Edible Book Contest – In Honor of National Library Week

This week is National Library Week.  The University of West Florida Library has been hosting a series of special events for students, faculty and staff to be involved in.  Since I work on the main campus of UWF, I was paying attention to their festivities.

One of their events caught my eye numerous times.  They promoted the “Edible Book Contest.”   In summary this is a cake making/decorating contest that tries to offer up the most clever or beautiful book title, author or character.  The photos UWF Libraries shared from past contests were very funny and witty.

A previous entry included a Barbie doll with her arms cut off.  It was entitled, “A Farewell to Arms” and based on the Ernest Hemingway classic.  There was also a memorable one with photos of toilets; it had the words “Game of Thrones” written across the cake.

After laughing and viewing the photos, I knew I wanted to enter this fun and ingenious challenge.  I browsed several American classic titles before deciding on the right choice.

(View larger photo)

I first toyed around with “To Kill A Mocking Bird” by Harper Lee.  That is one of my favorite, all-time books but no idea came to mind to bring that story into humor.

Finally it struck me, “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding.  Yes, that’s what I will make.

Only I would change it to have a picture of Lorde, the singer/song-writer, presiding over a mound of house flies eating poop.  Perfection!

I had been listening to Lorde’s music lately and I read about her teenage background from New Zealand.  The local radio station plays her songs “Team” and “Royal” frequently.  The critics refer to her as “a mix of arty, confessional bedroom pop and club-ready electro-rock” in addition to “exploring classic teen-pop, themes that deal with social anxiety, romantic yearning, with an eerie, zoomed-out detachment.”

I wanted the cake to be simple and easy so I could focus on decorating the top in the way I envisioned.  I selected an angel food cake from a box.  Just add water.  Yes, I like easy.

Then I decorated the top with chocolate frosting and gold sprinkles.  I placed the photo of Lorde in the back and arranged more than two dozen plastic flies around the cake and even one in the center and side for viewing pleasure.

Voila!  My cake is complete.  I loved it.

I did feel a tiny bit bad for having the talented Lorde preside over a bunch of flies looking like they’re eating shit.  But I hope in the sake of creative art, she’d understand.

Also I figured that cake top is a better fate for her than the actual characters from the Golding literary classic.  In the real “Lord of the Flies,” a group of middle age school children are stuck on a remote island trying to survive.  Many of them turn to violence and create brutal acts.

So there you have it, my sick and twisted and playful “Edible Book Contest” entry – “Lord(e) of the Flies.”

And no I didn’t win first place…I won second place in the “People’s Choice Award” category.  However, I had fun participating in the contest anyway!

Thank you UWF Libraries for offering up this fun contest for crazy people like me.  It gave me a creative challenge for this week.

Most of all, thank you for sharing for your love of books and historic knowledge with all of us in the UWF community, our region and beyond.