretty.

  106. i think the cover for pretties isnt very inviting. when i look at the cover its kinda creepy and extreme… new pretties are supposed to look vulnerable and wel beautiful but i dont think the cover does… but i understand that in future times extremes will be considered beautiful even if they arent now…and plus i think the pretties cover focuses too much on the eyes… it is an ok cover reeally but i had to point out those things… i’m too picky about little things lol

  107. claire,

    thanks for the follow-up and clarification on the grammar issue. my german is 20 years rusty and once you spelled it out, yes, it all came rushing back.

    i do still think it comes down to maintaining the “feel” of the original titles and their meanings, even if the grammar explanation was off.

  108. I was watching a History Channel thing on Caligula of all things, and I saw several pictures of him done at the time that have these same exaggerated features as you’ve described and you had posted here.

    I couldn’t find the actual picture they showed, but I took a look, and this was interesting:

    http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/06/wae/hob_1998.69,1999.99.htm

    They showed several things that look like it, with those eyes and stuff.

  109. What I looove about these covers is it shows a journey. All the pictures are of the same girl!

  110. i love it!!! is that a real girl for the pretty and special ones? i HAVE to buy a copy of all three! they’re flawsem 🙂

  112. These covers are my favorites out of all of them. Especially the Pretties one. I think it represents what they looked like the best.

  113. I like those, though not as much as I like the American ones…I guess I’m just old school like that…hehehe…
    Out of those three I like Specials the best. It’s just spunky, “icy”, and just so…Special-ish…ish. ^_^

  114. These are the BEST covers i’ve seen!! Why can’t we have cool ones like these?! And you’re right, the covers do reflect each book.

  115. I actually think I like these covers better then the American ones, because it really does perfectly represent Tally’s “evolution” from book to book. It took me FOREVER to realize that Tally wasn’t actually ugly… she was just a normal girl who was taught she was ugly because she didn’t look like everyone else. Kind of like Dr. Dr. Suess having a “star upon thars”;) In our world standards, Tally probably would be a pretty girl!

  116. i think it makes sense that they put the adjectives singularly. because… after the germans read it (i’m just sorta guessing here, i take french and quite frankly… i, personally find german to be an ugly language. (sorry german people)) and find out that pretties is a noun…they’ll be like… oh! the title is pretty because tally is a pretty in this book!
    idk. i could be totally off. just thought i’d put my two cents in.

  117. i wouldnt kno bout do singular or pulural thing but no doubt the picture of Pretties is like he descries them..big pleading eyes, or watever…if u stare at it long enough its not that bad…

  118. I seem to have created a new goal for your works… I now want to read the Trio in all the languages available. If not read them, then have them displayed like a frakin 1st place trophy to say that the German covers are by far the most accurate to what I pictured.

  121. ahahah!
    the pretties one is scary its like she has bug eyes :s
    but i love the specials one its creepy but just what i imagined tally to look like gosh she really is pretty ! =]

  123. My brother speaks fluent German, and he says that it would not make sense for the adjective to be changed to a noun and made a plural. It just would not be correct.
    By the way, I love the Uglies Trilogy. I keep reading them over and over again.
    Thank you, Scott. – Eowyn

  124. are those actually real models on the covers
    or are they just like majorly photoshopped dolls or whatever

  126. Emy.. You find it on the website..
    Well I’m german, too. I really like the german covers.. but those us covers are nice too.
    And I think it is singular, ’cause if a german translate it into german, the singular sounds better than the plural. And it’s more used to us than uglies… Sorry for mistakes!

  127. I really love the way on the specail cover the lips look like ice, because it reminds me of how they would talk about whats icy, so in my mind, that cover makes me think thats pretty icy.

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