Tag: laura mock

Notable YA Covers of 2025

Published January 13, 2026

Notable YA Covers of 2025

Happy New Year! I hope you’re keeping safe and well.

I just re-read the introduction to my 2024 YA post and it says pretty much everything I was going to say about young adult covers this time around too, which is a bit annoying! There are still plenty of great covers this year, but trends sometimes move slowly, and it does make me worry that these posts are getting a little stale and predictable.

As with the previous couple of years, almost all of my 2025 selections are illustrated. Looking at original cover art and discovering new illustrators is definitely one of the joys of collating these post. It does make me wonder though, if the illustrations are thing, should I broaden the scope of the posts to include other categories to freshen things up?

I can see both sides.

YA cover designers and illustrators do not get a lot of attention despite all the cover reveals and special deluxe editions (not to mention book sales). I have been doing YA specific lists because no one else has been.

That said, the lines between categories and age-groups are blurred. I actually had to delete a couple of covers from this post because they were for SFF novels that were not strictly YA. I couldn’t tell from the covers. I only realized when I looked up the details. It happened last year too. Including other age groups would allow me to include illustrated science fiction, fantasy, and romance covers that also tend to get overlooked outside of their fan communities. But it would probably mean a bit less YA.

What to do?

Thanks again for all your support over the past year. I hope your still enjoying the posts, but please let me know if you have thoughts or additional design credits. I’d love to hear from you.

After Life by Gayle Forman; design by Laura Mock; illustration by Agata Wierzbicka (Quill Tree Books / January 2025)

Always Be My Bibi by Priyanka Taslim; design by Sarah Creech; illustration by Shazleen Khan (Salaam Reads / June 2025)

And the River Drags Her Down by Jihyn Yun; design by Trisha Previte; cover art by Yejin Park (Knopf BYR / October 2025)

Beasts by Ingvild Bjerkeland, translated by Rosie Hedger; design by John Gall (Levine Querido / April 2025)

Before I realized that Beasts was actually a young adult novel, I included this in my round-up of last year’s adult covers. Now that I know that it’s a book for teens, I think it’s only appropriate to include here too in its proper context. It’s a great cover that stands out in both lists.

Break Wide the Sea by Sara Holland; design by Kerri Resnick and Anto Marr; illustration by Zach Meyer (Wednesday Books / November 2025)

The Corruption of Hollis Brown by K. Ancrum; design by Corina Lupp; art by Mishko (HarperCollins / April 2025)

A Feast for the Eyes by Alex Crespo; design by Lily Steele; cover art by Riotbones (Peachtree Teen / October 2025)

The Floating World by Axie Oh; design by Rich Deas; art by Guweiz (Feiwel & Friends / April 2025)

A Girl Walks into the Forest by Madeleine Roux; design by David Curtis; art by Alex Eckman-Lawn (Quill Tree Books / June 2025)

The Girl You Know by Elle Gonzalez Rose; design by Amanda Hudson / Faceout Studio (Bloomsbury YA / February 2025)

Goodbye, My Princess by Fei Wo Si Cun, translated by Tianshu; design by Laurent Linn; illustration by Zijing (Simon & Schuster BYR / June 2025)

Grave Flowers by Autumn Krause; cover art by Welder Wings (Peachtree Teen / September 2025)

Hazelthorn by CG Drews; design by Meg Sayre; illustration by Jana Heidersdorf (Feiwel & Friends / October 2025)

The cover of Don’t Let the Forest In by CG Drews from the same creative pair was on last year’s list.

I Am Not Jessica Chen by Ann Liang; design by Alex Niit; cover art by Kim Myatt (HarperCollins / January 2025)

I Am the Swarm by Hayley Chewins; design by Sophie Erb; cover art by Aykut Aydoğdu (Viking BYR / March 2025)

I Can’t Even Think Straight by Dean Atta; design by Jenna Stempel-Lobell; illustration by Adriana Bellet (Quill Tree Books / May 2025)

If We Survive This by Racquel Marie; design by Abby Granata; illustration by Nicole Rifkin (Feiwel & Friends / June 2025)

In Case You Read This by Edward Underhill; design by David DeWitt; illustration by Jeff Östberg (Quill Tree Books / May 2025)

Kill Creatures by Rory Power; illustration by Kei-Ella Loewe; art direction by Liz Dresner (Delacorte Press / June 2025)

The cover of Wilder Girls by Rorie Power, designed by Regina Flath with art by Aykut Aydoğdu, was on my notable list way back in 2019.

*Wilder Girls* by Rory Power; design by Regina Flath; art by Aykut Aydogdu (Delacorte / July 2019)

Knucklehead by Tony Keith Jr.; design David Curtis (Quill Tree Books / February 2025)

Leave it on the Track by Margot Fisher cover art by Beatriz Ramo (Dutton BYR / November 2025)

Lies on the Serpent’s Tongue by Kate Pearsall; design by Jessica Jenkins; illustration by Imogen Oh (G.P. Putnam’s Sons BYR / January 2025)

This goes very nicely with their cover from a couple of year’s ago for Bittersweet in the Hollow by Kate Pearsall.

Mercy by Patricia Ward; design by Catherine Lee (HarperCollins / October 2025)

Messy by Tanya Boteju; design by David DeWitt; illustration by Jeff Östberg (Quill Tree Books / April 2025)

The Moss by Lisa Lueddecke; design by Sarah Creech; art by Yorgos Cotronis (Simon & Schuster BYR / September 2025)

Night Swimming by Aaron Starmer; cover art by Dana Lédl (Penguin Workshop / April 2025)

Nobody in Particular by Sophie Gonzales; design and illustration by Jenifer Prince (Wednesday Books / June 2025)

One of the Boys by Victoria Zeller; design by Casey Moses; cover art by Jon Stich (Levine Querido / May 2025)

Our Infinite Fates by Laura Steven; cover art by Kelly Chong (Penguin / February 2025)

This is the UK cover. The cover of the US edition published by Wednesday Books was designed by Olga Grlic.

The Payback Girls by Alex Travis; design by Aarushi Menon (Sourcebooks Fire / April 2025)

Season of Fear by Emily Cooper; design Jenny Kimura; illustration by Chris Mrozik (Christy Ottaviano Books / September 2025)

Shiny Happy People by Clay McLeod Chapman; design by Casey Moses; illustration by Elena Masci (Delacorte Press / November 2025)

Show Stopper by Lily Anderson; design and illustration by Keith Vlahakis (Henry Holt & Co. BYR / September 2025)

Summer Girls by Jennifer Dugan; design by Kelley Brady; illustration by Jeff Östberg (G.P. Putnam’s Sons BYR / May 2025)

I think this is the third Jennifer Dugan novel with Jeff Östberg‘s art on the cover?

They Bloom At Night by Trang Thanh Tran; design by John Candell; art by Elena Masci (Bloomsbury YA / March 2025)

The cover of She is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran, which also features art by Elena Masci, was included in my list in 2023.

The Wildest Things by Andrea Hannah; design by Olga Grlic; art by Marcela Boliva (Wednesday Books / February 2025)

Wish You Were Her by Elle McNicoll; design by Kerri Resnick; illustration by Marianna Tomaselli (Wednesday Books / August 2025)

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Leguin; design by Joe Merkel; art by Fred Fordham (Clarion Books / March 2025)

Woven From Clay by Jenny Birch; design by Kerri Resnick; art by Jorge Mascarenhas (Wednesday Books / August 2025)

You’ve Found Oliver by Dustin Thao; design by Theresa Evangelista; illustration by Zipcy (Dutton BYR / September 2025)

I believe this is third Dustin Thao novel with a cover illustration by Zipcy, although I think the previous two were designed by Kerri Resnick for Wednesday Books.

Notable YA Covers of 2024

Happy New Year! I hope you’re keeping safe and well. The first post of the year is the now customary look back at the previous year’s Young Adult covers. All the covers on this year’s list are illustrated (which was almost, but not quite, the case last year too). I love illustration — it’s part of the reason why I still keep doing these posts! — so it’s possible that this just reflects my personal preferences, but almost all the YA covers I saw this year were illustrated. There were very few photographic or type/letter-only covers.

I compile this list a little differently to my adult list. It’s mostly done over a few weeks at the end of the year rather than compiled across the year as a whole. I’m sure this skews my selections too. I’m probably overly reliant on cover reveal posts and best of the year lists. I think this probably means that the big American publishers are over-represented, which is less than ideal. I suspect they’re dominant in the category anyway, but I’m sure I am missing some interesting covers from independent and international publishers all the same.

The Horror and Fantasy seem to be having a moment. The line between YA and adult covers seems very blurred in both genres. I had to double-check a number to titles to confirm where they belonged. It happened often enough for me to think it was intentional, which probably speaks to who is reading YA and what they are looking for. It is also possible that I am over-indexing both genres here because they seem more mature and they appeal to me personally. I am also less of a fan of the illustration styles popular for the romance genres at the moment, so I think it’s fair to say they are under-represented on the list. I am very aware that I am not the target audience, so I’m not sure it is something that should overly worry art directors (although apologies if you’re disappointed not to see more of your covers on the list!). Still, it might be nice to see some new / different approaches to Romance — and all genres, frankly — going forward.

And with that, I wish you all the best for 2025, and I hope you enjoy the post!

Bad Graces by Kyrie McCauley; design by Joel Tippie; art by Katya Murysina (Katherine Tegen Books / June 2024)

Bad Like Us by Gabriella Lepore; design and illustration by Julian D. Paulsen (Inkyard Press / March 2024)

Clown in a Cornfield 3: The Church of Frendo by Adam Cesare; design Jenna Stempel-Lobell; art by Matt Ryan Tobin (HarperTeen / August 2024)

I think this is my favourite cover from the series thus far, but the covers of the original Clown in a Cornfield from 2020, and the second book Frendo Lives from 2022, are also very creepy.

Children of Anguish and Anarchy by Tomi Adeyemi; design by Samira Iravani; art by Lola Idowu (Henry Holt / June 2024)

The previous two books in the series, Children of Blood and Bone and Children of Virtue and Vengeance, were in my 2018 and 2019 lists respectively, although they have a different designer and different illustrators.

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi; design Richard Deas (Henry Holt / March 2018)

Compound Fracture by Andrew Joseph White; design and illustration by Evangeline Gallagher (Peachtree Teen / September 2024)

The cover of The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White was on last year’s list.

A Crane Among Wolves by June Hur; design by Aurora Parlagreco; art by Yejin Park (Feiwel & Friends / May 2024)

The covers of June Hur’s books The Silence of Bones and The Forest of Stolen Girls were on the 2020 and 2021 lists respectively, again with different designers and illustrators.

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

Don’t Let the Forest In by CG Drews; design by Meg Sayre; art by Jana Heidersdorf (Feiwel & Friends / October 2024)

Dust by Alison Stine; design by Kerri Resnick; art by Annabelle Ariane (Wednesday Books / December 2024)

The Girl With No Reflection by Keshe Chow; design by Casey Moses; art by Victo Ngai (Delacorte Press / August 2024)

The cover of the UK edition of The Girl With No Reflection published by Hodder & Stoughton was designed by Micaela Alcaino.

Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao; design by Terri Nimmo; art by Ashley Mackenzie (Tundra / December 2024)

The cover of Iron Widow, the previous book in the series, was on the 2021 list.

The Hedgewitch of Foxhall by Anna Bright; design by Corina Lupp; art by Christin Engelberth (Harperteen / March 2024)

The Hysterical Girls of St. Bernadettes by Hanna Alkaf; design by Leo Nickolls (Simon & Schuster BFYR / September 2024)

The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland; design by Theresa Evangelista; art by Aykut Aydoğdu (Nancy Paulsen Books / January 2024)

Kindling by Traci Chee; design by Kathy H. Lam; art by Kiuyan Ran (HarperCollins / February 2024)

The cover of A Thousand Steps into the Night by Traci Chee was on the 2022 list with a different art style.

Made Glorious by Lindsay Eager; design by Maria T. Middleton; art by Deena So’Oteh (Candlewick / April 2024)

I missed the cover of The Family Fortuna by Lindsay Eagar last year, but it’s also delightfully creepy. The art is by Elena Masci, and I believe the designer is Matt Roeser.

Merciless Saviors by H. E. Edgmon; design by Kerri Resnick; art by Elena Masci (Wednesday Books / April 2024)

Moonstorm by Yoon Ha Lee; design by Liz Dresner; art by Priscilla Kim (Delacorte Press / June 2024)

Most Ardently by Gabe Cole Novoa; design by Samira Iravani; art by Marlowe Lune (Feiwel & Friends / January 2024)

Night Owls A. R. Vishny; design by Jenna Stempel-Lobell; art by Zach Meyer (HarperCollins / September 2024)

Old Wounds by Logan-Ashley Kisner; design by Liz Dresner; art by Zoë van Dijk (Delacorte Press / September 2024)

The Orbit of You by Ashley Schumacher; design by Kerri Resnick; art by Giuditta Bertoni (Wednesday / March 2024)

Our Wicked Histories by Amy Goldsmith; design by Liz Dresner; art by Marcela Bolivar (Delacorte Press / July 2024)

My Throat an Open Grave by Tori Bovalino; design by Rosie Stewart; art by Tristan Elwell (Page Street YA / February 2024)

A Place for Vanishing by Ann Fraistat; design by Trisha Previte; art by Zoë van Dijk (Delacorte Press / January 2024)

Prince of Fortune by Lisa Tirreno; design by Rebecca Syracuse; art by Serena Archetti (Atheneum BFYR / October 2024)

Silver in the Bone by Alexandra Bracken; design Liz Dresner; art Tomasz Majewski (Ember / May 2024)

This is actually the paperback of the first title in series. The new cover matches the latest book, released in July, The Mirror of Beasts.

So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole; design by Jenny Kimura; art by Taj Francis (Little, Brown BFYR / January 2024)

So Witches We Became by Jill Baguchinsky; design Jenny Kimura; art by Marco Mazzoni (Little, Brown BFYR / July 2024)

Songs of the Six Realms by Judy I. Lin; design by Rich Deas; art by Sija Hong (Feiwel & Friends / July 2024)

The cover of A Magic Steeped in Poison and it’s sequel A Venom Dark and Sweet by Judy I. Lin were on 2022’s list.

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

Stranger Skies by Pascale Lacelle; design by Greg Stadnyk (Margaret K. McElderry Books / November 2024)

The cover of Curious Tides by Pascale Lacelle was on last year’s list.

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

Sunrise Nights by Jeff Zentner & Brittany Cavallaro; design Laura Mock; art by Hokyoung Kim (Quill Tree Books / July 2024)

Tender Beasts by Liselle Sambury; design by Greg Stadnyk; art by Elena Masci (Margaret K. McElderry Books / February 2024)

A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal; design by Aurora Parlagreco; art by Valentina Remenar (Farrar, Straus & Giroux BYR / February 2024)

To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods by Molly X. Chang; design by Regina Flath; art by Sija Hong (Del Rey Books / April 2024)

To The Bone by Alena Bruzas; design by Kristie Radwilowicz; art by Adam Parata (Rocky Pond Books / September 2024)

Twenty- Four Seconds From Now by Jason Reynolds; design by Sonia Chaghatzbanian; art by Daniel Egnéus (Atheneum Books / October 2024)

Under This Red Rock by Mindy McGinnis; design by David Curtis; art by Corey Brickley (Katherine Tegen Books / March 2024)

The cover of The Last Laugh by Mindy McGinnis (and re-jacketed backlist) were on the 2022 list.

What the Woods Took by Courtney Gould; design by Kerri Resnick; art by Peter Strain (Wednesday Books / December 2024)

I was sure I had included the covers forThe Dead and the Dark and Where Echoes Die by Courtney Gould illustrated by Peter Strain in previous lists, but apparently I hadn’t. They’re really nice:

Where Sleeping Girls Lie by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé; design by Elizabeth Clark; art by Aykut Aydoğdu (Feiwel & Friends / March 2024)

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Published December 31, 2021

Notable YA Covers of 2021

These posts are such a last minute scramble I don’t usually offer much in the way of commentary. It is hard to ignore, however, how many of my selections this year are illustrated. This may be a reflection of my personal preferences. Certainly, it isn’t new. As I mentioned in my look back at the year’s adult covers, the trends in 2021 felt very much like a continuation of the previous couple of years. Even so, I was struck by the sophistication and the range of YA illustrations this year. There are some illustrators whose work appears here more than once, but I don’t get the sense that there is a dominant style across category. It seems to depend very much on the specifics of the genre and the age range of the readership. That said, there is, perhaps, a common theme of ornate detail and decoration.

I am also finding it harder to differentiate between covers for more mature YA readers and adult covers of the same genre these days. If the cover blurbs and other identifiers (“A Novel”) didn’t give it away, the combination of the typography, colour palette, and the apparent age of the protagonist depicted used to give me a clue. Now it seems to me that there is a blurring of the lines, and I’ve had to check a couple of times recently to be sure of the intended readership age. I’d be curious to know if this is intentional on the part of publishers.

Anyway, there are some fantastic covers this year. Buzzfeed has a really decent list with design and illustration credits too if you’re looking for a second opinion (not that they need any clicks from me!). You can find my 2020 list here if you are interested.

Happy New Year!

All Of Us Villains by Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman; design by Will Staehle (Tor Teen / November 2021)

Bad Girls Never Say Die by Jennifer Mathieu; design by Kerri Resnick (Roaring Brook Press / October 2021)

Before We Disappear by Shaun David Hutchinson; design by Jessie Gang; illustration by Valentina Remenar (Harperteen / September 2021)

Black Birds in the Sky by Brandy Colbert; art and design Natasha Cunningham (Balzer & Bray / October 2021)

Cazadora by Romina Garber; design by Kerri Resnick; illustation by Daria Hlazatova (Wednesday Books / August 2021)

The cover of Lobizona was on last year’s list:

City of Rust by Gemma Fowler; design by Steve Wells; illustration by Karl James Mountford (Chicken House / March 2021)

The Coming Storm by Regina M. Hansen; cover art by Tran Nguyen (Atheneum Books for Young Readers / June 2021)

Dark Rise by C. S. Pacat; design by Laura Mock; illustration by Magdalena Pagowska (Quill Tree Books / September 2021)

Drawn That Way by Elissa Sussman; design by Sarah Creech; lettering and illustration by art lettering Francesca Protopapa (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers / September 2021)

Dustborn by Erin Bowman; design by Mary Claire Cruz; illustration by Matt Griffin (Clarion / April 2021)

Aside from generally being a terrific SFF illustrator, I believe Matt Griffin illustrated the cover of Ace Books’ deluxe hardcover edition of Dune by Frank Herbert a couple of years ago, so he seems like an inspired choice here.

The Falling Girls by Hayley Krischer; design by Samira Iravani; illustration by Sarah Maxwell (Razorbill / October 2021)

Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado; design by Chelsea Hunter; illustration Ericka Lugo (Holiday House / February 2021)

Fire with Fire by Destiny Soria; design by Mary Claire Cruz; illustration by Viv Tanner (Clarion / June 2021)

The Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley; design by Richard Deas; illustration Moses Lunham (Henry Holt & Company / March 2021)

(Sorry — I couldn’t find a cover image without the roundel. If anyone at Macmillan would like to send me one, I’ll be happy to replace it)

The Forest of Stolen Girls by June Hur; illustration Pedro Tapa (Feiwel & Friends / April 2021)

The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna; design Ray Shappell; cover art by Tarajosu (Delacorte Press / February 2021)

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao; design by Talia Abramson; illustration Ashley Mackenzie (Penguin Teen / September 2021)

Lies Like Wildfire by Jennifer Lynn Alvarez; design by Casey Moses; cover art Mishko (Delacorte / September 2021)

Love is for Losers by Wibke Brueggemann; design by Rachel Vale (Macmillan Children’s Books / January 2021)

The cover of the US edition, published by ‎ Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) in February, was designed by Aurora Parlagreco with an illustration by Sally Nixon. I like it a lot too. It’s interesting to see the contrast between the UK and US markets.

Me (Moth) by Amber McBride; design and illustration by Richard Deas (Feiwel & Friends / August 2021)

Muse by Brittany Cavallaro; design by David Curtis; illustration by Florian Schommer (Katherine Tegen Books / February 2021)

Namesake by Adrienne Young; design by Kerri Resnick; photograph by Sveltana Belyaeva (Wednesday Books / March 2021)

Fable, the other half of this cover, was published in September 2020 and featured in last year’s YA cover round-up.

Oculta by Maya Motayne; design by Aurora Parlagreco and Jenna Stempel-Lobell; art by Mark Van Leeuwen (Balzer & Bray / April 2021)

The cover of Nocturna, the previous book in the series, was featured in my 2019 YA round-up.

The Ones We’re Meant To Find by Joan He; design Aurora Parlagreco; illustration Aykut Aydogdu (Roaring Brook Press / May 2021)

Red Wolf by Rachel Vincent; design Alice Wang; illustration Dan Burgess (Harperteen / July 2021)

The River Has Teeth by Erica Waters; design by Jenna Stempel-Lobell; illustration by Chervelle Fryer (Harperteen / July 2021)

Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim; design Alison Impey; cover art by Tran Nguyen; lettering by Alix Northrup (Alfred A. Knopf BYR / July 2021)

Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen; cover art by Jeff Manning (Random House BYR / November 2021)

Smoke by Darcy Woods; design Ray Shappell; lettering and photography Agustina Gastaldi Ferrario (Crown BYR / June 2021)

Soul Lanterns by Shaw Kuzki; design Carol Ly; illustration Shoko Ishida (Delacorte / March 2021)

A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow; design David Curtis (Tordotcom / October 2021)

(I’m not sure that this is actually YA technically speaking, but it fits better on this list than the other one)

Terciel & Elinor by Garth Nix; design David Curtis; illustration Ashley Mackenzie (Katherine Tegen Books / November 2021)

The Theft of Sunlight by Intisar Khanani; cover art Jenny Zemanek (Harperteen / March 2021)

This goes very nicely with the cover of Thorn, the author’s previous book, published in hardcover last year.

This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron; design by Jet Purdie; illustration by Raymond Sébastien (Bloomsbury YA / June 2021)

This Will Be Funny Someday by Katie Henry; design David Curtis (Katherine Tegen Books / January 2021)

Tides of Mutiny by Rebecca Rode; design Leo Nickolls (Jimmy Patterson / September 2021)

The Verdigris Pawn by Alysa Wishingrad; design by Laura Mock ; illustration Júlia Sardà (HarperCollins / July 2021)

Yes, this is middle-grade and not YA, but I really like the lettering and I love Júlia Sardà’s illustrations so I’m allowing it.

When You Look Like Us by Pamela N. Harris; design David Dewitt; illustration Shane Ramos (Quill Tree Books / January 2021)

Within These Wicked Walls by Lauren Blackwood; design Kerri Resnick; illustration Palesa (Wednesday Books / October 2021)

(Another cover image with a roundel. Apologies. At least it is somewhat less obtrusive here.)

Yolk by Mary H. K. Choi; design Lizzy Bromley; cover art by gg (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers / March 2021)

The covers of Emergency Contact and Permanent Record by Mary H.K. Choi designed by Lizzy Bromley with art by gg have featured in previous year’s lists.

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Tag: laura mock

Notable YA Covers of 2025

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Notable YA Covers of 2024

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Notable YA Covers of 2021

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Notable YA Covers of 2025

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Notable YA Covers of 2024

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Notable YA Covers of 2021

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