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Notable YA Covers of 2023

Happy New Year! I hope you’re safe and well. As is now the tradition, the first post of the year is a look back at some of the young adult covers of last year. The usual caveats apply of course. Not much YA crosses my desk at work, which is mostly indie publishing, and it is not a category I follow closely apart from what my kids are reading, so my insight here is limited. Still, I think at some of the stuff I wrote about the industry in my 2023 post on adult covers probably holds true for YA too. The toll of the past few years has led to a certain amount of risk aversion from both publishers and designers (albeit for different reasons), and my sense is that folks are bracing for more of the same in 2024. I would guess that genre expectations within the broader YA category have limited the room for experimentation too. Some things need to look the same it seems. But even if there is some conservatism in the current design approaches (if it ain’t broke…), and things in general feel pretty grim, there is a remarkable amount of diversity and representation on the covers of YA books — and perhaps even among the designers and illustrators themselves — and that feels like something that should be celebrated. I’ve tried my best to get all the credits for the covers, but please let me know if I missed anyone out — I’ll be happy to update the post where necessary.

All That’s Left To Say by Emery Lord; art direction by Jeanette Levy; illustration by Adele Leyris (Bloomsbury YA / July 2023)

All the Fighting Parts by Hannah V. Sawyer; design by Micah Fleming; illustration by Rachelle Baker (Harry N. Abrams / September 2023)

Ander & Santi Were Here by Jonny Garza Villa; design by Kerri Resnick; illustration by Max Reed (Wednesday Books / May 2023)

Champion of Fate by Kendare Blake; design by David Curtis; art by Tomasz Majewski (Quill Tree Books / September 2023)

Curious Tides by Pascale Lacelle; design by Greg Stadnyk; illustration by Signum Noir (Margaret K. McElderry Books / October 2023)

Daughters of Oduma by Moses Ose Utomi; design by Greg Stadnik; illustration by Laylie Frazier (Atheneum Books for Young Readers / February 2023)

A Door in the Dark by Scott Reintgen; design by Greg Stadnik; illustration by Bose Collins (Margaret K. McElderry Books / March 2023)

Ever Since by Alena Bruzas; design by Kristie Radwilowicz; art by Suzanne Dias (Rocky Pond Books / May 2023)

Everyone’s Thinking It by Aleema Omotoni; design by Corina Lupp; illustration by Otesanya (Balzer & Bray / September 2023)

Flowerheart by Catherine Bakewell; design by Catherine Lee; illustration by Yejin Park (Harperteen / March 2023)

The Girl Next Door by Cecilia Vinesse; design by Erin Fitzsimmons; art by Tomasz Majewski (Quill Tree Books / May 2023)

Goddess Crown by Shade Lapite; design by Maria T. Middleton; art by Jeff Manning (Walker Books / September 2023)

Her Radiant Curse by Elizabeth Lim; art direction by Angela Carlino; art by Tran Nguyen; lettering by Alix Northrup (Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers / August 2023)

Tran Nguyen and Alix Northrup also worked on the covers for Elizabeth Lim’s previous books Six Crimson Cranes and The Dragon’s Promise, which appeared on the 2021 and 2022 lists respectively.

A Hundred Vicious Turns by Lee Page O’Brien; design by Micah Fleming; illustration by Corey Brickley (Harry N. Abrams / September 2023)

This is the first of many covers featuring Corey Brickley’s lovely work on the list!

I feed Her to the Beast and the Beast is Me by Jamison Shea; design by Kathleen Breitenfeld; art by Rich Deas; lettering by Jordan Metcalf (Henry Holt BYR / August 2023)

I Will Find You Again by Sarah Lyu; design by Laura Eckes (Simon & Schuster BYR / March 2023)

Immortality by Dana Schwartz; design by Kerri Resnick; illustration by Zach Meyer (Wednesday Books / February 2023)

The cover for Anatomy by Dana Schwartz was on last year’s list. I wonder what vital organ shaped dress we will get next?

In Limbo by Deb JJ Lee; design by Kirk Benshoff; art by Deb JJ Lee (First Second / March 2023)

Invisible Son by Kim Johnson; art by Chuck Styles (Random House BYR / June 2023)

The Isle of the Gods by Amie Kaufman; design Angela Carlino; art by Aykut Aydoğdu (Alfred A. Knopf BYR / May 2023)

The Lake House by Sarah Beth Durst; design by Catherine Lee; illustration by Elena Masci (Harperteen / April 2023)

The Last Girls Standing by Jennifer Dugan; design by Kelley Brady; illustration by Michael Rogers (G.P. Putnam’s Sons BYR / August 2023)

Coincidentally these two covers combined would have a complete face…

Never a Hero by Vanessa Len; design by Jessie Gang; art by Eevien Tan (Harperteen / August 2023)

The cover for Only a Monster by Vanessa Len was also on last year’s list.

Nigeria Jones by Ibi Zoboi; design by Jenna Stempel-Lobell; art by Nettrice Gaskins (Balzer & Bray / May 2023)

Night’s Edge by Liz Kerin; design by Katie Klimowicz (Tor Nightfire / June 2023)

(Technically this isn’t YA, it’s categorized as “Fiction / Coming of Age,” but I figure there’s crossover here so I’m including it anyway)

The Only Girl in Town by Ally Condie; design by Theresa Evangelista (Dutton BYR / September 2023)

Painted Devils by Margaret Owen; design by Rich Deas; art by M.S. Corley (Henry Holt / May 2023)

Rook by William Ritter; design by Laura Williams; illustration by Corey Brickley (Algonquin YR / August 2023)

Algonquin also reissued the whole Jackaby series in paperback with new covers to match:

The Scarlet Alchemist by Kylie Lee Baker; design by Kathleen Oudit & Gigi Lau; photography Lillian Liu (Inkyard Press / October 2023)

She Is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran; design by Thy Bui; illustration by Elena Masci (Bloomsbury YA / Feburary 2023)

Something Like Possible by Miel Moreland; design by Julia Bianchi; illustration by Bex Glendining (Feiwel & Friends / May 2023)

The Space Between Here and Now by Sarah Suk; design by David Curtis (Quill Tree Books / October 2023)

The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White; illustration by Evangeline Gallagher (Peachtree Teen / September 2023)

Evangeline Gallagher also provided the cover illustration for Andrew Joseph White’s previous book Hell Followed With Us.

Threads That Bind by Kika Hatzopoulou; design by Kristie Radwilowicz; illustration by Corey Brickley (Razorbill / May 2023)

The Twenty-One by Elizabeth Rusch; design by Paul Zakris; illustration by Will Staehle (Greenwillow Books / September 2023)

The Voice Upstairs by Laura E. Weymouth; design by Debra Sfetsios-Conover; illustration by Marcela Bolivar (Margaret K. McElderry Books / October 2023)

Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley; design by Rich Deas; art by Michaela Goade (Henry Holt / May 2023)

Where There’s Smoke by E. B. Vickers; design by Ray Shappell (Alfred A. Knopf BYR / December 2023)

Wise Creatures by Deirdre Sullivan; design by Nick Stearn; illustration by Corey Brickley (Hot Key Books / September 2023)

Zhara by S. Jae-Jones; design by Kerri Resnick; illustration by Sija Hong (Wednesday Books / August 2023)

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Notable YA Covers of 2022

I should, at this point, rename this post “Young Adult Book Covers I Saw Last Year, Quite Liked, and Could Find Some Credits For.” It would be accurate.

December turned out to be really busy. It is every year. I’m not sure why it still catches me out. That said, 2022 did seem to be especially busy for reasons far, far too boring to get into here (yes, I got sick amongst other things).

I had thought, in fact, that it might be time to retire this particular annual post. But then I looked around to see what other YA cover lists had been posted and… well, it wasn’t great. If I don’t do it, who will?

This year’s list — like last year’s — is full of illustrated covers. It seems to be the dominant trend, and I would really like someone more knowledgeable than me to profile some of the illustrators and put their work in its proper context. Maybe there is an art book in it for an enterprising publisher, if there isn’t one already? There are so many great covers from the past couple of years to choose from. 1

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this very late look at some of the YA covers of 2022. Feel free to leave your thoughts below.

The Agathas by Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson; design by Alison Impey; art by Spiros Halaris (Delacorte Press / May 2022)

Ain’t Burned All the Bright by Jason Reynolds and Jason Griffin; art by Jason Griffin (Atheneum Books / January 2022)

Anatomy by Dana Schwartz; design by Kerri Resnick; illustration by Zach Meyer (Wednesday Books / January 2022)

As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh; art by David Curtis (Little, Brown BYR / September 2022)

Blood and Moonlight by Erin Beaty; design by Veronica Mang; art by Sasha Vinogradova (Farrar, Straus & Giroux BYR / June 2022)

The Chandler Legacies by Abdi Nazemian; design by Corina Lupp; art by Natalie Shaw (Balzer & Bray / February 2022)

Cursed by Marissa Meyer; design by Rich Deas; art by Tim O’Brien (Feiwel & Friends / November 2022)

The same creative team produced the cover of Gilded by Marissa Meyer published last year:

The Dragon’s Promise by Elizabeth Lim; design by Alison Impey; art by Tran Nguyen; lettering by Alix Northrup (Alfred A. Knopf BYR / August 2022)

The cover of Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim was on last year’s list.

The Drowned Woods by Emily Lloyd-Jones; design by Jenny Kimura; art by SPIDER MONEY (Little, Brown BYR / August 2022)

Echoes and Empires by Morgan Rhodes; design by Kristie Radwilowicz; art by Leilani Bustamante (Razorbill / January 2022)

Extasia by Claire Legrand; design by Joel Tippie; art by Diego Fernandez (Katherine Tegen Books / February 2022)

A Far Wilder Magic by Allison Saft; design by Kerri Resnick; art by Em Allen (Wednesday Books / March 2022)

Gallant by V. E. Schwab; art by David Curtis (Greenwillow Books / March 2022)

The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh; design by Rich Deas; art by Kuri Huang (Feiwel & Friends / February 2022)

HopePunk by Preston Norton; design Mary Claire Cruz; art by Adams Carvalho (Little, Brown BYR / January 2022)

Hotel Magnifique by Emily J. Taylor; design by Kristie Radwilowicz; art by Jim Tierney (Razorbill / April 2022)

If You Could See the Sun by Ann Liang; design by Gigi Lau; art by Carolina Rodriguez Fuenmayor (Inkyard Press / October 2022)

The Last Laugh by Mindy McGinnis; design by Erin Fitzsimmons; art by Corey Brickley (Katherine Tegen Books / March 2022)

Mindy McGinnis’s backlist titles The Female of the Species and The Initial Insult were also re-jacketed in the same style:

A Magic Steeped in Poison by Judy I Lin; design by Rich Deas; art by Sija Hong (Feiwel & Friends / March 2022)

The sequel, A Venom Dark and Sweet, was published in August with a cover from the same creative team:

Only a Monster by Vanessa Len; design by Jessie Gang; art by Eevien Tan (HarperTeen / February 2022)

Queen of the Tiles by Hanna Alkaf; design by Sarah Creech; art by Leonardo Santamaria (Salaam Reads / April 2022)

The Restless Dark by Erica Waters; design by Jenna Stempel-Lobell; art by Tran Nguyen (HarperTeen / October 2022)

Road of the Lost by Nafiza Azad; design by Sonia Chaghatzbanian (Margaret K. McElderry Books / October 2022)

A Scatter of Light by Malinda Lo; design by Anna Booth; art by Feifei Ruan (Dutton BYR / October 2022)

The Secrets We Keep by Cassie Gustafson; design by Krista Vossen; art by beatriz ramo (Simon & Schuster BYR / November 2022)

Sofi and the Bone Song by Adrienne Tooley; design by Sonia Chaghatzbanian; art by Mona Finden (Margaret K. McElderry Books / April 2022)

Strike the Zither by Joan He; design by Aurora Parlagreco; art by Kuri Huang (Roaring Brook Press / October 2022)

Sugar by Carly Nugent; design by Imogen Stubbs; art by gozitive (Text Publishing / March 2022)

Sugaring Off by Gillian French; design by Aurora Parlagreco; art by Elena Masci (Algonquin YR / November 2022)

This Is Why They Hate Us by Aaron H. Aceves; design by Laurent Linn; art by Goni Montes (Simon & Schuster BYR / August 2022)

This Place is Still Beautiful by XiXi Tian; design by Jessie Gang; art by Robin Har (Balzer & Bray / June 2022)

A Thousand Steps into the Night by Traci Chee; design by Celeste Knudsen; art by Kotaro Chiba (Clarion Books / March 2022)

Trigger by N. Griffin; art by Dan Burgess (Atheneum Books / March 2022)

This reminded me of Dan Burgess’s art for Red Wolf by Rachel Vincent from last year. The lesson is, spectral trees are very spooky.

We All Fall Down by Rose Szabo; design by Aurora Parlagreco; art by Corey Brickley (Farrar, Straus & Giroux BYR / June 2022)

We Deserve Monuments by Jas Hammonds; design by Beth Clark and Sarah Kaufman; art by Laylie Frazier (Roaring Brook Press / November 2022)

The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson; design by Erin Fitzsimmons; art by Jeff Manning (Katherine Tegen Books / September 2022)

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Notable YA Covers of 2020

My first post of 2021 is a look back at some of the young adult covers that caught my eye last year. I’m sure that I have missed a lot of great work (waves hands at everything that went on in 2020), so apologies if your favourites aren’t here. Happy New Year!

Agnes at the End of the World by Kelly McWilliams; design by Marcie Lawrence and Jenny Kimura; illustration by Tom Bagshaw (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers / June 2020)

All Our Worst Ideas by Vicky Skinner; design by Katie Klimowicz (Swoon Reads / August 2020)

Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson; design by Theresa Evangelista; illustration by Stephanie Singleton (Nancy Paulsen Books / September 2020)

Black Canary: Breaking Silence by Alexandra Monir; design by Regina Flath; illustration by Jen Bartel (Random House Books for Young Readers / December 2020)

Black Girl Unlimited by Echo Brown; design by Carol Ly; illustration by Noa Denmon (Henry Holt & Company / January 2020)

The Burning by Laura Bates; design by Philip Pascuzzo (Sourcebooks Fire / April 2020)

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas; design Liz Dresner; illustration by Mars Lauderbaugh (Swoon Reads / September 2020)

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo; design by Erin Fitzsimmons; illustration by Bijou Karman (Quill Tree Books / May 2020)

Cloak of Night by Evelyn Skye; design by Alice Wang; illustration by DOFRESH; lettering by Vasava (Balzer + Bray / February 2020)

Coming Up For Air by Nicole B. Tyndall; design by Casey Moses; art by Pedro Tapa (Delacorte Press / December 2020)

Darius the Great Deserves Better by Adib Khorram; design by Samira Iravani; illustration by Adams Carvalho (Dial / August 2020)

The same team also created the cover for Darius the Great is Not Okay:

The Easy Part of Impossible by Sarah Tomp; design by David DeWitt; art by Samantha French (HarperTeen / April 2020)

Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri; art direction by Elizabeth Parisi; illustration by David Curtis (Levine Querido / August 2020)

Fable by Adrienne Young; design by Kerri Resnick; photograph by Sveltana Belyaeva (Wednesday Books / September 2020)

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender; design by Chris Kwon; illustration by Alex Cabal (Balzer + Bray / May 2020)

Forest of Souls by Lori M. Lee; design by Laura Benton; illustration by Charlie Bowater (Page Street Kids / June 2020)

Furia by Yamile Saied Méndez; design by Laura Williams; illustration by Rachelle Baker (Algonquin Young Readers / September 2020)

The Good Girls by Claire Eliza Bartlett; design Diana Sousa; Illustration by Kaethe Butcher (HarperTeen / December 2020)

Goodbye from Nowhere by Sara Zarr; design by Alice Wang (Balzer + Bray / April 2020)

Grief Angels by David Owen; design by Leo Nickolls (Atom / March 2020)

Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson; design by Erin Fitzsimmons; illustration by Rachelle Baker (Katherine Tegen Books / September 2020)

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke; cover art by Karl J Mountford (Chicken House / April 2020)

It’s My Life by Stacie Ramey; design by Kerri Resnick (Sourcebooks Fire / January 2020)

The Kingdom of Back by Marie Lu; design by Kristie Radwilowicz; illustration by David Curtis (G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers / March 2020)

Lobizona by Romina Garber; design by Kerri Resnick; illustation by Daria Hlazatova (Wednesday Books / August 2020)

Nobody Knows But You by Anica Mrose Rissi; design by Molly Fehr; illustration by Hokyoung Kim (Quill Tree Books / September 2020)

Not So Pure and Simple by Lamar Giles; design by Molly Fehr; illustration by Jor Ros (Quill Tree Books / January 2020)

Sasha Masha by Agnes Borinsky; design by Cassie Gonzalez; illustration by Carolina Rodriguez Fuenmayor (Farrar, Straus and Giroux / November 2020)

Seasons of the Storm by Elle Cosimano; design by Jenna Stempel-Lobell; art by Pauline Boiteux (HarperTeen / June 2020)

See No Color by Shannon Gibney; design by Chelsea Hunter; illustration by Bee Johnson (Holiday House / July 2020)

Shielded by KayLynn Flanders; design by Regina Flath; art by Alex Dos Diaz (Delacorte / July 2020)

The Silence of Bones by June Hur; design by Katie Klimowicz; art by Kasiq Jungwoo (Feiwel & Friends / April 2020)

Smash It by Francina Simone; design by Gigi Lau; illustration by Benjamin Wachenje (Inkyard Press / September 2020)

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown; design by Jessie Gang; art by Tawny Chatmon; lettering by Martina Flor (Balzer + Bray / June 2020)

The Stepping Off Place by Cameron Kelly Rosenblum; design by Catherine San Juan; Illustration by Michaela Goade (Quill Tree Books / July 2020)

The Sullivan Sisters by Kathryn Ormsbee; design by Chloë Foglia; Illustration by Pedro Tapa; lettering by Danielle Davis (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers / June 2020)

Ten Things I Hate About Pinky by Sandhya Menon; design by Sarah Creech; photograph by Jacob Pritchard (Simon Pulse / July 2020)

I think this works well with the covers for Menon’s previous books, especially 2017’s When Dimple Met Rishi, designed by Regina Flath.

These Vengeful Hearts by Katherin Laurin; design Elita Sidiropoulou (Inkyard Press / September 2020)

This is Not a Ghost Story by Andrea Portes; design by Alice Wang; illustration by Francesco Bongiorni (HarperTeen / November 2020)

Tigers Not Daughters by Samantha Mabry; design Laura Williams; art and lettering by Beatriz Ramo / Naranjalidad (Algonquin Young Readers / March 2020)

Traitor by Amanda McCrina; design by Faceout Studio (Farrar, Straus and Giroux / August 2020)

Watch Over Me by Nina Lacour; design by Samira Iravani; illustration by Pippa Young (Dutton / September 2020)

The Whitsun Daughters by Carrie Mesrobian ; design by Samira Iravani; lettering by Maricor/Maricar (Dutton / August 2020)

A Wicked Magic by Sasha Laurens; design by Dana Li (Razorbill / July 2020)

Winter, White and Wicked by Shannon Dittemore; design by Hana Anouk Nakamura; illustration by Ruben Ireland (Amulet / October 2020)

The Year After You by Nina de Pass; design Casey Moses; art by Elena Pancorbo (Delacorte / March 2020)

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Book Covers of Note, March 2019

It’s almost the first day of spring, the snow and ice have just about melted in Toronto (for now!), and everything is still awful, so it must be time for March’s book covers of note! 


Bangkok Wakes to Rain by Pitchaya Sudbanthad; design by Grace Han (Riverhead / February 2019)


The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson; design by Helen Crawford-White (Grove / March 2019)


The Bold World by Jodie Patterson; design by Jaya Miceli (Ballantine / January 2019)


Boşluktakiler by Tom McCarthy; design by David Drummond (Jaguar / February 2019)

This is the Turkish edition of Men in Space by Tom McCarthy. I like how the composition and colour palette echo the cover of the US edition published by Vintage, designed by John Gall:

It also reminds of the golden leaf cover for ‘True Faith’ by New Order designed by Peter Saville.  


The Cook by Maylis de Kerangal; design by Na Kim (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / March 2019)

(I feel like a Freudian could have a field day with this cover.)


Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid; design by Lauren Wakefield (Hutchinson / March 2019)  

The cover of the US edition published by Ballantine (I couldn’t find an image without the book club sticker… sorry), was designed by Caroline Teagle Johnson. The book is getting a lot of buzz so I’ve seen both versions of the cover a lot online. It’s a pretty striking photo. I’m curious about where it came from… 


Follow This Thread by Henry Eliot; design by Elena Giavaldi (Three Rivers Press / March 2019) 


Good Kids, Bad City by Kyle Swenson; design by Henry Sene Yee (Picador / February 2019)


Halibut on the Moon by David Vann; design by Erin Fitzsimmons (Grove / March 2019)


Heroine by Mindy McGinnis; design by Erin Fitzsimmons (Katherine Tegen Books / March 2019)


I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You by David Chariandy; design by Tree Abraham (Bloomsbury / March 2019)


Lanny by Max Porter; design by Jonny Pelham (Faber & Faber / March 2019)


Midnight by Victoria Shorr; design by Sarah-May Wilkinson (Norton / March 2019)

This uses some very fancy metallic stock that you can’t really appreciate from the image.

The type reminded me a little of the cover of a Faber & Faber collection called Sex & Death from a couple of years ago designed by Luke Bird.


The Municipalists by Seth Fried; design by Matt Taylor (Penguin / March 2019)


Rutting Season by Mandeliene Smith; design by Grace Han (Scribner / February 2019)


Unspeakable by Harriet Shawcross; design by Jamie Keenan (Canongate / March 2019)

And sticking with blue-green covers… 


The Wall by John Lanchester; design by Utku Lomlu (Norton / March 2019)

The cover of the UK edition published by Faber & Faber (featured in January’s post) was designed by Alex Kirby:


When Brooklyn was Queer by Hugh Ryan; design by Rob Grom (St. Martin’s Press / March 2019)

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Notable YA Covers of 2017

So here it is, Merry Xmas, everybody’s having fun, my YA (and middle-grade) covers round-up for 2017. This is far from my area of expertise (I mostly work on the adult trade side of things), but until someone else steps up to do a annual post on YA covers with design credits and publisher details you’re stuck with me. Sorry.

All the picks are, of course, mine, but thank you to all the designers who have helped me over the year with covers, suggestions, and credits, and special thanks to Erin Fitzsimmons at HarperCollins and Sarah Creech at Simon & Schuster who helped me with this post in particular. Happy holidays! 


Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson; design by Erin Fitzsimmons (Katherine Tegen Books / January 2017)


The Art of Starving by Sam J. Miller; design by Jenna Stempel-Lobell; Illustration by Matt Blease (HarperTeen / July 2017)


Autoboyography by Christina Lauren; design Laurent Lint; illustration by Allison Colpoys (Simon & Schuster / September 2017)


Between Two Skies by Joanne O’Sullivan; design by Matt Roeser (Candlewick / April 2017)


Caraval by Stephanie Garber; design by Erin Fitzsimmons and Ray Shappell (Flatiron / January 2017)


The Circus by Olivia Levez; design by Nathan Burton (Oneworld / May 2017)

Nathan’s cover for The Island by Olivia Levez was on my list of Notable YA Book Covers last year:


Dear Martin by Nic Stone; design Angela Carlino (Crown / October 2017)


Disappearances by Emily Bain Murphy; design by Helen Crawford-White; embroidery by Jane Crawford-White (Pushkin Press / July 2017)


Done Dirt Cheap by Sarah Nicole Lemon; design Alyssa Nassner; illustration Amanda Lanzone (Amulet Books / March 2017)


Dress Codes for Small Towns by Courtney Stevens; design Heather Daugherty; illustration by Jen Heuer (HarperTeen / August 2017)


The Education of Margot Sanchez by Lilliam Rivera; cover art by Dana Svobodova (Simon & Schuster / February 2017)


Everybody Hurts by Joanna Nadin & Anthony McGowan; design by Leo Nickolls (Atom / August 2017)


Good and Gone by Megan Frazer Blakemore; design by Katie Klimowicz illustration Thomas Danthony  (HarperCollins / December 2017)


Goodnight Boy by Nikki Sheehan; design by Edward Bettison (Oneworld / July 2017)


The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas; design by Jenna Stempel-Lobell; illustration Debra Cartwright (Balzer + Bray / February 2017)


The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas; design by Maria Soler (Walker Books / April 2017)


Here We Are Now by Jasmine Warga; design by Jenna Stempel-Lobell; illustration by Monica Ramos (Balzer + Bray / November 2017)


I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez; design by Connie Gabbert (Knopf / October 2017)


Jaya and Rasa by Sonia Patel; illustration by Zeke Peña (Cinco Puntos Press / September 2017)


The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo; design by design Natalie C. Sousa & Ellen Duda (Imprint / September 2017)


Landscape with Invisible Hand by M. T. Anderson; design by Matt Roeser (Candlewick / September 2017)


Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds; design by Micheal McCartney (Atheneum Books / October 2017)


The Memory Book by Lara Avery; design by Sinem Erkas (Quercus / January 2017)


Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu; design by Elizabeth H. Clark (Roaring Brook Press / September 2017)


Norse Myths: Tales of Odin, Thor, and Loki by Kevin Crossley-Holland; illustrated by Jeffrey Alan Love; artwork by Jeffrey Alan Love (Candlewick / September 2017)

The UK edition has a different, bright yellow, cover by Jeffrey Alan Love:


The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed; design by Alex Robbins (Simon Pulse / October 2017)


Now I Rise by Kiersten White; design Jet Purdie (based on design by Margaret Hope); illustration Alessandro Taini 

The cover is based on Margaret Hope’s design for And I Darken with art by Taini, which was on my list last year: 


One Of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus; design by Melissa Four (Penguin / June 2017)


Optimists Die First by Susin Nielsen; design by Joan Wong (Wendy Lamb Books / February 2017)

 
Race to the Bottom of the Sea by Lindsay Eager; design by Matt Roeser (Candlewick / October 2017)


Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy; design by Aurora Parlagreco; illustration by Daniel Stolle (Balzer + Bray / May 2017)

The cover of Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy; also designed by Aurora Parlagreco and illustrated by Daniel Stolle was on my 2015 list.


Release by Patrick Ness; design by Erin Fitzsimmons; photograph by Andrew Yuzko (Harper Teen / September 2017)


Release by Patrick Ness; design by Ben Norland; illustration by Levente Szabo (Walker Books / May 2017)


Retribution Rails by Erin Bowman; cover art by Teagan White (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt / November 2017)

White’s cover for Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman was on my list in 2015:


A Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge; design by Rachel Vale; illustration by Aitch (Macmillan / September 2017)


Solo by Kwame Alexander with Mary Rand Hess; design Micah Kandros (Blink / August 2017)


Spurt by Chris Miles; design by Lucy Ruth Cummins (Simon & Schuster / February 2017)


Starfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman; design by Sarah Creech (Simon Pulse / September 2017)


10 Things I Can See from Here by Carrie Mac; art by Steven Wilson (Knopf / February 2017)


There’s Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins; design by Lindsey Andrews; artwork by Sean Freeman (Dutton / September 2017)


This Mortal Coil by Emily Suvada; design by Regina Flath (Simon Pulse / November 2017)


A Tragic Kind of Wonderful by Eric Lindstrom; design by Maggie Edkins (Poppy Books / February 2017)


Turtles All the Way Down by John Green; design by Rodrigo Corral and Zak Tebbal; lettering by June Park (Dutton / October 2017)


An Unkindness of Magicians by Kat Howard; design by Lizzy Bromley (Saga Press / September 2017)


The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli; design by Sarah Creech; illustration by Chris Bilheimer (Balzer + Bray / April 2017)

The cover for Becky Albertalli’s previous book, Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda, also illustrated by Chris Bilheimer was on my 2015 list.


Vanilla by Billy Merrell; design by design by Nina Goffi (Scholastic / October 2017)


We Are Okay by Nina Lacour; design by Samira Iravani; illustration by Adams Carvalho (Dutton / February 2017)


What I Lost by Alexandra Ballard; design Elizabeth H. Clark (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / June 2017)


When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon; design by Regina Flath (Simon Pulse / May 2017)


Wildman by J.C. Geiger; design by Maria Elias; illustration by Jeff Östberg (Hyperion / June 2017)

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Book Covers of Note, November 2017

It’s my last monthly cover round-up of the year! Watch out for my review of 2017 next month… 


After Me Comes the Flood by Sarah Perry; design by Pete Dyer (Serpents Tail / November 2017)


Basket of Deplorables by Tom Rachman; design by Josh Durham, Design by Committee (Text / September 2017)


Bonfire by Krysten Ritter; design by Will Staehle (Crown Archetype / November 2017)


Don’t Save Anything by Jame Salter; design by Zoe Norvell (Counterpoint / November 2017)


Dunbar by Edward St Aubyn; design by Julia Connolly; illustration Peter Strain (Hogarth / October 2017)


The Giving Light by Gavin Corbett; design by Niall McCormack (Cló Hi Tone / November 2017)

Niall also designs the excellent covers for Gorse journal. The latest issue, Gorse #9, is out this month:


Go, Went, Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck; design by Rodrigo Corral (New Directions / September 2017)


Gravel Heart by Abdulrazak Gurnah; design by Greg Heinimann (Bloomsbury / May 2017)

How Will I Know You? by Jessic Treadway; design by Catherine Casalino; illustration by Henrietta Harris (Grand Central Publishing / August 2017)

The cover of How Will I Know You? reminded me of Lynn Buckley’s 2016 cover design for Sex Object by Jessica Valenti…  

And I’m starting to think that faceless women might be a thing… 


Over the Plain Houses by Julia Franks; design Meg Reid; illustration by Jody Edwards (Hub City Press / September 2017)


The Parcel by Anosh Irani; design by Allison Colpoys (Scribe / September 2017)



The Poems of Dylan Thomas; design by Jamie Keenan (New Directions / November 2017)


Release by Patrick Ness; design by Erin Fitzsimmons; photograph by Andrew Yuzko (Harper Teen / September 2017)


Sing Unburied Sing by Jesmyn Ward; design by David Mann (Bloomsbury / November 2017)


They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us by Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib; design Two Dollar Radio (Two Dollar Radio / November 2017)


Time of Gratitude by Gennady Aygi; design by Eileen Baumgartner (New Directions / December 2017)


Toi Aussi Mon Fils by Jonathan Pedneault; design by David Drummond (Les Éditions XYZ / November 2017)


The Trauma Cleaner by Sarah Krasnostein; design by W. H. Chong (Text / October 2017)


Ultraluminous by Katherine Faw; design by Rodrigo Corral; lettering June Park (FSG / December 2017)


Where the Past Begins by Amy Tan; design by Allison Saltzman (Ecco / October 2017)


The World Goes On by László Krasznahorkai; design by Paul Sahre (New Directions / November 2017)

Speaking of Paul Sahre, his “graphic memoir” Two Dimensional Man was publishing by Abrams in September:

AND… speaking of László Krasznahorkai (as I know you all were), the cover of the UK edition of The World Goes On was designed by Harry Haysom:

It’s part of a series of abstract covers by Haysom for the Profile Books editions of Krasznahorkai:

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Book Covers of Note January 2017

My first post of 2017 includes some cracking new book covers fresh this month, and a few handsome stragglers from the end of 2016… Happy New Year! 


Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson; design by Erin Fitzsimmons (Katherine Tegen Books / January 2017)


Always Happy Hour by Mary Miller; design by Elena Giavaldi; art by Lee Price (Liveright / January 2017)


Because of the Sun by Jenny Torres Sanchez; design by Anne Jordan and Mitch Goldstein (Delacorte / January 2017) 


Caraval by Stephanie Garber; design by Erin Fitzsimmons and Ray Shappell (Flatiron / January 2017)


The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels; design David Pearson (Pluto Press / January 2017)


Enigma Variations by André Aciman; design by Na Kim (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / Januay 2017)


The Futures by Anna Pitoniak; design by Lauren Harms (Lee Boudreaux Books / January 2017)


Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi; design by Nathan Burton (Viking / January 2017)

The cover of the US edition of Homegoing, published in 2016 by Knopf, was designed by Peter Mendelsund:


Jerusalem Ablaze by Orlando Ortega-Medina; design by La Boca (Cloud Lodge Books / January 2017)


Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney; design by Olga Grlic (St. Martin’s Press / January 2017)


London Perceived by V. S. Pritchett; Nathan Burton (Daunt Books / November 2016)


Lotus by Lijia Zhang; design by Adly Elewa (Henry Holt / January 2017)


Lucky Boy by Shanti Sekaran; design by Stephen Brayda (G.P. Putnam’s Sons / January 2017)


Nicotine by Gregor Hens; design by John Gall (Other Press / January 2017)


Novels, Tales, Journeys The Complete Prose of Alexander Pushkin; design by Oliver Munday (Knopf / November 2016)


Once Upon a Time in the East by Xiaolu Guo; design Suzanne Dean; photograph by Robin Friend (Chatto & Windus / January 2017)


A People’s History of the Russian Revolution by Neil Faulkner; design by Jamie Keenan (Pluto Press / January 2017)


Selection Day by Aravind Adiga; design by Matt Dorfman (Scribner / January 2017)


Swallowing Mercury by Wioletta Greg; design David Pearson; illustration Tom Frost (Portobello Books / January 2017)


Virgin and Other Stories by April Ayers Lawson; design by James Paul Jones (Granta / January 2017)


Walking in Berlin by Franz Hessel; design by Nathan Burton (Scribe / December 2016)


Welcome to Lagos by Chibundu Onuzo; design by Bill Bragg (Faber & Faber / January 2017)


We Will Not Be Silenced edited by William I. Robinson & Maryam S. Griffin; design by James Paul Jones (Pluto Press / January 2017)

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52 YA Covers for 2015

As my 2014 post was such a hit, here is my second annual look at the past year’s young adult book covers. This isn’t my speciality, so this list is a lot more of a crowd-sourced effort than my very personal adult list. A special thank you to all the designers who have made suggestions in the past couple of weeks  — you know who you are! — and if there are any burning omissions, please let me know in the comments!

Birdy Jet Purdie
Birdy by Jess Vallance; design by Jet Purdie (Hot Key Books / July 2015)

Big Lie design Jet Purdie
The Big Lie by Julie Mayhew; design by Jet Purdie (Hot Key Books / September 2015)

conviction-design-maria-elias-cs-neal
Conviction by Kelly Loy Gilbert design by Maria Elias; illustration by Christopher Silas Neal (Disney-Hyperion / May 2015)

Cut Both Ways design Erin Fitzsimmons
Cut Both Ways by Carrie Mesrobian; design by Erin Fitzsimmons (HarperCollins / September 2015)

Zebulon Finch design Lizzy Bromley illustration Ken Taylor
The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch; design by Lizzy Bromley; illustration by Ken Taylor (Simon & Schuster / October 2015 )

Delicate Monsters design Kerri Resnick
Delicate Monsters by Stephanie Kuehn; design by Kerri Resnick (St. Martin’s Griffin / June 2015)

Drop design Maria Soler illustration Levente Szabó
Drop by Katie Everson; design by Maria Soler; illustration Levente Szabó (Walker Books / August 2015)

Dumplin design by Aurora Parlagreco illus Daniel Stolle
Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy; design by Aurora Parlagreco; illustration by Daniel Stolle (Balzer + Bray / September 2015)

eden-west-design-matt-roeser
Eden West by Pete Hautman; design by Matt Roeser; illustration Dadu Shin (Candlewick / April 2015)

Emmy and Oliver design Sarah Nichole Kaufman illustration Matthew Allen
Emmy and Oliver by Robin Benway; design Sarah Nichole Kaufman; illustration Matthew Allen (Balzer + Bray / June 2015)

Everything Everything design N C Sousa
Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon; design by N. C. Sousa; cover art by Good Wives and Warriors (Delacorte / September 2015)

Extraordinary Means cover art by Julie McLaughlin
Extraordinary Means by Robyn Schneider; cover art by Julie McLaughlin (Simon & Schuster / June 2015)

This lung-tree illustration is just incredible, but it is worth noting that this UK cover is actually an adaptation of the killed US cover (HarperCollins).

Fans of the Impossible Life design by Jenna Stempel; art by Mia Nolting
Fans of the Impossible Life by Kate Scelsa; design by Jenna Stempel; art by Mia Nolting (Balzer + Bray / September 2015)

5 to 1 design by Jennifer Heuer
5 to 1 by Holly Bodger; design by Jennifer Heuer (Knopf / May 2015)

game-of-love-and-death-artwork-cs-neal-design-nina-goffi
The Game of Love and Death by Martha Brockenbrough; design by Nina Goffi; illustration by Christopher Silas Neal (Scholastic / April 2015)

9780399568909
The Golden Yarn by Cornelia Funke; design by Mirada (Breathing Books / December 2015)

History of Blood and Glitter design Kelsey Premo Jones cover art Sam Weber
History of Blood and Glitter by Hannah Moskowitz; design Kelsey Premo Jones; cover art by Sam Weber (Chronicle Books / August 2015)

I Am Princess X
I Am Princess X by Cherie Priest; design Phil Falco; cover illustration by Kali Ciesemier (Scholastic / August 2015)

Ill Give You the Sun design Maria Soler; illustration Sophie Heywood
I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson; design Maria Soler; illustration Sophie Heywood (Walker Books / April 2015)

Walker Books also reissued Jandy Nelson’s The Sky is Everywhere with matching cover art by Sophie Heywood.

Theresa Evangelista‘s design for the hardcover of I’ll Give You the Sun was on last year’s list.

Infinite In Between by Carolyn Mackler; design by Michelle Taormina; art by Matthew Allen
Infinite In Between by Carolyn Mackler; design by Michelle Taormina; art by Matthew Allen (HarperTeen / September 2015)

Island cover art Chris Riddell
Island by Nicky Singer; cover art by Chris Riddell (Caboodle Books / October 2015)

Lottery Boy design Jack Noel
Lottery Boy by Michael Byrne; design by Jack Noel (Walker Books / May 2015)

Madness So Discreet design Erin Fitzsimmons
A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis; design by Erin Fitzsimmons; cover art by Brooke Shaden (Katherine Tegen Books / October 2015)

Mosquitoland design Theresa Evangelista illustration Andrew Fairclough
Mosquitoland by David Arnold; design by Theresa Evangelista illustration Andrew Fairclough (Viking Books / March 2015)

My Heart and Other Black Holes design Jenna Stempel
My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga; design Jenna Stempel (Balzer + Bray / February 2015)

Nest design Jon Klassen
Nest by Kenneth Oppel; design Lucy Ruth Cummins; cover art Jon Klassen (Simon & Schuster / October 2015)

It also looks pretty spiffy with the jacket removed.

Next Together design Jack Noel
The Next Together by Lauren James; design Jack Noel (Walker Books / September 2015)

Night Owls design Leo Nickolls
Night Owls by Jenn Bennett; design by Leo Nickolls (Simon & Schuster / September 2015)

panther
Panther by David Owen; design Gray318 (Corsair / March 2015)

Placebo Junkies design Ray Shappell
Placebo Junkies by J.C. Carleson; design Ray Shappell; photograph by Christine Blackburne (Knopf / October 2015)

PS I Still Love You design LR Cummins
PS I Still Love You design Lucy Ruth Cummins; Photography by Douglas Lyle Thompson (Simon & Schuster / May 2015)

Although this is really a variant to the cover of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han (on last year’s list), I still think it works really well.

queen-of-bright-shiny-things-design-anna-booth
The Queen of Bright and Shiny Things by Ann Aguirre; design by Anna Booth; photography by Jon Barkat and Gary Spector (Feiwel & Friends / April 2015)

Rest of Us Just Live Here
The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness; design by Erin Fitzsimmons; cover art by Josh Cochran (HarperCollins / October 2015)

It should be noted that this cover glows in the dark.

The UK version was designed by David McDougall for Walker Books.

Save Me design Richard Deas photo art Adam Andrearczyk
Save Me by Jenny Elliott; design Richard Deas photo art Adam Andrearczyk (Swoon Reads / July 2015)

Show and Prove design by Christian Fuenfhausen
Show and Prove by Sofia Quintero; design by Christian Fuenfhausen (Knopf / July 2015)

Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda design by Alison Klapthor illustration Chris Bilheimer
Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli; design by Alison Klapthor; illustration by Chris Bilheimer (Balzer + Bray / April 2015)

Six of Crows design Rich Deas
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo; design Rich Deas (Henry Holt & Co / September 2015)

Song for Ella Grey design Liz Casal
A Song for Ella Grey by David Almond; design Liz Casal (Delacorte / October 2015)

Symphony design by Matt Roeser
Symphony for the City of the Dead by M. T. Anderson; design by Matt Roeser; illustration by Kikuo Johnson (Candlewick / September 2015)

Thing About Jellyfish design Marcie Lawrence
The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin;design by Marcie Lawrence; illustration Terry Fan and Eric Fan (Little Brown & Co / September 2015)

Tonight the Streets design Elizabeth H Clark
Tonight the Streets Are Ours by Leila Sales; design Elizabeth H. Clark (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / September 2015)

trouble in me
The Trouble In Me by Jack Gantos; design by Christian Fuenfhausen (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / September 2015)

Tiny Pretty Things art Sean Freeman design Michelle Taormina
Tiny Pretty Things by Sona Charaipotra & Dhonielle Clayton; design by Michelle Taormina; cover art by Sean Freeman (HarperCollins / May 2015)

Vengeance Road illustration Teagan White
Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman; illustration by Teagan White (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt / September 2015)

walls-around-us
The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma; design by Connie Gabbert (Algonquin Books / March 2015)

we-all-looked-up
We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach; Lucy Ruth Cummins; photographer Meredith Jenks (Simon & Schuster / March 2015)

I still prefer the title-less version!

Willful Machines design Dan Potash
Willful Machines by Tim Foreen; design by Dan Potash (Simon & Schuster / October 2015)

Winterkill design Will Steele illustration Studio Helen
Winterkill by Kate A. Boorman; design and illustration Helen Crawford-White (Faber / November 2015)

Helen’s cover for Darkthaw, the sequel to Winterkill is also rather lovely.

The US cover for Winterkill designed by Maria T. Middleton with art by Shane Rebebschied was on my list last year.

Wolf Wilder illustration Dan Burgess design Lizzy Bromley
The Wolf Wilder by Katherine Rundell; Design by Lizzy Bromley; cover art by Dan Burgess (Simon & Schuster / August 2015)

The Winter Place design by Paul Coomey
The Winter Place by Alexander Yates; design by Paul Coomey (Simon & Schuster / October 2015)

(This probably needs to be seen in person as the blue is, I believe, a metallic finish, and the back cover is the image reversed in a lovely orange-red).

Wonders of the Invisible World design by Lynn Buckley
Wonders of the Invisible World by Christopher Barzak; design by Lynn Buckley (Knopf / September 2015)

X
X by Ilyasah Shabazz with Kekla Magoon; design by Matt Roeser (Candlewick Press / January 2015)

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Book Covers of Note September 2015

Something of a bumper post this month — a real mix of approaches, and a number YA titles to boot. Enjoy!

Complete Stories design by Paul Sahre
The Complete Stories by Clarice Lispector; design by Paul Sahre (New Directions / August 2015)

Consumed design David A Gee
Consumed by David Cronenberg; design by David A. Gee (Penguin Canada / September 2015)

Cooking as Fast as I Can design Janet Hansen
Cooking as Fast as I Can by Cat Cora; design by Janet Hansen (Scribner / September 2015)

Criminal Alphabet design by Edward Bettison
The Criminal Alphabet by Noel ‘Razor’ Smith; design by Edward Bettison (Penguin / August 2015)

Cut Both Ways design Erin Fitzsimmons
Cut Both Ways by Carrie Mesrobian; design by Erin Fitzsimmons (HarperCollins / September 2015)

Dumplin design by Aurora Parlagreco illus Daniel Stolle
Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy; design by Aurora Parlagreco; illustration by Daniel Stolle (Balzer + Bray / September 2015)

Everything Everything design N C Sousa
Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon; design by N. C. Sousa (Delacorte / September 2015)

Fake Fruit Front
Fake Fruit Factory by Patrick Wensink; design by Alban Fischer (Curbside Splendor / September 2015)

Fear of Dying design Olga Grlic
Fear of Dying by Erica Jong; design by Olga Grlic (St. Martin’s Press / September 2015)

Generation design by Harriet Sleigh
Generation by Paula McGrath; design by Harriet Sleigh (JM Originals / July 2015)

Love Love design Jennifer Heuer
Love Love by Sung J. Woo; design by Jennifer Heuer (Soft Skull / September 2015)


Undermajordomo Minor by Patrick deWitt; design by Dan Stiles (AnansiGranta / September 2015)

A Manual for Cleaning Women design Justine Anweiler
Manual for Cleaning Women full
A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin; design by Justine Anweiler; photography Jonathan Simpson (Picador UK / Septembr 2015)

(You can read about the design process for this cover here)

cover-50 (1)
The Man Who Remembered the Moon by David Hull; design by David Drummond (Dumgrad Books / September 2015)

New Time and Space design Palgrave
The New Time and Space by John Potts; design by Palgrave Macmillan (Palgrave Macmillan / September 2015)

Night Owls design Leo Nickolls
Night Owls by Jenn Bennett; design by Leo Nickolls (Simon & Schuster / September 2015)

rooms design Jeffrey Alan Love
Rooms by Lauren Oliver; cover art by Jeffrey Alan Love (Ecco / September 2015)

Same City design by Simon Pates
The Same City by Luisgé Martín; design by Simon Pates (Hispabooks / September 2015)

Seven Brief Lessons design Coralie Bickford Smith
Seven Brief Lessons on Physics by Carlo Rovelli; design by Coralie Bickford-Smith (Allen Lane / September 2015)

Symphony design by Matt Roeser
Symphony for the City of the Dead by M. T. Anderson; design by Matt Roeser; illustration by Kikuo Johnson (Candlewick / September 2015)

Syriza design by Jamie Keenan
Syriza: Inside the Labyrinth by Kevin Ovenden; design by Jamie Keenan (Pluto Press / September 2015)

Unbuttoning America design by Kimberly Glyder
Unbuttoning America by Ardis Cameron; design by Kimberly Glyder; illustration by Al Moore (Cornell University Press / May 2015)1

Vengeance Road illustration Teagan White
Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman; illustration by Teagan White (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt / September 2015)

Wallflower design David Drummond
Wall Flower by Rita Kuczynski; design by David Drummond (University of Toronto Press / August 2015)

Written in the Blood design by Alex Merto
Written in the Blood by Stephen Lloyd Jones; design by Alex Merto (Mulholland Books / May 2015)

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50 YA Covers for 2014

Like all the best things on The Casual Optimist, this post started life as a conversation on Twitter. The topic this time was the under-representation of YA book designers in all these end of the year cover lists. YA covers are becoming more and more sophisticated, yet my posts this year have rarely featured them, so feel that I am unquestionably at fault here. To make some kind of amends, I thought I would post a selection of 50 YA covers from 2014. Many, many thanks to all the book designers and publishing folk (including my colleagues Alisha, Brooke, and Megan at Raincoast) for their suggestions and assistance. And special thanks to Serah-Marie and Derek at Type Books for letting me browse their shelves with my notebook in hand…

belzhar
Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer; design by Kristin Smith (Dutton / September 2014)

beauty-of-the-broken-9781481407090_hr
Beauty of the Broken by Tawni Waters; design by Regina Flath (Simon Pulse / October 2014)

DorothyMustDie
Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige; design by Ray Shapell (HarperCollins / April 2014)

EggandSpoon
Egg and Spoon by Gregory Maguire; design by Matt Roeser (Candlewick / September 2014)

everything-leads-to-you
Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour; design by Theresa Evangelista (Dutton / May 2014)

falling-into-place
Falling into Place by Amy Zhang; design by Paul Zakris (Greenwillow Books / September 2014)

far-from-you
Far From You by Tess Sharpe; design by Whitney Manger; cover photograph by Yojik (Disney-Hyperion / April 2014)

firecracker
Firecracker by David Iserson; design by Emily Osborne (Razorbill / October 2014)

forever
Forever by Judy Blune (Reissue Edition); design by Lizzy Bromley (Atheneum Books for Young Readers / April 29, 2014)

girl-defective
Girl Defective by Simmone Howell; design by Debra Sfetsios-Conover; illustration Jeffrey Everett (Atheneum Books for Young Readers / September 2014)

girl-on-a-wire
Girl on a Wire by Gwenda Bond; design and illustration by Neil Swaab ( Skyscape / October 2014)

9780670016785B
Half Bad by Sally Green; design by Tim Green / Faceout Studio (Viking Juvenile / March 2014)

The Here And Now
The Here and Now by Ann Brashares; design by Natalie Sousa (Delacorte Press, April 2014)

high-and-dry
High and Dry by Sarah Skilton; design by The Heads of State (Amulet Books / April 2014)

House of Ivy and Sorrow
House of Ivy and Sorrow by Natalie Whipple; design by Erin Fitzsimmons (Turtleback Books / April 2014)

if-you-find-me
If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch; design by Sinem Erkas (Indigo / January 2014)

ill-give-you-the-sun
I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson; design by Theresa Evangelista  ( Dial / 2014)

into-the-grey
Into the Grey by Celine Kiernan; design by Matt Roeser (Candlewick / August 2014)

Jackaby
Jackaby by William Ritter; design by Joel Tippie / Jdrift (Algonquin Young Readers / September 2014)

lets-get-lost
Let’s Get Lost by Adi Alsaid; design by Natalie Sousa (Harlequin Teen / July 2014)

like no other
Like No Other by Una LaMarche; design by Emily Osborne; cover illustration by Michael Kirkham (Razorbill / September 2014)

9780374346676
Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira; design by Andrew Arnold (FSG Books for Young Readers / March 2014)

9781452110219
The Meaning of Maggie by Megan Jean Sovern; design by Amelia May Mack (Chronicle Books / June 2014)

My-True-Love-Gave-to-Me
My True Love Gave to Me edited by Stephanie Perkins; design & illustration by Jim Tierney (St. Martin’s Griffin / October 2014)

no-one-else-can-have-you
No One Else Can Have You by Kathleen Hale; design by ​​Michelle Taormina (HarperTeen / January 2014)

100-sideways-miles-9781442444959_hr
100 Sideways Miles by Andrew Smith; design by Lucy Ruth Cummins (Simon & Schuster for Young Readers / September 2014)

paper-airplanes
Paper Airplanes by Dawn O’Porter; design by Maria T. Middleton (Amulet / September 2014)

PlayForTheCommandant
Playing for the Commandant by Suzy Zail; design by Matt Roeser (Candlewick / October 2014)

promise-of-shadows
Promise of Shadows by Justina Ireland; design by Lucy Ruth Cummins; cover art by Luke Lucas (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers / March 2014)

ring-and-the-crown
The Ring and the Crown by Melissa de la Cruz; design by Tanya Ross-Hughes; model photo by Ali Smith; title type by Mario Hugo (Hyperion / April 2014)

ruin-and-rising
Ruin & Rising by Leigh Bardugo; design by Jen Wang (Henry Holt & Co. / June 2014)

The previous two books in the series, also designed by Jen Wang:

Salvage
Salvage by Keren David; design by Sophie Burdess (Atom / July 2014)

say-what-you-will
Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern; cover art by Ann Shen; design by Alison Klapthor (HarperTeen / June 2014)

schizo
Schizo by Nic Sheff; design by Kristin Smith (Philomel /September 30, 2014)

since-youve-been-gone
Since You’ve Been Gone by Megan Matson; design by Lucy Ruth Cummins; photography by Meredith Jenks (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers / July 2014)

Smart
Smart by Kim Slater; cover illustration by Helen Crawford-White / Studio Helen (Macmillan Children’s Books / June 2014)

AvaLavender
The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton; design by Matt Roeser (Candlewick Press / March 2014 )

side-effects-may-vary
Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy; design and illustration by Annemieke Beemster Leverenz (Balzer + Bray / 2014)

this-side-of-salvation
This Side of Salvation by Jeri Smith-Ready; design by Karina Granda (Simon Pulse / April 2014)

Tape
Tape by Steven Camden; cover art by Keri Smith (HarperCollins Children’s Books / January 2014)

tease
Tease by Amanda Maciel; design by Erin Fitzsimmons (Balzer + Bray / April 2014)

9781596437746
This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki & Jillian Tamaki; design by Jillian Tamaki & Colleen AF Venable; cover art Jillian Tamaki (First Second / May 2014)

To_all_the_boys
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han; design by Lucy Ruth Cummins; photographer Anna Wolf (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers / April 2014)

trouble-9781442497726_hr
Trouble by Non Pratt; design by Lucy Ruth Cummins; illustration by Dermot Flynn (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers / June 2014)

truth-about-alice
The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu; design by Elizabeth H Clark (Roaring Brook Press / June 2014)

two-girls-staring
Two Girls Staring at the Ceiling by Lucy Frank; design by Rachael Cole; cover art Elinor Hills (Schwartz & Wade / August 2014)

we-were-liars
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart; design by Angela Carlino (Delacorte Press / May 2014)

9780374384678
The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski; design by Elizabeth H Clark; photography by Ali Smith (FSG Books for Young Readers / March 2014)

9781419712357
Winterkill by Kate A. Boorman; design by Maria T. Middleton; illustration by Shane Rebebschied (Harry N. Abrams / September 2014)

year-of-the-rat
The Year of the Rat by Clare Furniss; design by Matt Johnson (Simon & Schuster Childrens Books / April 2014)

Thanks all

 

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Q & A with Erin Fitzsimmons

House of Ivy and Sorrow

In recent years, I doubt there’s been a greater publishing success story than Young Adult — or ‘YA’ —  fiction.

Sometimes mistakenly described as a genre, YA is actually an age-category roughly ascribed to books across a range of subjects and genres that are suitable for teenagers. Yet, confusingly,  YA is not quite synonymous with ‘Teen Fiction.’ While Teen Fiction is assigned books appropriate for ages 12-17, YA is increasingly used to describe (albeit loosely) fiction intended specifically for older teens and even readers in their 20s and beyond.

In 2012, Publishers Weekly reported that “55% of buyers of works that publishers designate for kids aged 12 to 17… are 18 or older, with the largest segment aged 30 to 44, a group that alone accounted for 28% of YA sales.” If it wasn’t exactly news that grown-ups read books for teens, their willingness to do so openly, and the development of a passionate fan culture driven as much by these adults as teens, has seen a change in the way publishers think about YA and how they package it.

The growing sophistication of YA cover design can be seen in the work of Erin Fitzsimmons, associate art director for HarperTeen in New York. The attention to lettering and typography throughout Erin’s work, notably on the cover of House of Ivy and Sorrow by Natalie Whipple and Tease by Amanda Maciel (see below), convinced me that YA design is something that should be featured here and happily Erin agreed to talk about her work. We corresponded by email.

EveninParadise_jacket

Did you read a lot of books growing up?

When I was very young, I memorized my favorite children’s book, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, so I could “read” it to my little sister. When I was older, I was into all the big chapter and middle-grade series: Goosebumps, Boxcar Children, Sweet Valley High. I must’ve just missed the Harry Potter era. I’m reading them now and they’re incredible.

Do you remember your favourite book as a teenager?

It’s funny—I’ve read far more teen books now than I ever read growing up. As a high school student, you have to do so much required reading for school, I don’t remember reading many books for fun. The book I remember reading most vividly as a teen was Jurassic Park. I went through a Michael Crichton phase, and then skipped straight to John Grisham. I read pretty much his entire library in mass market paperbacks over the course of a few summers.

When did you first become interested in design?

About 7 years ago, I started working in publishing as a photo editor. I went to school for photojournalism, but it wasn’t for me. I was convinced that since I couldn’t hack it as a photographer, I was meant to be a photo editor. Indeed, I was much better at editing, but after a year or so, my Art Director offered me the chance to design a book cover. It was love at first design, and I haven’t looked back since.

cruel-beauty

Is anyone else in your family creative?

Fortunately, my entire immediate family is creative. Both of my parents went to art school, and are supremely more talented than I will ever be. My dad owns an art gallery and frame shop, and my mom is a floral designer. My little sisters are also involved in creative fields: one is an art therapist and the other works at a youth theater when not in college. Thanks to them, I feel very supported in what I do. Even better, I don’t ever have to explain what a book designer does to them! A slightly unfortunate side effect is that simple things like Easter egg dyeing and pumpkin carving can get very competitive in my house.

Did you study design at school?

I desperately wanted to go to art school for photography, but my sage parents suggested I broaden my studies. I was lucky enough to find the Gallatin School at NYU. Gallatin allows you to take classes in all of the undergrad schools at NYU, and there are no traditional majors. So while my concentration was photojournalism, I was able to study communication and jazz history and documentary filmmaking and so forth. The challenge of this type of education was to find the way it all related to storytelling, and I’ve continued that practice in my professional career. I see design as a logical extension of storytelling, as it’s often the method and means through which stories are told. Without my Gallatin education, I might not have been so open to recognizing those relationships and trying new fields. Still to this day I find myself wanting to constantly learn new things. At the moment, it is type design, lettering, and calligraphy, but who knows what’s next.

BlackBoyWhiteSchool

Have you always specialized in young adult books?

My first experience designing books was at Fairchild Books, a small publisher of fashion and interior design textbooks. Even though we published educational books, their designs had to be a bit more stylish than your average textbook. My experience there was very much trial by fire, as I learned everything I could about design and publishing. A few years later I transitioned to HarperCollins, where I started designing mostly Young Adult and Middle Grade/Tween titles.

Can you describe your process for designing a book cover?

It differs from project to project. The basic step-by-step is usually the same: read the book > take notes > sketch/comp ideas > find artists > present > refine > present > (repeat some more…) > finalize! But within there are so many variables. There are a ton of people to please when it comes to a book cover, so that can certainly affect the flow.

Sometimes you’ll have an idea at the very start of the process, and sometimes it won’t come until much later. I tend to work up too many ideas in the early stages, and truth be told, many of my best ideas develop by mistake (or at least from different intentions) so it’s important for me to explore even the crazy/weird/bad ones.

I often find if your concept is good enough from the start, it should survive the rounds and rounds and come out all polished and shiny at the end. I am just finishing up an incredible project where the image I had in my head while reading became a pencil sketch and is now a striking piece of artwork. They can’t all be like that, but it certainly makes up for the rest.

SeptemberGirls

What are your favourite kinds of projects to work on?

I especially like working on stories that are out there and different. In the YA world, there tends to be a lot of repetition: Well, that worked, so let’s do it again, and again… So it’s truly exciting when you read something fresh. As a designer, you can really latch onto what makes the book unique, and focus on those differences to set the cover design apart.

What kinds of books present the greatest creative challenges?

There are a few genres in teen (Dystopian and Sci-Fi/Fantasy, for example) that have been tread upon so heavily that it can be difficult to come up with new and original ideas. Similarly, anything that can be considered trendy at the moment will be more of a challenge to break the mold of what’s been working for other publishers. We can try to resist the trend all we want, but too often in the end, commercial appeal will win out for the teen market. But we will still keep trying to push those boundaries.

Blackout_series

Do you approach series differently from individual cover designs?

Absolutely. We live in the land of trilogies, so if your idea won’t work three times, it won’t work at all. We often are asked to concept more than one book in a series at once, just to prevent the inevitable frustration if your idea doesn’t carry through. For the upcoming Snow Like Ashes, we designed the entire series from the start. The third book in that series won’t publish until 2016, so it’s a bit crazy to think that far ahead. Blackout was another instance where I found a series of photographs I loved, but I had to be sure from the outset that we could make each cover feel special across a series. Lately they’ve been adding last minute “interstitial” e-novellas to our release in between hardcovers in our bigger series. It might as well be the book design equivalent of a knuckleball.

For the cover of House of Ivy and Sorrow by Natalie Whipple you used a custom typeface called Ivy Type. Do you like to experiment with type design and lettering in your work?

I do, and House of Ivy & Sorrow is one of my all-time favorite projects for this reason! I had been sketching ideas for the cover design for weeks, and it just wasn’t working (my lettering skills are still very much in development). Luckily, I was able to hire fellow CooperType grad Sasha Prood to letter and illustrate the final cover. She took it so much further than I ever could have on my own. I am so grateful to get to work with incredible artists like her that make my ideas better.

The upside was that since we design both the book covers and interiors, I was able to digitize my lettering and create a character set to use for the interior design drop caps, so all was not lost in the end. I’ve created a couple of custom faces for book interiors I’ve worked on, and lately I’ve been doing a lot more hand-lettering for covers. It’s definitely something I want to keep exploring and improving upon.

HouseofIvy&Sorrow_process

Is the popularity of teen fiction among adults allowing you to create more sophisticated designs? Or is there just more pressure now on designers to produce commercial covers? 

It might be a bit of both, actually! I started in teen right as the Twilight phase was ending and Dystopian era was beginning, and so began the rise (and return) of more sophisticated subject matters. Realistic fiction has always been a staple of teen fiction, but the sheer popularity of authors like John Green and Rainbow Rowell has pushed it to the extreme in recent years. More adults are reading teen books, and therefore the covers have begun to mature along with their readers. There was also a time where sophisticated did not equal commercial. It’s wild how much that has shifted in just a few years. The lines are starting to blur and overlap, and I see it even in the adult section. It’s so fascinating to be a part of.

Cover designs are obviously important to YA readers, and ‘cover reveals’ have become common for big releases. But are YA covers still an under-appreciated art in the industry?

The cover reveal has taken on a life of its own. The popularity of Goodreads and the plethora of YA blogs has created the need for most authors to reveal their covers in advance of the catalog posting. It used to be only the lead titles were revealed, but now almost every cover ends up with the same fanfare. And with that fanfare comes scrutiny. There are entire blog posts dedicated to covers they like or don’t like. But between the reveals and the rising popularity of the teen genre, we’ve all been pushed to make better covers, and the results have been fantastic. YA covers used to be automatically looked down upon, but that is changing (slowly, but surely). And hopefully it continues to shift. I’d love to hire more adult designers to get their perspective on our genre. I also think a lot of people would be surprised at how much work goes into these covers. There are an ever growing number of talented folks working in teen design.

Delirium

Who are some of your design heroes?

Paula Scher, Peter Mendelsund, Louise Fili, Marian Bantjes, Chip Kidd, John Gall, Barbara deWilde.

Who do you think is doing interesting work right now?

Book design: Ray Shappell, Jen Heuer, Lucy Ruth Cummins, Jaya Miceli, Helen Yentus, Jon Gray, Theresa Evangelista, Olga Grlic, Elena Giavaldi, Oliver Munday.

Type/lettering/design: Dan Cassaro, Sasha Prood, Sean Freeman, Craig Ward, Isabel Urbina, I Love Dust, Kellerhouse.

InvisibleCities

Is there a particular author or a book you’d like to design (or redesign!) a cover for?

Italo Calvino would be a dream, though I fear Peter Mendelsund might have dibs! Maybe the next repackage?

I designed a cover for Invisible Cities for an SVA Continuing Ed typography class that I still really like, but I’d love to take another swing at it, along with the rest of his work.

What‘s in your ‘to read’ pile?

I am halfway through two epic series: Harry Potter and Game of Thrones, Italo Calvino’s Letters, Wildwood by Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis, The Luminaries, Claire DeWitt and the Bohemian Highway.

Do you have system for organizing your books?

Most of our design and photography books are in the living room, but the rest of our (far too many) books are in the bedroom. We have a large white bookcase in there, and most of our décor is gray and white, so I spent way too long arranging the books in a rainbow spectrum. It’s not the most functional way, but it sure looks pretty and it’s forced me to pay a lot more attention to spine design.

Do you have a favourite book?

Invisible Cities. I read it first in college and have read it countless times since. There’s always something new to discover.

Tease_3D_rev

What does the future hold for book cover design?

Innovative and interactive packaging, a focus on book as object, and (hopefully) a continual blurring of the lines between adult and teen design.

Thank you, Erin!

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