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?
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
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?
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!
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
What I looove about these covers is it shows a journey. All the pictures are of the same girl!
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 🙂
I *love* those covers. They are my faves out of them all.
These covers are my favorites out of all of them. Especially the Pretties one. I think it represents what they looked like the best.
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. ^_^
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.
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!
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.
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…
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.
Is there gonna be a movie??
i almost like those covers better than the us.
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 ! =]
I think they’re awsome, can’t wait to see the Extra’s (german) cover
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
are those actually real models on the covers
or are they just like majorly photoshopped dolls or whatever
Can anyone tell me where I could see the American covers.? ’cause I’m german. ;]
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!
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.