More than "for fans of..."

I have ranted about the "for fans of" and "for those who like" in book blurbs and I have to say this one really bugged me.  Unteachables is by Gordon Korman who has long proven to be one of the best writers for children and/or tweens and to say that "for fans of...." about one of his books just seems to reduce the book to seeming like one capitalizing on what's popular at the time. 

Slacking

Slacker is a book that I know will have much appeal.  It is funny and it short and it is well done.  I will easily be able to recommend this book.  I just didn't give it the full five stars because it wasn't for me. 
The cover turns me off right way because while I know the animal on the cover is a beaver, it just reminds me of that horrible movie Caddyshack and with the whole gopher subplot going on and I really, really found that movie repulsive most because of the swimming book incident.  In fact, completely because of the swimming pool incident because it is just that awful.  So right away I am judging a book by its cover for a completely ridiculous connection that isn't even there.
Many apologies to Mr. Korman who really is a great writer. 
The book features a kid who is a slacker, except when it comes to gaming.  And the rest of the story I really liked, but the whole beaver angle, even without the cover issue just didn't appeal to me.  Still, I can recommend this book to others who aren't as ridiculous as I am! 

If You are of "a certain age" and from Pittsburgh...

if you listen to the audio book of Gordon Korman's Unsinkable, the first in his Titanic Trilogy, you will think of Patti Burns a lot!  When you listen to an audio book, of course, you don't know how the characters' names are spelled.  Even know I knew that the stowaway on the Titanic, the homeless boy from Belfast was probably named Paddy Burns, (he is) every time I heard the narrator say his name I thought of Patti.  I miss Patti.  All of Pittsburgh does.
This is a neat way of telling the story of the Titanic.  Fiction and nonfiction.  The story of four characters who were on that fateful voyage.  One is Paddy Burns, a stowaway, trying to escape thugs who are out to kill him.  Another is Alfie, a boy of fifteen who lied about his age to get a job on the Titanic with his father, who is a boiler dude.  Sophie, the daughter of an American suffragette, who has been through out of England for stirring up trouble and another girl...I can't remember her name, but she is as interesting a character as the others, I just can't recall her name!  She is the wealthy daughter of British royalty.  The four meet up on the ship and they are characters you can care about, all the while thinking about what is coming ahead for them on the high seas.