Block 4, Design your own cover, a book that made you laugh. A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving was one the twelve books I chose as my favorites of all time for the Patchwork and Prose BOM. It was easy for me to select it for the prompt this month, as it is a book where I laughed out loud and I also never thought the original cover of the book did the story justice. I kept a diary as I reread this book in preparation for this block. Margaret suggested that we think about how we felt and what impressed us as we read the book to use as help to design a new cover. I thought about the symbolism and depth of the story. In my notes, I realized how often things with a circular shape came to be important in this book. A baseball, a basketball and hoop, an armadillo, a diamond-edged saw blade, and a hand grenade. Also the letter "O" for Owen. Owen was a very tiny person and his larynx was frozen so he could only speak in a high pitched, shouted voice through his nose. He had a great deal to say, and it was funny, profound, and prophetic. In the book, his dialog was always printed in capital letters. So the visualization of his mouth with words coming out of it was something I wrote in my notes. A red silk dress was important in the story as well. I chose a colorful fabric with circles (Owen was a colorful character). I wanted to reflect the importance of Owen's words, and put fabric with words in the center of the block surrounded by red silk. It reflects the design of the background fabric, but also reminds me of a mouth speaking. The baseball makes a quiet statement.