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  • STACKED
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      • Debut YA Novels
      • Get Genrefied
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      • Feminism For The Real World Anthology
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Cover Makeovers: Fall 2020 YA Edition

July 6, 2020 |

It’s makeover season!

Although it’s still summer here in the northern hemisphere and will be until September, publishers have been putting efforts behind promoting and sharing their fall 2020 YA books. There are so many great new books, as well as great previously-published books getting their paperback editions.

Many paperbacks look similar to the hardcover, but in a softer, cheaper, and more portable form. But as happens in YA quite a bit, a number of books get a new look in their paperback form. Be it for marketing purposes, for better highlighting the mood and tone of the book, or to get it on fresh reader radars who may have missed it before.

Let’s take a look at some of the YA books getting new looks in paperback in the coming season.

As always, the original hardcover is on the left, while the paperback is on the right.

 

Spontaneous by Aaron Starmer

 

 

I hadn’t realized Starmer’s book wasn’t in paperback yet, since the hardcover came out in 2016. Perhaps because the book is in development for adaptation. The new paperback will hit shelves September 8.

The original hardcover really pops. The yellow background with the orange title and clever burst of the “o” in the font. It’s not super surprising to see that the John Green blurb takes up more real estate than the title and author name, and in addition, there’s a tag line which reads “a novel about growing up . . . and blowing up.” The ice cream truck is central, and the girl in the image says so much with her body language. She’s over the truck, but she’s also tough.

In paperback, the ice cream truck is gone, as is whoever was standing beside the girl. Now she’s front and center, giving off the same vibe as in the hardcover. She’s tough and she’s over it, whatever “it” might be. The bubble is a clever little detail.

Missing from the paperback is the tag line, the standout color background, and clever font design for the title. The new color is more muted, as is the title. But the Green blurb is still present, though it blends into the background a bit more than before.

Either cover is fine. I’m not sure one is better than the other, nor does one draw me in more than the other as a reader. Perhaps the new cover is a hint at news of the adaptation coming soon?

 

Chicken Girl by Heather Smith

 

 

Chicken Girl! It reminds me a lot of Hot Dog Girl by Jennifer Dugan, of course, though rather than being a girl in a hot dog costume, it’s a girl in a chicken suit.

The hardcover doesn’t give any indication of that and, in fact, is kind of confusing all around. Is the girl actually a chicken? Does she raise chickens? The bright pink is fun, but the contrasting bright yellow feathers, as well as the black-on-yellow font for the book title and author name is a little challenging on the eyes (especially digitally).

In paperback, it’s a different story. We know exactly what the book is about: a girl who might be wearing a chicken costume, presumably for a job. The fact we don’t see a face of the girl is clever, especially paired with the tag line, which carried over from the hardcover: “Life can be a tough egg to crack.” The light pink with pastel yellow is much easier on the eyes. I love that the chicken head looks like it has an eye roll going on.

For me, this one is easy. The paperback is way more appealing and would make it pick it up. I suspect teens would feel similarly.

The paperback hits shelves September 8.

 

Everlost by Neal Shusterman (series)

 

 

Given the tremendous success in the last few years in Neal Shusterman’s career, it shouldn’t be any surprise one of his older series is getting a fresh look. It’s a good one, too!

Everlost looks perfectly creepy in hardcover, but it does feel like design that’s about a decade old. In no way is it bad, but it blends into so many other book covers of the time of its publication.

The paperback, on the other hand, feels fresh and contemporary. The cover also indicates it’s part of a trilogy, which is super helpful for readers and those who work with readers. Added to the paperback, in addition to a new — but still familiar — look, is that Shusterman is a New York Times bestseller. The title of the book gets a new font, with the second “e” getting a little special touch. Perhaps most noticeable is Shusterman’s name. What was once in the corner of the book is now front and center and takes up much more real estate.

I think both covers are effective and evocative, though the new paperback might edge out the original look a bit for me, if for no reason other than how fresh it feels.

You can grab Everlost in paperback September 8. All of the books in the trilogy will be getting the redesign, which is going to look so sharp on shelves.

 

Tithe by Holly Black (series)

 

 

 

Another series getting a whole new look is Holly Black’s “Modern Faerie Tale.” The originals, picked above, are dark and reminiscent of the YA fantasy which published around the same time (2004!). Think LJ Smith and the Vampire Diaries, among others. It’s really perfect for the series, and readers who are looking for dark fairy tales know what to pick up.

But the paperback design? It’s absolutely gorgeous. The books maintain the same feel, but they’ve been updated and modernized for today’s teen readers. The images pay homage to the classic covers, while also making clear these are still modern and relevant. Holly Black’s name is much larger now, and like with the Shusterman redesign, the series title is indicated on the front cover. The font is fresher, too.

For anyone with this series on your shelves at libraries or schools: this is your sign to update.

It’s not going to be surprising that I think the paperback redesign is a total win. The originals are great, but they’re of an era. The new looks are of this era.

The redesigned series will hit shelves October 20.

 

 

The Beauty of the Moment by Tanaz Bhathena

 

This cover redesign seems to be a classic of “what is the story about” variety. I love the hardcover. It’s eye-catching and unique. But what is it about? I love the brown model at the center, paired with the illustrated flora and fauna, as well as the swoopy script lettering of the title. There’s a tag line, too, which in digital rendering is super challenging to read: “Why fit in when you can stand out?” It’s a beautiful cover but it tells absolutely nothing of the story.

The paperback is a big change, though the illustrated girl definitely gives the same vibe about her as the model on the hardcover. It’s more clear that romance might be central to the story here, and even clearer is that the girl might not be entirely into it. It’s interesting that the background is of a skyline, which suggests an entirely different feel than the hardcover, featuring nature.

On paperback, the font is not noteworthy except for the thing that does make it noteworthy: it’s big! And rather than the author’s name being in all lower case letters, it’s now rendered in all uppercase. Both the title and author font stand out well on the muted-rainbow background.

The tag line has disappeared, but it’s been replaced with a blurb that explains the story so much better: “A titanium-strength love story.” In no way does the original suggest love story, but the paperback? Absolutely.

And interestingly, there’s a different cover for the Canadian edition of the book, which may be the inspiration for the new design in paperback:

 

This cover is a sheer delight. Look at the girl! Look at the boy who is trying so hard to be smooth with her! I love the elements of this one.

Both the paperback and hardcover are beautiful, but the paperback seems more true to the story itself. If only we had the choice of the Canadian edition because it’s especially good.

You can grab the paperback July 21.

 

 

What do you think? Which covers do you prefer? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

 

 

Filed Under: aesthetics, book covers, cover designs, Cover Doubles, Cover Redesigns, ya fiction, Young Adult, young adult fiction

Falling: An Emerging Cover Trend

December 7, 2015 |

The last few years, I’ve done a huge look at cover trends that will be hitting shelves in the new year. I’m going to mix it up a little this go around, though. Rather than a couple of huge posts with all of the trends, I’m going to highlight them in individual posts throughout the next few months. Consider it more pow, as well as an opportunity for me to see more of the fall covers as they’re released and fit the various trends. All book descriptions provided will be from Goodreads.

Up first is a really curious one to me — it’s the trend of people falling on covers. I’ve talked before about the covers where a shadowy figure is running away from the reader on the cover, and we’ve all seen the deluge of covers featuring girls who are drowning or lying dead in a body of water.

But falling from the sky? This is a new one for me. And it’s not hitting shelves lightly come 2016. First, here’s a 2015 cover that might have inspired this trend:

 

the accident season

 

The Accident Season by Moira Fowley-Doyle

It’s the accident season, the same time every year. Bones break, skin tears, bruises bloom.

The accident season has been part of seventeen-year-old Cara’s life for as long as she can remember. Towards the end of October, foreshadowed by the deaths of many relatives before them, Cara’s family becomes inexplicably accident-prone. They banish knives to locked drawers, cover sharp table edges with padding, switch off electrical items – but injuries follow wherever they go, and the accident season becomes an ever-growing obsession and fear.

But why are they so cursed? And how can they break free?

 

It’s an eye-catching cover, for sure. I think the color scheme behind the falling girl is what does it, though, not her. And both that color infused backdrop and a falling teen pepper the trend as it grows in 2016.

 

ascending the boneyard

 

Ascending the Boneyard by C. G. Watson (Simon Pulse, February 16)

Everything’s a battle.

Sometimes life gets too real, and Caleb Tosh has taken one hit too many. First, there was the accident that changed everything for Tosh’s younger brother. Now his mom has left. All the pain, the grief and loss, have finally pushed Tosh over the edge.

If only he could have a do-over. Wipe his reality. Start fresh. Maybe he could fix all of his mistakes and everything would be different. Tosh immerses himself in the complex missions from the game he obsessively plays, The Boneyard. The game bleeds into the dark nature of his everyday life, folding reality into surreality until it’s impossible to separate one from the other. Tosh is desperate to Ascend, to reach the next level, to become Worthy.

Readers are brought on a one-of-a-kind, absorbing journey where no one can say what is real and what isn’t—right up until the shocking, yet deeply powerful conclusion.

 

 

the blood between us

 

The Blood Between Us by Zac Brewer (HarperTeen, May 3)

Growing up, Adrien and his sister, Grace, competed viciously for everything. It wasn’t easy being the adopted sibling, but Adrien tried to get along; it was Grace who didn’t want anything to do with him. When their scientist parents died in a terrible lab fire, there was nothing left to hold them together.

Now, after years apart, Adrien and Grace are forced to reunite at the elite boarding school where their parents were teachers. Being back around everyone he used to know makes Adrien question the person he’s become, while being back around Grace makes him feel like someone he doesn’t want to be.

For as much as Adrien wants to move on, someone seems determined to reopen old wounds. And when Adrien starts to suspect that Grace knows more about their parents’ deaths than she let on, he realizes there are some wounds no amount of time can heal. If Adrien isn’t careful, they may even kill him.

 

 

heir to the sky

 

Heir to the Sky by Amanda Sun (Harlequin Teen, April 26)

As heir to a kingdom of floating continents, Kali has spent her life bound by limits—by her duties as a member of the royal family; by a forced betrothal to the son of a nobleman; and by the edge of the only world she’s ever known—a small island hovering above a monster-ridden earth, long since uninhabited by humans. She is the Eternal Flame of Hope for what’s left of mankind, the wick and the wax burning in service for her people, and for their revered Phoenix, whose magic keeps them aloft.

When Kali falls off the edge of her kingdom and miraculously survives, she is shocked to discover there are still humans on the earth. Determined to get home, Kali entrusts a rugged monster-hunter named Griffin to guide her across a world overrun by chimera, storm dragons, basilisks, and other terrifying beasts. But the more time she spends on earth, the more dark truths she begins to uncover about her home in the sky, and the more resolute she is to start burning for herself.

 

the love that split the world

 

The Love That Split the World by Emily Henry (Razorbill, January 26)

Natalie Cleary must risk her future and leap blindly into a vast unknown for the chance to build a new world with the boy she loves.

Natalie’s last summer in her small Kentucky hometown is off to a magical start… until she starts seeing the “wrong things.” They’re just momentary glimpses at first—her front door is red instead of its usual green, there’s a pre-school where the garden store should be. But then her whole town disappears for hours, fading away into rolling hills and grazing buffalo, and Nat knows something isn’t right.

That’s when she gets a visit from the kind but mysterious apparition she calls “Grandmother,” who tells her: “You have three months to save him.” The next night, under the stadium lights of the high school football field, she meets a beautiful boy named Beau, and it’s as if time just stops and nothing exists. Nothing, except Natalie and Beau.

Emily Henry’s stunning debut novel is Friday Night Lights meets The Time Traveler’s Wife, and perfectly captures those bittersweet months after high school, when we dream not only of the future, but of all the roads and paths we’ve left untaken.

 

 

PNOK Final Cover 101515.indd

 

Places No One Knows by Brenna Yovanoff (Delacorte, May 17)

Waverly Camdenmar doesn’t have friends, she has social assets. She doesn’t get sucked into drama, she makes tactical decisions. Her life is dominated by achievement, competition, and functioning as the power behind the throne in her school’s little kingdom of popularity. But even the most resilient mercenary has weaknesses. Perfection is exhausting, and her longstanding alliance with queen-bee Maribeth rests on a foundation of resentment, anxiety, and a nagging feeling that there must be something beyond student council. Waverly’s name might be at the top of every leader board, but she hasn’t slept in days.

In a last-ditch attempt at relaxation, she finds herself at the center of an inexplicable phenomenon when a harmless counting exercise ends with Waverly materializing in front of one of the school’s most dedicated burn-outs. Marshall is not someone Waverly would ever consider … well, she would just never consider him. His nights are spent indulging in the kind of self-destructive pastimes she can only roll her eyes at. But despite herself, her curiosity is piqued. He sees her—really sees her —and his earnestness and his empathy are strangely affecting.

In these ghostly dreams, Waverly can do what she wants and say what she thinks, without risk or repercussion. Without it meaning anything. As nights pass, however, she begins to understand the nature of relationships, and to question her own daytime machinations. Her encounters with Marshall are growing steadily more intimate. Every new interaction forces her to ask herself how close is too close, and her days are becoming restless, complicated by her silent anger at Maribeth, and her budding friendship with a raucous, enigmatic girl who was never supposed to be anything but Waverly’s latest pygmalion project.

The truth is, it’s hard to be cavalier about hurting people when you know them. When you love them. As her edges begin to fray, Waverly must confront the very real danger of losing Marshall to the rigid image she’s spent so long cultivating, and accept that the only way to keep the people who matter to her is to embrace what it means to be vulnerable.

 

 

 

Have you seen other YA novels hitting shelves in 2016 featuring falling bodies? I’d love to know about ’em and more, I’d love to know what you make of this particular trend. I guess the only thing I have to really say about it is that I appreciate it’s not all girls who are falling (and thus falling apart or breaking), as clearly there are also boys who are in the same positions.

Filed Under: aesthetics, cover design, cover designs, Cover Doubles, Cover Trends

Cover Doubles: Backs of Girls Edition

September 24, 2015 |

How about some cover doubles? Or, I should say, cover doubles with a side of a cover triple. Here are recent stock image reuses on book covers that have caught my eye. I’d love to know if you’ve seen any lately, whether they’re these doubles or others.

cover triple back of girl

 

The first book to have the back of this girl as its central image was Nina LaCour’s 2014 Everything Leads To You. It’s a great, moody image and captures the feel of the book well. It’s romantic and has a sense of longing and possibility. It’s “light” looking without suggesting it’s a light read.

Ryan Revisited was self-published this summer, and it’s a stark look. We get to see more of her body, and it’s interesting the choice to crop her for the LaCour title, as well as the Fayman one. I think the full body works in this cover, as there’s not other images competing for attention. For a self-published title, it’s a pretty well-done cover.

In 2016, that same girl will be a central image for the cover of Corey Lynn Fayman’s Desert City Diva. That’s an interesting cover all around — a burned out, broke down car and a really unfortunate spider crawling along the title. I wouldn’t want to be that girl. I kind of think she looks out of place, as she looks too “pretty” to be walking among those less-than-pretty things. Interestingly, this book is also set in California, like LaCour’s.

 

 

patterson forman double

 

Here’s another cover double that features the backside of a girl, but this time, she’s holding hands with her beau. This is a fascinating cover double to me because the books could not be more different. There’s Patterson’s Truth or Die, which is clearly a mystery/thriller genre read, and then there’s the paperback cover of Gayle Forman’s Just One Day which is a romantic YA read. The images are oddly effective on both covers though — there’s a target on the Patterson one to give it that thriller vibe, while the closer focus on the couple and their hand-holding on the Forman cover showcase the romance angle. Of course, the image is mirrored but otherwise, it’s exactly the same.

 

Filed Under: aesthetics, cover design, cover designs, Cover Doubles

Title Doubles

July 17, 2013 |

As
the purchaser for all YA materials at my library, I become very
well-acquainted with the titles of recently-published books. Sometimes,
after reading page after page of (pretty dull) reviews or synopses, they
all seem to blend together. I’ll often think, “Haven’t I seen that one
before? Purchased it already?”
The answer is “Yes, kind of.”

I
took a look at a slew of YA books published within the past few years
and noticed that a remarkable number have the same or nearly identical
titles. I’m sure the list below is not exhaustive – what others do you
know of?

Both 2013

 

 Both 2013
 
 
 2013, 2011
 
 
 2011 (adult), 2013

 
 2012 (adult), 2013
 
 

 2012, 2011

 
2013, 2010
 
2012, 2012, 2009
 Both 2011
 2011, 2013
 2012, 2013
Both 2013
 2013, 2013
2012, 2013

Filed Under: Cover Doubles, Uncategorized, Young Adult

Cover Doubles

September 27, 2012 |

I ran across this double-take while browsing Goodreads the other day. On the left is Loose Girl, a memoir by Kerry Cohen chronicling her years as a promiscuous young woman – using sex as a stand-in for attention, love, and intimacy – and her ensuing recovery. On the right is Kirsty Eagar’s YA novel Raw Blue, a book about a surfer girl who experienced something terrible in college, dropped out, and must confront it a couple of years later.

While I have read neither, I’m struck by the parallels between the two books, represented by the girl on the covers. Both books seem to deal somewhat strongly in feelings of shame and regret, and the girl shows this – her downward look, her hair obscuring most of her face, her passive expression. I don’t think either of the two covers are particularly striking, but the girl does communicate a certain tone.

It also seems like the model’s shirt has been edited to be a little less revealing in the Eagar title, which is interesting to me.

Filed Under: cover designs, Cover Doubles, Uncategorized

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