I always feel a bit guilty about this post. Readers seem to like it, but I don’t actually see a lot of young adult books day-to-day, so I am far too reliant on the covers people put in front of me to make it a really representative list. To make matters worse, it is now very late and very rushed. Nevertheless, there are some really great YA (and middle-grade!) covers here that I wanted to share. Feel free to tell me about all the ones I missed in the comments! Happy New Year!
All American Muslim Girl by Nadine Jolie Courtney; design by Cassie Gonzales; illustration by Carmi Grau (Farrar Straus & Giroux BYR / November 2019)
All the Bad Apples by Moïra Fowley-Doyle; design by Lindsey Andrews; photograph by Ines Rehberger (Kathy Dawson / October 2019)
The Arrival of Someday by Jen Malone; design by Jessie Gang; art by Sophia Drevenstam; lettering by Molly Jacques (HarperTeen / June 2019)
The Beholder by Anna Bright; design Michelle Taormina; art by Vault49 (HarperTeen / July 2019)
Brief Chronicle of Another Stupid Heartbreak by Adi Alsaid; design by Bora Tekogul (Inkyard Press / April 2019)
Butterfly Yellow by Thanhhà Lại; design Jenna Stempel-Lobell; art by Xuan Loc Xuan (HarperCollins / September 2019)
Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi; design by Richard Deas, Mallory Grigg, and Kathleen Breitenfeld; art by Sarah Jones (Henry Holt / December 2019)
Courting Darkness by Robin LaFevers; design Whitney Leader-Picone; art by Billelis (HMH Books for Young Readers / February 2019)
The Dark Lord Clementine by Sarah Jean Horwitz; design Carla Weise; art Michelle Lamoreaux (Algonquin Young Readers / October 2019)
The Exact Opposite of Okay by Laura Steven; design Jenna Stempel-Lobell (HarperTeen / June 2019)
The Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben Philippe; design Michelle Cunningham; art by Christina Allen (Balzer & Bray / January 2019)
Forward Me Back to You by Mitali Perkins; design by Cassie Gonzales; illustration by Christian Northeast (Farrar Straus & Giroux BYR / April 2019)
Frankly in Love by David Yoon; design by Owen Gildersleeve (G. P. Putnam / September 2019)
The Girl the Sea Gave Back by Adrienne Young; design by Kerri Resnick; art by Larry Rostant (Wednesday Books / September 2019)
Girls on the Verge by Sharon Biggs Waller; design by Katie Klimowicz; lettering by The Letterettes (Henry Holt / April 2020)
Good Enough by Jen Petro-Roy; design by Liz Dresner; cover art by art Romy Blümel (Feiwel & Friends / February 2019)
The Grace Year by Kim Liggett; design by Kerri Resnick; illustration Hsiao Ron Cheng (Wednesday Books / October 2019)
The Great Unknowable End by Kathryn Ormsbee; design by Chloe Foglia; illustration by Carolina Rodriguez Fuenmayor; lettering by Danielle Davis (Simon & Schuster / March 2019)
Heroine by Mindy McGinnis; design by Erin Fitzsimmons (Katherine Tegen Books / March 2019)
Hold Still by Nina LaCour; design Samira Iravani; cover art by Adams Carvalho (Penguin / February 2019)
How to Make Friends with the Dark by Kathleen Glasgow; design Jennifer Heuer; art by Anders Rokkum (Delacorte / April 2019)
I Hope You Get This Message by Farah Naz Rishi; design by Erin Fitzsimmons; illustration by Adams Carvalho (HarperTeen / October 2019)
Hurricane Season by Nicole Melleby; design Carla Weise; art by David Litchfield (Algonquin / May 2019)
King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo; design by Ellen Duda; art by Billelis (Imprint / January 2019)
The Kingdom by Jess Rothenberg; design Helen Crawford-White (Macmillan / July 2019)
Kingdom of Souls by Rena Barron; design by Jenna Stempel-Lobell; art by Adeyemi Adegbesan (HarperTeen / September 2019)
Last Meeting of the Gorilla Club by Sara Nickerson; design Maria Fazio; illustration by Maeve Norton (Dutton Books for Young Readers / August 2019)
Let’s Call it a Doomsday by Katie Henry; design by David Curtis (Katherine Tegen / August 2019)
Maximillian Fly by Angie Sage; design David Curtis; art by Red Nose Studio (Katherine Tegen / July 2019)
Merrybegot by Julie Hearn; design and illustration by Karl James Mountford (Oxford University Press / April 2019)
The Missing Season by Gillian French; design David Curtis (HarperTeen / May 2019)
Nocturna by Maya Motayne; design by Aurora Parlagreco and Jenna Stempel-Lobell; art by Mark Van Leeuwen (Balzer & Bray / May 2019)
Of Ice and Shadows by Audrey Coulthurst; design Michelle Taormina; art by Yippiehey (Balzer & Bray / August 2019)
Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga; design Jenna Stempel-Lobell ; art by Anoosha Syed (Balzer & Bray / May 2019)
Permanent Record by Mary H. K. Choi; design by Lizzy Bromley; illustration by gg (Simon & Schuster / September 2019)
Romanov by Nadine Brandes; design by Faceout Studio / Jeff Miller (Thomas Nelson / May 2019)
A Question of Holmes by Brittany Cavallaro; design by Katie Fitch; art by Dan Funderburgh (Katherine Tegen / March 2019)
Shadows of Winterspell by Amy Wilson; design Helen Crawford-White (Macmillan / JOctober 2019)
Six Goodbyes We Never Sent by Candace Ganger; design Kerri Resnick; illustration by Cannaday Chapman (Wednesday Books / September 2019)
The Speed of Falling Objects by Nancy Richardson Fischer; design Kai & Sunny (Inkyard Press / October 2019)
The Starlight Watchmaker by Lauren James; design by Helen Crawford-White (Barrington Stoke / July 2019)
The Strangers by Margaret Peterson Haddix; design Aurora Parlagreco; art by Anne Lambelet (Katherine Tegen / April 2019)
This Might Hurt A Bit by Doogie Horner; design by Sarah Creech; illustration by Adams Carvalho (Simon Pulse / June 2019)
The Tiger at Midnight by Swati Teerdhala; design by David Curtis; art by Michael Marsicano (Katherine Tegen / April 2019)
The Waking Forest by Alyssa Wees; design Leo Nickolls (Delacorte / March 2019)
We Are the Lost and Found by Helene Dunbar; design Nicole Hower; illustration by Adams Carvalho (Sourcebooks / September 2019)
We the Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia; design by Molly Fehr; art by Cristina Pagnoncelli (Katherine Tegen / February 2019)
Wilder Girls by Rory Power; design by Regina Flath; art by Aykut Aydogdu (Delacorte / July 2019)
With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo; design by Erin Fitzsimmons; art by Erick Davila (HarperTeen / May 2019)
York: Clockwork Ghost by Laura Ruby; design by Aurora Parlagreco; art Jie Ma (Walden Pond / June 2019)