A library game

Filed under: Games, Titles
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My oldest child and I have developed an amusement for ourselves at the local public library, guessing the parts of book titles that are obscured by the stickers:

Two book spines, with the end of the titles obscured by stickers. The top one is by Kristy Woodson Harvey and reads 'the secre- southern c-'. The bottom is by James Wolff and reads 'Beside the Syrian S-'.

I’ve turned the picture on its side for ease of reading. I guessed that the top one was The Secret of Southern Comfort. I was, alas mistaken—the actual title is less interesting to me, but what do I know. The other one I guessed correctly. Some are easier than others.

Here are three more, from the teen room this time:

Three book spines, with the end of the titles obscured by stickers. The top one reads 'The Forest Q-'. The middle one reads 'Finding Y-'. The bottom one reads 'Ink, Iron and Gl -'.

The top one is tricky; the middle one is impossible; the bottom one is obvious, at least on those of us who have been playing this game on the teen shelves for a while.

How about another set?

Three book spines, with the end of the titles obscured by stickers. The top one reads 'The Brilliant D-'. The middle one reads 'This is kind of an Epic Love S-'. The bottom one reads 'The Darkest Minds: The Darkest -'.

For the top one, I guessed it was A Brilliant Dawn, but my child pointed out that you could see that the letter after D was straight-backed, and therefore probably an E or an R. It is in fact—well, I won’t give away the answer, but I would not have guessed it. For the middle one, the obvious answer is the correct one, but for the last one the obvious answer is not the correct one—it’s in the Darkest Mind series (as it says on the spine), but this one is the Darkest something else.

A book spine, with the end of the title obscured by stickers. The author is Laura Sebastian, and the spine reads 'Lady Sm-'

I was really pleased that I guessed this one, but my kid got with no hesitation whatsoever. Maybe it was easier than I thought.

A book spine, with the end of the title obscured by stickers. The authors are Ness and Cai, and the spine reads 'And the Ocean was Our-'

This one I have guessed incorrectly on three consecutive visits to the teen room. The Ocean was our… home? The Ocean was our… mother? The Ocean was our… destiny? Nope.

OK, one more for today:

A book spine, with the end of the title obscured by stickers. The author is Larson, and the spine reads 'Book Two: Bright Burns the N-'

I like this one because not only does it draw on the knowledge of both book-cover fonts and YA title conventions, but it’s possible not only to guess the correct title of this book, but the title of book one as well.

Thanks,
-Ed.

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