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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