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YA Cover Makeovers: A Gallery of New Paperback YA Looks

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I’ve been writing about YA book cover changes here for the 10+ years we’ve been here at STACKED. Generally, I like to pick out a handful and talk about them in-depth. But this year’s gotten away from me a bit. I’ve been collecting book cover changes, still, but haven’t written about them quite like I have in the past. They’ve stacked up in my files, and rather than parse them out in numerous posts, it feels better to wipe the slate clean and share them in one big pile.

Because of that, I’m not going to offer much insight, other than a note about when the new paperback edition becomes available, as well as what cover I prefer based on nothing but my immediate reaction.

Cover designs change for many reasons, and often, authors have little to no control over it. In some cases, the paperback redesign is much stronger than the hardcover, and in other cases, the hardcover is better. Still in other situations, both covers are completely fine — maybe even worthy of thinking about why the change needed to occur at all — and in others, neither cover quite captures the story or reaches the intended audience.

I’d love to know which of these covers you prefer. Descriptions for the books come from Goodreads, which I think has better descriptions than the short blips from Amazon. As always, the original hardcover is on the left, with the new paperback edition on the right.

 

10 Things I Can See From Here (January 28, 2020)

Think positive. Don’t worry; be happy. Keep calm and carry on.

Maeve has heard it all before. She’s been struggling with severe anxiety for a long time, and as much as she wishes it was something she could just talk herself out of, it’s not. She constantly imagines the worst, composes obituaries in her head, and is always ready for things to fall apart. To add to her troubles, her mom—the only one who really gets what Maeve goes through—is leaving for six months, so Maeve will be sent to live with her dad in Vancouver.

Vancouver brings a slew of new worries, but Maeve finds brief moments of calm (as well as even more worries) with Salix, a local girl who doesn’t seem to worry about anything. Between her dad’s wavering sobriety, her very pregnant stepmom insisting on a home birth, and her bumbling courtship with Salix, this summer brings more catastrophes than even Maeve could have foreseen. Will she be able to navigate through all the chaos to be there for the people she loves?

For me, this one is tough. I don’t love ether one of them, but I like the pink and gold combination of the cover and lettering on the paperback. 

 

American Panda (Paperback available now)

At seventeen, Mei should be in high school, but skipping fourth grade was part of her parents’ master plan. Now a freshman at MIT, she is on track to fulfill the rest of this predetermined future: become a doctor, marry a preapproved Taiwanese Ivy Leaguer, produce a litter of babies.

With everything her parents have sacrificed to make her cushy life a reality, Mei can’t bring herself to tell them the truth–that she (1) hates germs, (2) falls asleep in biology lectures, and (3) has a crush on her classmate Darren Takahashi, who is decidedly not Taiwanese.

But when Mei reconnects with her brother, Xing, who is estranged from the family for dating the wrong woman, Mei starts to wonder if all the secrets are truly worth it. Can she find a way to be herself, whoever that is, before her web of lies unravels?

The color combination — as well as the fact that the girl on the cover looks more like a 17-year-old — makes me prefer the paperback by leaps and bounds. It captures the mood and feel of the book more accurately. 

 

Analee In Real Life by Janelle Milanes (Available in paperback now)

Ever since her mom died three years ago, Analee Echevarria has had trouble saying out loud the weird thoughts that sit in her head. With a best friend who hates her and a dad who’s marrying a yogi she can’t stand, Analee spends most of her time avoiding reality and role-playing as Kiri, the night elf hunter at the center of her favorite online game.

Through Kiri, Analee is able to express everything real-life Analee cannot: her bravery, her strength, her inner warrior. The one thing both Kiri and Analee can’t do, though, is work up the nerve to confess her romantic feelings for Kiri’s partner-in-crime, Xolkar—aka a teen boy named Harris whom Analee has never actually met in person.

So when high school heartthrob Seb Matias asks Analee to pose as his girlfriend in an attempt to make his ex jealous, Analee agrees. Sure, Seb seems kind of obnoxious, but Analee could use some practice connecting with people in real life. In fact, it’d maybe even help her with Harris.

But the more Seb tries to coax Analee out of her comfort zone, the more she starts to wonder if her anxious, invisible self is even ready for the real world. Can Analee figure it all out without losing herself in the process?

The paperback coloring and font design remind me of YA in the late 00s era, but the hardcover doesn’t tell me anything, really, abot the book. The use of a mouse makes me feel like the story is dated or is meant to feel old school itself (I don’t get the role playing gaming from it). I don’t love either one of them. 

 

 

Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak (October 8)

The breathtaking story of five brothers who bring each other up in a world run by their own rules. As the Dunbar boys love and fight and learn to reckon with the adult world, they discover the moving secret behind their father’s disappearance.

At the center of the Dunbar family is Clay, a boy who will build a bridge—for his family, for his past, for greatness, for his sins, for a miracle.

The question is, how far is Clay willing to go? And how much can he overcome?

I think the paperback is far more eye catching, though it definitely looks like an adult book and not a YA book. 

 

 

Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben Philippe (January 7, 2020)

Norris Kaplan is clever, cynical, and quite possibly too smart for his own good. A black French Canadian, he knows from watching American sitcoms that those three things don’t bode well when you are moving to Austin, Texas. Plunked into a new high school and sweating a ridiculous amount from the oppressive Texas heat, Norris finds himself cataloging everyone he meets: the Cheerleaders, the Jocks, the Loners, and even the Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Making a ton of friends has never been a priority for him, and this way he can at least amuse himself until it’s time to go back to Canada, where he belongs.

Yet, against all odds, those labels soon become actual people to Norris. Be it loner Liam, who makes it his mission to befriend Norris, or Madison the beta cheerleader, who is so nice that it has to be a trap. Not to mention Aarti the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, who might, in fact, be a real love interest in the making. He even starts playing actual hockey with these Texans.

But the night of the prom, Norris screws everything up royally. As he tries to pick up the pieces, he realizes it might be time to stop hiding behind his snarky opinions and start living his life—along with the people who have found their way into his heart.

The hardcover design for this book is so good. But that paperback? Maybe slightly better. We don’t see enough black boys front and center on a book cover, and we certainly don’t see them like socially awkward teenagers. 

 

Fire Color One by Jenny Valentine (February 4, 2020)

Sixteen-year-old Iris itches constantly for the strike of a match. But when she’s caught setting one too many fires, she’s whisked away to London before she can get arrested—at least that’s the story her mother tells. Mounting debt actually drove them out of LA, and it’s greed that brings them to a home Iris doesn’t recognize, where her millionaire father—a man she’s never met—lives. Though not for much longer.

Iris’s father is dying, and her mother is determined to claim his life’s fortune, including his priceless art collection. Forced to live with him as part of an exploitive scheme, Iris soon realizes her father is far different than the man she’s been schooled to hate, and everything she thought she knew—about her father and herself—is suddenly unclear. There may be hidden beauty in Iris’s uncertain past, and future, if only she can see beyond the flames.

I’m usually partial to more simple covers like the hardcover, but because of how different it is — and how rare the blue/orange color combination is — something about the paperback for this one really sings. I also think the girl on it is striking. 

 

Fireworks by Katie Cotugno (January 7, 2020)

It was always meant to be Olivia. She was the talented one, the one who had been training to be a star her whole life. Her best friend, Dana, was the level-headed one, always on the sidelines, cheering her best friend along.

But everything changes when Dana tags along with Olivia to Orlando for the weekend, where superproducer Guy Monroe is holding auditions for a new singing group, and Dana is discovered too. Dana, who’s never sung more than Olivia’s backup. Dana, who wasn’t even looking for fame. Next thing she knows, she and Olivia are training to be pop stars, and Dana is falling for Alex, the earnest, endlessly talented boy who’s destined to be the next big thing.

It should be a dream come true, but as the days of grueling practice and constant competition take their toll, things between Olivia and Dana start to shift . . . and there’s only room at the top for one girl. For Olivia, it’s her chance at her dream. For Dana, it’s a chance to escape a future that seems to be closing in on her. And for these lifelong best friends, it’s the adventure of a lifetime—if they can make it through.

Set in evocative 1990s Orlando, New York Times bestselling author Katie Cotugno’s Fireworks brings to life the complexity of friendship, the excitement of first love, and the feeling of being on the verge of greatness.

This book actually already came out in paperback, and it had the same cover as the hardcover. But in January, it’s getting a new look and going to an illustrated look. I didn’t care at all for the hardcover, even though it is absolutely spot on with 90s teen culture, so the paperback for me feels much fresher and more interesting. Though honestly, neither especially evoke what the book is about. 

 

Four-Letter Word by Christa Desir (Paperback Available Now)

Eight friends. One game. A dozen regrets. And a night that will ruin them all, in this high stakes gripping story of manipulation and innocence lost, from the author of Bleed Like Me.

Chloe Sanders has wasted the better part of her junior year watching her best friend Eve turn away from her for the more interesting and popular Holly Reed. Living with her grandparents because her parents are currently serving as overseas volunteers, Chloe spends her days crushing on a dark-haired guy named Mateo, being mostly ignored by Eve and Holly, and wishing the cornfields of Iowa didn’t feel so incredibly lonely.

But shortly after spring break, a new girl transfers to her high school—Chloe Donnelly. This Chloe is bold and arty and instantly placed on a pedestal by Eve and Holly. Now suddenly everyone is referring to Chloe Sanders as “Other Chloe” and her social status plummets even more.

Until Chloe Donnelly introduces all her friends to a dangerous game: a girls vs. guys challenge that only has one rule—obtain information by any means necessary. All the warning bells are going off in Other Chloe’s head about the game, but she’s not about to commit social suicide by saying no to playing.

Turns out the game is more complicated than Other Chloe thinks. Chloe Donnelly hates to lose. She’s got power over everyone—secrets she’s exploiting—and she likes to yank their strings. Only soft-spoken Mateo is sick of it, and when the game turns nasty, he chooses Other Chloe to help him expose everything Chloe Donnelly has done. But neither realize just how much the truth could cost them in the end.

The paperback is a real winner here. It says so much more about the tone of the book and the story than the hardcover. 

 

Here To Stay by Sara Farizan (Paperback Available Now)

For most of high school, Bijan Majidi has flown under the radar. He gets good grades, reads comics, hangs out with his best friend, Sean, and secretly crushes on Elle, one of the most popular girls in his school. When he’s called off the basketball team’s varsity bench and makes the winning basket in a playoff game, everything changes in an instant.

But not everyone is happy that Bijan is the man of the hour: an anonymous cyberbully sends the entire school a picture of Bijan photoshopped to look like a terrorist. His mother is horrified, and the school administration is outraged. They promise to find and punish the culprit. All Bijan wants is to pretend it never happened and move on, but the incident isn’t so easily erased. Though many of his classmates rally behind Bijan, some don’t want him or his type to be a part of their school. And Bijan’s finding out it’s not always easy to tell your enemies from your friends . . .

I think both of the covers are great, but if forced to choose, I really think the action in the paperback edition captures Bijan slightly better. 

 

How It Went Down by Kekla Magoon

When sixteen-year-old Tariq Johnson dies from two gunshot wounds, his community is thrown into an uproar. Tariq was black. The shooter, Jack Franklin, is white.

In the aftermath of Tariq’s death, everyone has something to say, but no two accounts of the events line up. Day by day, new twists further obscure the truth.

Tariq’s friends, family, and community struggle to make sense of the tragedy, and to cope with the hole left behind when a life is cut short. In their own words, they grapple for a way to say with certainty: This is how it went down.

 

The hardcover was the same package as the original paperback when that released a few years ago. But with the upcoming companion novel to this one, the paperback is getting a gorgeous refresh. I love the original a lot and maybe more than the paperback redesign, but it fits really nicely with Light It Up, coming in late October. 

 

 

Little Do We Know by Tamara Ireland Stone (Paperback Available Now)

Next-door neighbors and ex-best friends Hannah and Emory haven’t spoken in months. Not since the fight—the one where they said things they couldn’t take back.

Now, Emory is fine-tuning her UCLA performing arts application and trying to make the most of the months she has left with her boyfriend, Luke, before they head off to separate colleges. Meanwhile, Hannah’s strong faith is shaken when her family’s financial problems come to light, and she finds herself turning to unexpected places—and people—for answers to the difficult questions she’s suddenly facing.

No matter how much Hannah and Emory desperately want to bridge the thirty-six steps between their bedroom windows, they can’t. Not anymore.

Until their paths cross unexpectedly when, one night, Hannah finds Luke doubled over in his car outside her house. In the aftermath of the accident, all three struggle to understand what happened in their own ways. But when a devastating secret about Hannah and Emory’s argument ultimately comes to light, they must all reexamine the things they hold true.

In alternating chapters, a skeptic and a believer piece together the story of their complex relationship and the boy caught somewhere in the middle. New York Times best-selling author Tamara Ireland Stone deftly crafts a moving portrait of faith, love, and friendship.

I really like both covers. The original doesn’t tell me a whole lot about the story, but even with having a person on it with a bedroom, the paperback also doesn’t explain too much about the story. Maybe in terms of thinking about the story, the hardcover conveys the art aspect. The paperback, with the new tagline, digs into the friendship aspect. 

 

Little White Lies by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (Paperback available now)

“I’m not saying this is Sawyer’s fault,” the prim and proper one said delicately. “But.”

Eighteen-year-old auto mechanic Sawyer Taft did not expect her estranged grandmother to show up at her apartment door and offer her a six-figure contract to participate in debutante season. And she definitely never imagined she would accept. But when she realizes that immersing herself in her grandmother’s “society” might mean discovering the answer to the biggest mystery of her life-her father’s identity-she signs on the dotted line and braces herself for a year of makeovers, big dresses, bigger egos, and a whole lot of bless your heart. The one thing she doesn’t expect to find is friendship, but as she’s drawn into a group of debutantes with scandalous, dangerous secrets of their own, Sawyer quickly discovers that her family isn’t the only mainstay of high society with skeletons in their closet. There are people in her grandmother’s glittering world who are not what they appear, and no one wants Sawyer poking her nose into the past. As she navigates the twisted relationships between her new friends and their powerful parents, Sawyer’s search for the truth about her own origins is just the beginning.

Set in the world of debutante balls, grand estates and rolling green hills, Little White Lies combines a charming setting, a classic fish-out-of-water story, and the sort of layered mystery only author Jennifer Lynn Barnes can pull off.

The original hardcover looks like it’s trying to be like The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton in terms of the debutant ball feel, but it definitely doesn’t stand out among other shattered rose book covers. The paperback, though, is fantastic. The debutant feel is there, and the fact the girls are holding various tools — scissors, a wrench, and handcuffs — really get at the thriller aspect. 

 

 

Out Of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez (Paperback Available Now)

“This is East Texas, and there’s lines. Lines you cross, lines you don’t cross. That clear?”

New London, Texas. 1937. Naomi Vargas and Wash Fuller know about the lines in East Texas as well as anyone. They know the signs that mark them.

“No Negroes, Mexicans, or dogs.”

They know the people who enforce them.

“They all decided they’d ride out in their sheets and pay Blue a visit.”

But sometimes the attraction between two people is so powerful it breaks through even the most entrenched color lines. And the consequences can be explosive.

“More than grief, more than anger, there is a need. Someone to blame. Someone to make pay.”

Ashley Hope Pérez takes the facts of the 1937 New London school explosion—the worst school disaster in American history—as a backdrop for a riveting novel about segregation, love, family, and the forces that destroy people.

I love the solemn feel of the hardcover on this one. While the illustrated cover for the paperback might attract new readers, it’s a little jumbled and confused for me. It might be the fact the characters are off-center without something clearly between them to make that placement clear. 

 

See No Color by Shannon Gibney (Paperback Available Now)

For as long as she can remember, sixteen-year-old Alex Kirtridge has known two things:

1. She has always been Little Kirtridge, a stellar baseball player, just like her father.

2. She’s adopted.

These facts have always been part of Alex’s life. Despite some teasing, being a biracial girl in a white family didn’t make much of a difference as long as she was a star on the diamond where her father—her baseball coach and a former pro player—counted on her. But now, things are changing: she meets Reggie, the first black guy who’s wanted to get to know her; she discovers the letters from her biological father that her adoptive parents have kept from her; and her body starts to grow into a woman’s, affecting her game.

Alex begins to question who she really is. She’s always dreamed of playing pro baseball just like her father, but can she really do it? Does she truly fit in with her white family? Who were her biological parents? What does it mean to be black? If she’s going to find answers, Alex has to come to terms with her adoption, her race, and the dreams she thought would always guide her.

This book fell under the radar when it came out so seeing this makeover in paperback thrills me, thinking about how new readers will discover it. Both covers work well for me, but there’s something about the stance in the paperback of the girl that really resonates with me. In addition to the light pink, the fun title font, the paperback is a total win  — and how neat the girl’s profile and expression in the paperback mirrors the original. 

 

The Seven Torments of Amy and Craig by Don Zolidis (Paperback Available Now)

Janesville, Wisconsin (cold in the sense that there is no God)
1994

The worst thing that’s ever happened to Craig is also the best: Amy. Amy and Craig never should’ve gotten together. Craig is an awkward, Dungeons & Dragons-playing geek, and Amy is the beautiful, fiercely intelligent student-body president of their high school.

Yet somehow they did. Until Amy dumped him. Then got back together with him. Then dumped him again. Then got back together with him again. Over and over and over.

Unfolding during their senior year, Amy and Craig’s exhilarating, tumultuous relationship is a kaleidoscope of joy, pain, and laughter as an uncertain future-and adult responsibility-loom on the horizon.

Craig fights for his dream of escaping Janesville and finding his place at a quirky college, while Amy’s quest to uncover her true self sometimes involves being Craig’s girlfriend?and sometimes doesn’t.

Seven heartbreaks. Seven joys.Told nonsequentially, acclaimed playwright Don Zolidis’s debut novel is a brutally funny, bittersweet taste of the utterly unique and utterly universal experience of first love.

Another book that is sorely under-the-rdar but so good. The paperback redesign isn’t much different than the original hardcover, except for the placement of the title and the background color. It’s also using color polariods, as opposed to black and white. I prefer the hardcover, though — the book is set in the early 90s, and the doodles on the red cover evoke that a bit more. 

 

The Apocalypse fo Elena Mendoza by Shaun David Hutchinson (Paperback Available Now)

Sixteen-year-old Elena Mendoza is the product of a virgin birth.

This can be scientifically explained (it’s called parthenogenesis), but what can’t be explained is how Elena is able to heal Freddie, the girl she’s had a crush on for years, from a gunshot wound in a Starbucks parking lot. Or why the boy who shot Freddie, David Combs, disappeared from the same parking lot minutes later after getting sucked up into the clouds. What also can’t be explained are the talking girl on the front of a tampon box, or the reasons that David Combs shot Freddie in the first place.

As more unbelievable things occur, and Elena continues to perform miracles, the only remaining explanation is the least logical of all—that the world is actually coming to an end, and Elena is possibly the only one who can do something about it.

This book is weird, and both of those covers reflect that. But something about the color choices in the new cover really make it stand out for me. The coffee cup is where the story begins (well, a coffee shop), so that it’s front and center is especially noteworthy in my eyes. 

 

The Girl King by Mimi Yu (February 11, 2020)

Two sisters become unwitting rivals in a war to claim the title of Emperor in this sweeping tale of ambition, sacrifice and betrayal for readers of Sabaa Tahir and Alwyn Hamilton.

All hail the Girl King. 

Sisters Lu and Min have always understood their places as princesses of the Empire. Lu knows she is destined to become the dynasty’s first female ruler, while Min is resigned to a life in her shadow. Then their father declares their male cousin Set the heir instead—a betrayal that sends the sisters down two very different paths.

Determined to reclaim her birthright, Lu goes on the run. She needs an ally—and an army—if she is to succeed. Her quest leads her to Nokhai, the last surviving wolf shapeshifter. Nok wants to keep his identity secret, but finds himself forced into an uneasy alliance with the girl whose family killed everyone he ever loved…

Alone in the volatile court, Min’s hidden power awakens—a forbidden, deadly magic that could secure Set’s reign…or allow Min to claim the throne herself. But there can only be one Emperor, and the sisters’ greatest enemy could turn out to be each other.

The cover change is that the title was moved and background color made different. And yet, I feel like the paperback is far more appealing. 

 

The Story of Owen by EK Johnston (Paperback Available Now)

Listen! For I sing of Owen Thorskard: valiant of heart, hopeless at algebra, last in a long line of legendary dragon slayers. Though he had few years and was not built for football, he stood between the town of Trondheim and creatures that threatened its survival. There have always been dragons. As far back as history is told, men and women have fought them, loyally defending their villages. Dragon slaying was a proud tradition. But dragons and humans have one thing in common: an insatiable appetite for fossil fuels. From the moment Henry Ford hired his first dragon slayer, no small town was safe. Dragon slayers flocked to cities, leaving more remote areas unprotected. Such was Trondheim’s fate until Owen Thorskard arrived. At sixteen, with dragons advancing and his grades plummeting, Owen faced impossible odds armed only with a sword, his legacy, and the classmate who agreed to be his bard. Listen! I am Siobhan McQuaid. I alone know the story of Owen, the story that changes everything. Listen!

Much as I appreciate the dragon in the hardcover, the fact the dragon is front and center in the paperback and spitting fire — and the flames glowing against the deep blue/purple background — makes it pop. I’m partial to the paperback here. 

 

The War Outside by Monica Hesse (Paperback Available Now)

It’s 1944, and World War II is raging across Europe and the Pacific. The war seemed far away from Margot in Iowa and Haruko in Colorado–until they were uprooted to dusty Texas, all because of the places their parents once called home: Germany and Japan.

Haruko and Margot meet at the high school in Crystal City, a “family internment camp” for those accused of colluding with the enemy. The teens discover that they are polar opposites in so many ways, except for one that seems to override all the others: the camp is changing them, day by day, and piece by piece. Haruko finds herself consumed by fear for her soldier brother and distrust of her father, who she knows is keeping something from her. And Margot is doing everything she can to keep her family whole as her mother’s health deteriorates and her rational, patriotic father becomes a man who distrusts America and fraternizes with Nazis.

With everything around them falling apart, Margot and Haruko find solace in their growing, secret friendship. But in a prison the government has deemed full of spies, can they trust anyone–even each other?

I’m not a big fan of World War II books, and I think part of it is that they all sort of look the same to me visually. The hardcover here reminds me of tons of other similar books, as does the paperback redesign. My gut reaction is that the hardcover is a little more distinct, and perhaps that’s because of the body expressions and the bike. 

 

So what do you think? Favorites? Some that are less impressive? I’d love to know! 

YA Book Cover Makeovers: 7 Hardcover-to-Paperback Redesigns To Consider

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I will never grow tired of looking at and talking about YA book covers. Even more specifically, I love looking at redesigned covers and considering what it is that went into the thought process behind changing a book’s initial design into something different for its paperback release. Authors generally have little to no say in these redesigns, but rather, they often come about as a result of marketing direction changes or suggestions.

Let’s take a peek at seven upcoming YA book covers getting a new look in paperback. I’ve included a wide swath of titles here, showcasing some of the good, some of the bad, and some of the really questionable when it comes to YA hardcover-to-paperback redesigns.

Original hardcover designs are on the left, with the refreshed cover on the right.

I Have Lost My Way by Gayle Forman

After the splashy cover reveal for Forman’s latest YA book, it was surprising to me how little this book seemed to be buzzed about. I read it and while it wasn’t my favorite — I tend to find myself unable to really fall into her stories — I know she’s got a legion of fans and admirers, and given the elements present in this particular book, I anticipated more. Part of me wonders if the cover, which is pretty bland and forgettable in a sea of covers that make use of a font-driven design, made people bypass it. It looks like an adult book, rather than a YA book, and the title itself isn’t one that’s easy to remember. Working in favor of this cover, though, is that it looks nice on a screen; it’s easy to read and understand.

That last part is what made me do a triple take on the paperback cover: it doesn’t translate on screen. The white boarder, coupled with the text messaging along the bottom, made me think I was looking at a private text message someone was sending with a pretty confusing image on it. I think that it’s great to see a girl of color on the cover, but where is she walking? The book is set in New York City but it also looks like she’s walking through a dirt pit. Interestingly, the paperback makes the font for the title and the author name the same size, though my eye is more easily drawn to the author’s name because it’s a different color than the girl’s shirt.

Like the hardcover, aside from the confusing framing, the paperback isn’t especially memorable or distinct, either. I’ve seen this cover a few times and immediately thought of the Jessa Halbrook series (one of Saundra Mitchell‘s pen names).

I don’t love either cover but the hardcover is less confusing and less confused over all, with a more cohesive design. I Have Lost My Way comes out in paperback April 16.

 

Illegal by Bettina Restrepo

I’ve always wondered what happened to this book. I read it when it came out as a debut in early 2011, and it’s a book about a family that illegally crosses the Mexican border and heads to Houston for work, security, and pursuit of a better future. The book disappeared not long after it was published, which, given how much immigration has been a major topic prior to that time and after, surprised me. So I’m really pleased to see that it’ll be getting a paperback reissue on August 27.

There’s not a whole lot to say about the original cover except that it really captures the spirit of the story — as well as the spirit of YA book cover design in 2011. It’s a real model and, though we can’t see her face, she appears to be a girl of color. We have the city skyline in the background, with a title font that features a wire fence design within it.

The paperback design is a study of contemporary cover trends. We have a teen of color facing out, and it’s illustrated. The girl looks quite young in the image, which I like, as the book itself features not just a younger teen protagonist but also, it reads as younger YA. Maybe my favorite part of the redesign is one of the smaller pieces: the tag line above the title, “We are all immigrants.” Although the book cover and title certainly make it clear what the book is about in both covers, that small line really makes clear that this is a story for non Native Americans for non Native Americans.

I’m eager to pick up the book with a new forward from the author eight years after its original publication. The paperback redesign here is fresh and I’m suspecting it’ll ignite a lot of new interest.

 

 

Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova

Series redesigns always raise a lot of conversation. Readers who like their series to look cohesive often mention that they become frustrated with changes, while it becomes clear in some instances that the redesign of the series better reflects the way the series progresses or simply looks more interesting on shelves.

Which is why I’m fascinated by the cover changes that have happened with Zoraida Cordova’s Labyrinth Lost.

The hardcover design is one I really dig, in part because it plays homage to the lore within the book itself. The face painting, reminiscent of sugar skulls, is part of the fantasy in the book and something that Cordova digs into a little bit in her author’s note at the end of the book. It’s a very catchy cover, and it’s one that immediately speaks to the fantasy, the magic, and the traces of horror that the story holds. The font works for the title, though Zoraida’s name seems to get a bit buried on the cover. Shoved in between the author name and the title of the book is a blurb from Danielle Paige, but what’s fascinating in the design of those words is how her title and accolades actually take more real estate up on the cover than Zoraida’s name or the blurb itself. It almost feels like a well-thought tag line would be better there to really give a sense of the story’s content to readers.

The original paperback redesign in the center reminds me so much of the redesigned covers for Libba Bray’s “The Diviners” series. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing because I think the two series would make for great read alikes to one another, making the cover similarities work in favor of both. The font for the title remains the same in that redesign, but we’re given something new in terms of an image: the gate which the characters go through during the course of the story. There’s definitely a placement of this book into the fantasy/magical realism realm with the design. Zoraida’s name is a little bigger and more easy to spot on this design, and while the blurb from Paige appears again, it’s been better laid out so that it takes up less real estate on a book that’s not her own.

The final image is the second paperback redesign and it’s wildly different from the previous iterations. The title font is something different, but once again, Zoraida’s name is really small beneath it. However, big points in favor of the redesign are noting Zoraida’s own credentials (“award-winning author” below her name) and the fact that the blurb which took up so much real estate from the cover is now gone. Instead, we get a tag line: “The first lesson of being a Bruja: Magic always has a price.” It’s perfect and captures so much about the story’s genre, about the stakes, and about the cultural the story takes place in. The image and design itself don’t especially stand out to me but those textual elements are knockout.

All three of the covers do a good job, and all of them seem to be angling toward the same audience. It took me longer to pick up this book than I wished, and I wonder if the new look will prompt other readers who held off to give it a chance (it’s a fun read!).

 

 

Royals by Rachel Hawkins

Speaking of books I know are fun reads but that I haven’t picked up yet: Rachel Hawkins’s Royals came out last May and has been a book that I’ve again heard very little about. It’s a romantic comedy and the reviews have all mentioned how funny it is — something I believe, given that Hawkins is known for writing with humor. The original cover was very pink and blingy, which I think shows off a lot of what the contents are meant to do. They’re a little over the top but grounded in a real-life fantasy for readers. Hawkins’s name is big on the cover with a different tone of pink from both the background and from the note that she’s a New York Times bestselling author. The tag line is cute, too: “He’s no prince, but he sure is charming.” Readers who love royal-themed stories will know without question this book is for them.

That said, the redesign hits both the royal-themed story lovers and those who want a more straightforward YA romance read. First thing to note: there’s a title change. No longer is the book called Royals (which always made Lorde’s song get stuck in my head). It’s instead being renamed Prince Charming. True to charm, the font choice is cute, it’s a deep pink or red, depending on your resolution, and the “A” features a sweet little heart inside. The way that the two teens on the cover are standing and slightly overlapping the title is clever, as if they were there first before the title came toward them. It gives the cover some movement, which is important given how stark the two teens look being in sketched grayscale. We have another illustrated cover here, continuing to stay in line with the trend that’s been big in YA for a few years. Check out the chucks on the girl, too: it’s a nice nod to the fact that the heroine might be a little bit more quirky than she lets on.

Both covers are quite good. Readers who aren’t familiar with Hawkins likely would fall into two camps on this one: those who love their books royal-themed knowing that the hardcover is for them and those who think the redesign is super cute, feminine, and romantic and dive right in. Given that this is a series, though, the paperback ekes out slightly for me because the sequel takes a similar design approach. It hits shelves on March 5. Check out the sequel’s cover here, which adds itself to my ever-growing list of YA book covers featuring sunglasses.

 

 

Top Ten by Kate Cotugno

The hardcover for Top Ten is one I’m not a huge fan of, but that’s entirely for personal reasons. It’s a very 1990s style cover, which is way cooler among young people than it is with me. It is also super white in terms of the couples shown, with neon signs, chucks, and lights. The title is almost easy to miss here, since there’s so much going on, though Katie’s name is nice and easy to find. There’s no tagline and no blurb on this so it’s hard to say what the book is about, though the images suggest it’s a summer story about a group of friends.

I’ve mentioned before that illustrated covers are the thing in book cover design and have been since Eleanor & Park. I’m also not a huge fan of them because they tend to blend together so easily. That plays out in Top Ten, as I feel like I’ve seen this same design on about ten other YA books that hit shelves recently or will be hitting shelves soon. While the people are still all white-presenting, there is at least more array in body shape and size, as well as complexion and hair. It’s a bit more representative of today’s teens across a broader spectrum than the hardcover is. The title is much bigger and more obvious, and the font and color of it match the author’s name. Bonus: we get a tagline. “The unlikeliest of friends…or something more.” I like that it gives a sense of the story, but it also makes me a little confused when it comes to who is on the cover. Is it one couple that keeps looking different? Is it a lot of couples who are “something more?”

Neither of these covers really do it for me. Not having read the book yet, I can’t suggest which one is truer to story.

Top Ten comes out in paperback January 15.

 

 

Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson

Spoiler alert on this cover makeover: I love both of these covers very much and think both are excellent.

The hardcover for Anderson’s novel is really different. It takes a lot of the elements that are synonymous with today’s teens: enamel pins and denim jackets. This same trendy style is a throwback to the 90s and girl power culture, which fits in perfectly with the title and story itself. Without question, given the homage to new age beliefs (crystals and tarot cards) and the two zombie hands making the pinkie swear salute, this is clearly a book that’s a little bit horror, a little bit fun, and a whole lot about girls being good to other girls. The title being put into an enamel pin is clever, as is the way that Anderson’s name looks like it’s embroidered on the denim jacket.

The paperback cover also nails it. This is a book with a fat protagonist who has brown skin. That cover model is perfect, and not only is she perfect, but her stance and attitude speak volumes for what the tone of the book is. If you look closely, you’ll not only notice she’s wearing a denim jacket, but the pins that were on the original cover? They’re also on the jacket itself. If it weren’t for the fact that the pins on the hardcover were on one side of the jacket and on the opposite of the jacket in the paperback, you’d think this was simply a zoomed out take from the original design session. The title font is perfect here: it has a 90s clip art feel to it (and specifically, Word Art!). The font for Lily’s name is very modern though and is one I associate with contemporary cover trends, making this a nice mashup of today’s culture and nostalgic. The zombie hands? They’re just plain fun, and the tagline “We’re back, witches,” tells so much story in and of itself.

Both covers rock for different reasons. If pressed to pick one I like more? I’d say paperback, simply because it leans fully into girl power, feminism, and that cover model is just perfect. You can grab the paperback on May 14.

(Interesting to note that two redesigns are very pink covers. A trend to keep an eye on through 2019, maybe?)

 

 

You Bring the Distant Near by Mitali Perkins

Last, but not least, is one I’ll keep short and sweet. I love the original cover for Perkins’s book and I’m also really feeling the redesign for paperback. Not only does the redesign highlight that it’s a National Book Award nominee, but it also brings all of the elements that were inside the dancing woman on the hardcover and brings them to the outside. Look closely: the buildings. The grandeur. The feeling of connection to past and present. The dancers themselves. It still keeps the title the focus, but it also brings even more to the forefront. I’m also a big fan of the fact that the author name is even larger and more prominent in the redesign. My only critique is a tiny one, which is that the blurb on the bottom takes what is a well-thought out busy cover almost a little over the top in terms of putting a lot of things into a small space.

Perkins has a new book coming out this spring, too, and the cover design for that one has the same feeling as the new paperback redesign. You can peep Forward Me Back To You here.

 

So what do you think? Which covers are speaking to you? Which aren’t? Let’s talk in the comments!

YA Cover Makeovers: 5 To Check Out and Consider

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Part of my job at Book Riot requires spending time perusing Edelweiss in order to know the books that are on the horizon. I don’t write a whole lot about book covers over there, but I do take note of them as I work because there is a lot to say about them.

I’ve been highlighting cover changes in YA since this blog began nearly ten years ago, and though they’re still common, it seems to me that cover changes are happening less frequently than they have in years past. I suspect better initial designs and following tried-and-true trends is part of the reason. Make your title font nice and big with one key, easily-identifiable image — likely illustrated — and you’re going to not only catch eyes on book shelves, but you’re going to have something that shows up great on screens. Perhaps that’s part of it, too. There’s a much better understanding of the power of how covers appear digitally, either on a desktop or on mobile, and so there’s even more consideration in the design process than there ever has been before.

It’s also hard not to take into consideration the fact that YA books are primarily purchased by those over the age of 18 and armed with that knowledge, cover designs in YA mirror many seen in adult fiction. There are good things and there are not-so-good things about that. I’d recommend reading this thoughtful piece from a teen reader on the ways that YA can alienate the very age group it’s meant to reach.

This is the first round-up of recent and upcoming YA book cover changes I’ll share before the year ends. I’ve pulled an interesting range of design makeovers. Some do better in their original hardback while others sparkle a bit more in paperback.

As always, I’d love to hear what you think about the cover changes. What do you prefer of these? If you work with young readers, does one seem like it speaks more to them than the other?

Original hardcover designs are on the left, with the new paperback look on the right.

YA Cover Makeovers

 

I’m not going to lie: every time I see the hardcover for Margot Harrison’s The Killer In Me, I’m reminded that I want to read it. The vibes it gives are very much a me-book. It’s desolate. There’s a teen girl at the helm with what is either a clear mission or reflection upon a tough job done. It’s stark and striking. But, in being that way, the title of the book gets lost in the background. The font colors really do fade into the landscape, and not in a way that’s useful for actually remembering what the book is called. The font is also small, making it tough to render on screen. Note that on the hardcover, we get a tag line: “The truth can’t stay buried forever.” I love it, and I love how it mirrors the image of the off-centered girl.

The paperback version, which hit shelves in early October, takes away some of the desolation and starkness. But in exchange, it gives a much larger, more readable title, while maintaining the shovel that was on the hardcover. I’m not a huge fan of the way that the author’s name is stacked and shoved at the very top — not easy to read — and it’s interesting that because the focus is on the shovel and on the title, there’s no longer a tag line on the image. This to me reads much more like an adult book cover than a teen book cover, whereas the hardcover feels much more teen because we see what appears to be a younger person on it.

Neither one is better or worse, as they both have interesting and parallel elements to them. As a reader, I’d gravitate toward the hardcover because of the feeling I get from it, but I see that same reasoning being why readers might pick up the paperback.

 

 

Talk about a dramatic cover makeover. Caleb Roehrig’s White Rabbit had a frenzy of publicity when it hit shelves earlier this year. I ended up picking it up and liking it, and because it’s a psychological thriller/mystery/horror novel, there’s a high body count. The cover is actually pretty fitting, if not also fairly generic. The title and author names are easy to read, and the white and red color choices stand out against the blue and black palate of the image. There are two main male characters as identified by the shadows with the flashlights. And any time there is blood on a cover, you can count me in (Kimberly pointed out that bloody YA covers are a thing right now). The original hardback tells a reader everything you might want to know about the book and you can immediately place it within its appropriate readership.

The paperback, though, is a whole different rabbit. It’s bright and the contrast of the purple with the bright pink really makes it stand out. Visually, it’s a knockout in that department and it shows well both on screen and, I suspect, will pop on shelves. I’m not entirely sure what’s going on with the pink splotches on the purple — maybe it’s blood? But the use of the knife as the “I” in White is really clever and conveys so much about the feel of the book. This cover has a blurb on it from bestseller Karen McManus, which wasn’t on the original. I’m not usually a blurb fan, but I actually think readers who love One Of Us Is Lying would really be into White Rabbit, so it works as its own reader’s advisory tool.

That said, it does not strike me as a YA book at all. It looks like adult fiction. Again, that means and doesn’t mean anything, but I’m far more likely to see teens reading the hardcover and identifying it as a book for them than I am with the paperback. Perhaps that’s the goal, to get more adults to pick it up in paperback, especially with the McManus endorsement.

I like both takes, but for very different reasons. I actually hope we see a rise in covers like the one on the right (with attention paid to making them look as teen-friendly as possible) because they’re so different. The paperback releases on January 29.

 

 

 

Can we talk about how fun the hardcover of The Epic Crush of Genie Lo by F.C. Yee is? It’s clearly indicating exactly the kind of book it is: a fun, action packed title with a badass female lead. And the tagline! “A demon invasion is no excuse for bad grades” tells you everything about the book’s tone. That said: aside from being an extremely telling cover, it’s fairly generic. It doesn’t pop and doesn’t offer much in terms of the cultural touchstones within the book. The author’s name is small enough on the cover that, when pulling the images together, it got cut off.

The paperback edition of the book, available June 11 (yes, next summer!), is absolutely dreamy and it’s about as different from the hardcover as can be. The color palate is light and airy, and it’s very clear the book is set in San Francisco, with West Asian cultural heritage playing a large part of the story. We still have Genie Lo in the image, but this time, she’s less the focal point, but what’s neat is that all of the elements above her — the dragons, the mountains, the Golden Gate Bridge — comprise who she is. The title font is lovely and flowy. Yee’s name is a little more prominent, though in the paperback edition, the fabulous tagline is no longer there.

Not having read this book, I can’t pinpoint which one feels more true to the actual story. I have a hunch it might be the hardcover, but I suspect, too, that the paperback plays into some very crucial aspects of the book as well. The original cover? Sells to those who want action and adventure. The paperback? Appeals to readers who are eager for a more internal, culturally-enmeshed book. The original cover speaks to readers who want a louder book, while the paperback speaks to those who want a quieter read.

I really dig both of them and would be curious what others think. Neither does it better or worse. They’re just very different.

 

 

 

 

Veronica Chambers books were among some of the most popular books when I worked in a library that served a large Latinx population, and her latest book is a standalone. The Go-Between hardcover features a lot of fun, trendy elements to it: it’s illustrated, includes a number of bright colors on a black background, and uses the title font cleverly. The “Go” as a pair of glasses — maybe sunglasses, given the palm trees — adds something special to the title itself. There’s no tag line here, and as much as the cover leans into many contemporary YA book cover trends, the cover itself doesn’t tell you much about the book. The girl looks like she might have brown skin, but it’s not entirely clear if she’s meant to be brown skinned or if she’s a girl who has white skin with a dark tan. That ambiguity is only enhanced when you consider the “Go” as sunglasses, along with the waves for water, and the palm trees dotting the cover. It’s not a bad cover but it really doesn’t sell the book.

The paperback, however, is fabulous and tells the reader far more about the book. First and foremost? It’s a brown girl lead character. From her skin tone to the curly hair, there’s no question she is a girl of color. We retain the palm tree motif in the redesign, but they work more cohesively. The font choice for the title is fresher, and the cover itself reminds me quite a bit of I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, a book that would be an excellent readalike for this one. This cover features a tagline, and it’s a tagline that really solidifies the comparison to Mexican Daughter and better expresses the tone and feel of the book: “She’s caught between two worlds, but neither will define her.” The girl’s expression, her placement between the trees, the sun peeping over her shoulder. Those aspects are smart.

I don’t dislike the hardcover on this one, but the paperback absolutely nails it. That book is for teens, and it’s a book fans of Sanchez’s title will want to pick up. You can pick up the paperback on April 16.

 

 

Finally, this cover change is one that I can’t stop thinking about. Orphan Monster Spy by Matt Killeen is a book about war, and frankly, I can’t figure out how I didn’t get that from the original hardcover. I’ve been convinced it’s a mystery/thriller. Maybe because it’s eerily reminiscent of a YA series that uses the same red and giant face of a girl that is of that genre. Maybe, too, it’s the title itself. Likewise, the blurb — though by Elizabeth Wein — offers no insight into the book’s content either. It becomes more obviously not a mystery/thriller when you notice what’s going on in the background. Those are soldiers, and buried behind the girl’s head are Nazi flags. It takes a lot of careful attention to pick up on those things, and I think that symbolism and clarity is hard to parse out because of the red and giant face of a girl being front and center.

The paperback, due out on February 19, suffers from some challenges, but it isn’t as muddled as the hardcover is. The fonts for both the title and author are far cleaner and less designed, and while we have an image of a girl running away — a big contrast from a girl who is commanding attention — the tagline on the cover gives far more insight into the book’s content. “She’s a liar. A thief. And the Nazis worst nightmare.” We know exactly where the book is situated and we know that the girl is one who is bound and determined to do something. The planes also situate the book in World War 2. The color palate is far more muted than the hardcover, too, which changes the tone of the book. It’s less aggressive and more somber.

The two covers tell two very different stories. For readers, I think the paperback redesign might be more clear in terms of what the book is about.

 

 

What do you think? Which cover does it better in each of these? I’d love your thoughts in the comments! 

YA Hardback-to-Paperback Cover Makeovers: 5 To Consider

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Every time I do one of these posts, I’ve got to hold back from how many I pack in. I spent a lot of time on Edelweiss, and whenever I come across a new book package, I make note, meaning that in a couple of months, I’ve got way too many for a single post. But for those who love looking at cover changes, it means there’s another post in the near future featuring some of the others I’ve come across worth talking about.

As always, some of these covers are strong redesigns while others aren’t quite as strong as their original packaging. Let’s take a peek. Love one of these? Dislike one of these? Seen other redesigns lately that are worth looking at? I’d love to hear about those things in the comments.

Original hardcover designs are on the left, and new paperback editions are on the right.

 

 

Little Monsters by Kara Thomas hit shelves last spring with sort of an odd cover. I don’t think I “got” what it was trying to do until looking at it right now. We have a profile of a girl on repeat with what looks like weird color blotches beside some of them. But beneath those color blotches are more profiles of the same girl. Perhaps it’s meant to signal mental instability? Confusion? The splotch colors in addition to the child-style font for the title and author, though, don’t especially scream “thriller” to me with this cover. I’m not sure I could pin down what the cover expresses in terms of genre or feel, beyond that it’s a little confusing.

The paperback redesign, though, does this book some tremendous service. The shadow of a face, with the wind-in-the-hair effect of the girl scream thriller. You could shelve this alongside the Gillian Flynn and Karin Slaughter books and have it fit right in. The title font and effect work much better, too: there’s something eerie and off about a title which is in all lowercase letters, and having it centered just below the nose of the girl’s face add to the creep factor. Further adding to the effect with the font is the fact that Thomas’s name is in all caps and in red. It’s a color palette that complements the design really well.

For me, the more appealing cover design is the paperback, which will be available July 3.

 

 

Going in the complete opposite direction is Jennifer E. Smith’s lighter-hearted contemporary Windfall. I’ve not yet read this one, but mean to, given that I’ve loved Smith’s work in the past and the premise — a girl buys her best male friend a lottery ticket for his birthday and he wins. There’s also a romance thread through the story.

In terms of cover: the original hardcover is not only adorable, it’s memorable, and it’s in a color scheme that isn’t seen enough in YA. The blue and green with confetti are fun and clever, and the use of the gold tokens on the bottom add to the real lighthearted, sweet feel. Note the tag line for this cover, “Let luck find you.” It’s short and to-the-point, and it ties the entire cover together in a nice little bow.

The paperback for Windfall will hit shelves July 31. This new take on the original is clever in that it retains some of what makes the original work. We see the confetti again, but tis time it’s in a variety of colors. We have two people at the bottom of the cover, as opposed to the tokens, but it’s as nice a mirrored effect as the script-style font for the title carrying over. What’s interesting to me is the complete change in color scheme. The paperback feels like it’s leaning into the Millennial Pink trend almost too hard (and I say this as someone who loves that color). That, paired with the fact that the teens are dressed in a very now look, make me wonder if this cover will date much more quickly than the original. It’s certainly eye catching, but it screams 2017/2018. And interestingly, the tag line is gone, replaced with a blurb from Morgan Matson. That’s the perfect name to have attached as a blurb, but I think I lean toward the tag line working a bit more. Is it me, or does this cover maybe feel like it’s reaching an adult YA reading audience more than a teen YA reading audience?

For me, the hardcover edges out the paperback.

 

 

 

Let’s follow up the eerie and the sweet with the downright strange. Jane, Unlimited hit shelves last year to a lot of mixed reviews. Long-time fans of Cashore were thrilled she tried her hand at a new genre, and many were smitten while others were left a bit confused. I didn’t pick this one up, in part because the hardcover edition told me literally nothing about the book. It’s a purple and silver color scheme, with little more than a standard font used for both the book’s title and the author’s name. The tag line, “One house, limitless possibilities” suggests nothing, either. Is this a thriller? A horror? Contemporary? Fantasy? It’s impossible to tell because there’s nothing here to tell. The book’s sell is on the author name and the title of her previous best-selling work (which, in this case, is likely fair for fans but not useful for newcomers or shelf browsers).

And then there’s the paperback, which comes out July 10. This is perhaps one of the weirdest YA book covers I’ve seen in a long time. I’d argue that it’s not a YA book cover at all, and in fact, rivals many of the bizarre, genre-bending adult covers out there. The artistic direction is entirely different than the hardcover, beginning with the fact that, while a dual color palette, the title font and author name font actually have some weight to them on the cover. The design is box-like, with the red being the sides and the turquoise in the center. Before going further: the colors. They’re slightly disorienting when put together, odd colors to see used in conjunction with one another, especially on a YA book cover. In some ways, that disorientation works quite well — it forces you to pause, consider, and become curious in what’s going on.

That curiosity extends when you realize there is a foot coming through. I noted that the design looks like a box, but I also wonder if it’s meant to play the role of a house of sorts. The red being the walls, the turquoise being the inside, and the foot falling through the roof. This is, of course, a consideration I’m making entirely on the tag line from the hardcover. Would a casual reader who hasn’t seen the original or the tag line put that together? I have no idea.

The tag line is ditched on the paperback, replaced with a blurb from the New York Times review of the book. Here’s where the cover begins to make a little more sense: the review notes it’s a genre bender, and that it’s one which may mess with your brain.

It’s hard to say which cover is more effective. I’m not sure either really does much for the book itself or tells causal readers what they can expect. The paperback might be closer, if only because of the blurb pulled on it. But, this cover doesn’t feel like it belongs in the YA section at all.

For me, neither of these are especially working.

 

 

 

 

The hardcover version of Beware That Girl by Teresa Toten never got on my radar. It’s not especially remarkable, and even though this is a thriller, there’s little about the cover that would tell you so much. Sure, there’s the tag line “This will be our little secret,” but that tag line doesn’t really go with either the title nor the shadowy girl in the image. Who is telling us to beware? Who is the girl in the image? How does that tie into keeping a little secret? Does it at all? The font for the title is off-putting for me, too, as it feels too rough and jagged, and incongruent with the shadowy image in the background. Is this image moving or is it still? I can’t make too much sense of it.

But the paperback cover caught my eye immediately. This is a creepy as hell cover which brings its creep factor in very subtilely. The white background is stark in contrast to the bright red sucker, which doesn’t land in the middle of the cover, but rather, is placed in the upper third of it. Anyone who knows about design knows this is a placement our brains and eyes find appealing and unique.

Then there are the ants.

Those highly focused black ants stand out against both the white background and the red sucker. Their legs, despite not being especially chill-inducing, manage to bring on the uncomfortable factor because of how clear they are. This cover veers from being gross, though; instead, it has a feeling of discomfort.

The discomfort, though, is made even more obvious with the change in tag line for the paperback “She only looks sweet.” That tag line, with the image, with the thinning out of the title font — along with a slightly disorienting kerning style — makes it clear this is going to be a book that is strange, unsettling, and mysterious. The change from pushing the mystery tropes too hard to stripping them away all together in favor of something completely different piques reader interest in a whole different capacity. More, given that this is a book about the rich elite and a girl desperate to climb the social ladder, the image of the sucker with ants harkens images of childhood, loss, desperation, and ambition so perfectly.

Beware That Girl hits shelves in paperback on May 15.

 

 

 

I don’t want to delve into the cover packaging for If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson too much, but I wanted to include it in this round-up because it’s the book’s 20th anniversary this year. In honor of that, it’s been given a stunning new look. What makes the new cover really stand out for me is not only the fact there’s an interracial couple on the cover, but that the illustrative take fits in with some of the biggest titles in recent memory. I’m not a huge fan of illustrated covers — it’s a trend that burned itself out really quickly and one that often is hard to make distinctions between and among covers — but in this case, the cover is absolutely beautiful, magical, and will encourage new readers to pick up Woodson’s classic.

If You Come Softly’s 20th anniversary edition is available now.

YA Cover Makeovers: Fresh New Looks for 6 Titles In Paperback

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It seems like cover changes are roaring back. For a while, it could take a few months to pull together a list of YA books seeing redesigned covers in their paperback edition. But now, I’ve had no problem pulling together a huge list of titles seeing new looks.

As always, some of these covers are strong redesigns while others aren’t quite as strong as their original packaging. What seems to be most interesting in many of the redesigns collected here, though, is how much they’ve all sort of take on similar design elements with what seems to be an eye toward reaching adult readers more than teen readers.

Let’s take a peek. Love one of these? Dislike one of these? Seen other redesigns lately that are worth looking at? I’d love to hear about those things in the comments.

Original hardcover designs are on the left, and new paperback editions are on the right.

 

 

After The Fall by Kate Hart’s original cover reminded me of many other YA covers, including Stephanie Kuehn’s latest, When I Am Through With You. What made it stand out to me was the color choice: it’s really pleasing to the eye, but more than that, it really captures the mood of the story. It’s clear that this book has to do with something related to being outdoors (it does) and the reddened sky suggests something ominous happens (it does). The tag line for the original hardcover reads “The truth isn’t always what you expect.” I can’t say that adds a whole lot to either the title or the cover. It’s a true statement, but that offers little insight into the book itself. The font for the title is eye-catching and the way it’s spread over the entire cover is pretty appealing.

“Sometimes there’s no one to catch you” is the new tag line for the paperback edition and it’s much stronger and more insightful into what the book is actually about than the original. The paperback also suggests even more of an outdoors feel to the book, and it, too, still gives that subtle hint of something ominous lurking in the background with the color palette. It’s interesting that the font for the title goes in the complete opposite direction for this one: it’s really narrow and centered on the cover. I might be alone in this, but I think flipping “Fall” to be upside down is a bit cheesy, given the sort of feel the rest of the cover has — almost like the cover can’t be too series, even though the book itself is serious. This one screams “set in Arkansas” for me more than the original. This cover feels a little more angled toward adult readers than the original, if for no reason than it has a much more polished feel to it (save for that cheesy flipped word factor).

Both covers do the job, though I think the paperback is a little more unique and catered to the book itself. The tag line is definitely stronger. After the Fall hits shelves in paperback on January 23.

 

 

Marie Marquardt’s Dream Things True in hardcover is really bright and refreshing. Like many other YA books in the last few years, this one is driven by the title font, and in this case, it works well. The letters are bold and bright, and the font itself is unique and yet easy to read — sometimes fonts this big and bold can be tough on the eyes. The decision to make the “E” and the “A” in Dream different colors does draw attention to them, but it’s a little odd since there’s no understandable reason for the choice. The rest of the letters don’t have an ombre effect to them to the same depth, so those seem to stand out unnecessarily.

The couple in the bottom left-hand corner of this cover is interesting: he’s a little cold toward her reception. She looks like she’s quite engaged with him. As individuals, they’re a little challenging to see on screen, but in person, it’s very obvious he’s white and but her skin color is a little less obvious. She is either very tan or light brown.

I point the couple out specifically because in the paperback redesign, the couple is very easy to read on screen. She’s definitely brown and he’s definitely white. And more, they’re both walking away from one another, with nothing but their hands lingering together, as if they know the decision they’ve made as a couple is the right one for them. Although I’m generally not a fan of illustrated covers (more on that down below), in this particular case, with the right color combination, it works. The font choice for this edition is much less bold in terms of style, but the red on yellow makes it really pop. The script style of the font is easy enough to read, too, even with the sunbeams radiating through it. The use of a strip of blue stars on the left-hand side of the cover is clever, particularly when you consider how the couple is staged between the day and the night of the cover. This cover is much more mature than the hardcover and likely will appeal to more adult readers than the original.

But more than that, the fact you know immediately that this is a book about an interracial couple is what makes the paperback really stand out. Dream Things True is out in paperback on February 20.

 

 

An example of a book cover which really tells you nothing is The Edge of Everything by Jeff Giles in hardcover. It is literally a script-like font, with white text on a white background, and it’s quite hard to read: there’s a line under the “ed” of edge which tries to mirror the dash needed in the breaking up of the word everything and that ends up being really confusing to the eye. If we’re thinking about how covers look on screen — which is likely a huge factor in why we’re seeing more covers which focus on font-driven cover design — this one doesn’t really work. It tries to do too much.

The flames around the title are equally confusing. They look really fake, making me question whether they really are flames or not. More, I cannot figure out what is going on about the “h” in thing — is that a person? Why are they trying to look over the “e” in every? Is it to see the person who is hanging out over the “h” in the? And what about the little person below the “h” in thing? The longer I look at this, the more confused I get. If the focus is the edge of everything, shouldn’t the little people be standing on one of those letters looking down off the edge?

Bonus points for a James Dashner quote.

Although the paperback edition of the book doesn’t really tell you much about what it’s about, it’s definitely stronger and more pleasing to the eye. The title font is easy to read, and it chooses to be clever by being in all lowercase letters; that’s a decision that works for the eye. There’s a little bit of a magical quality to the color choices and billowy smoke behind the title, which fits with the fantasy genre of the book. That isn’t a bad thing and rather, encourages some intrigue into what the book might be about. The Dashner quote is gone, replaced by two book reviews which tell you nothing about the book (three words with tons of ellipses and a tiny little phrase don’t really offer insight except that some critics read the book) and there’s now a tag line: “For the perfect love, what would you be willing to lost?” It’s not perfect but it gives some context to the cover design in a way that the little people around the big font on the hardcover simply don’t.

Paperback all the way for this one. You can pick up The Edge of Everything in paperback June 5.

 

 

Each of Emery Lord’s YA books have been seeing new looks in paperback, and Open Road Summer is no different. The hardcover for this one isn’t especially noteworthy except for the fact it looks like every other romantic YA book which came out around the same time: a glowy, dreamy sun flare around a couple. This one is set in an open field, perhaps to really hammer home the summer setting. The font for the title takes up a little more than half the real estate and relies on some strange sizing to make work: Open and Road are uneven, with the “O” of open not being left-aligned like the “R” in road. Perhaps an issue of kearning and tracking? Summer isn’t the same size and it definitely looks like it was squished to fit. The longer I look at how the letters don’t line up on the left edge of the cover, the more my eyes are bothered.

The hardcover also has a small blurb from Elizabeth Eulberg in the top left-hand corner, which fills some of the empty space from the field behind.

There is a lot to like about the paperback redesign, even though it, too, is another illustrated cover. The title, set in the middle of the cover, is really eye-catching, and the decision to use two fonts is not just clever, but it allows for all three words to take up the same amount of space, rather than forcing a fit that doesn’t quite work. The color scheme here mirrors some of what goes on in the hardcover edition, though it’s brighter and less stuck in a particular time, place, and era (which is the problem with models on covers — they can be dated quickly by style). Unlike many other covers that have taken the illustrated route, this particular cover seems to track younger, rather than toward an adult readership.

Buried way down at the bottom of the redesign, there’s a tag line: “Your heart will lead you home…” Yes, those scare ellipses are included.

Although there’s nothing bad about the hardcover, the paperback for this one feels a little stronger, a little fresher, and a little more timeless. It also “matches” the other redesigns of Lord’s books. Open Road Summer will have its new paperback design available on March 6.

 

 

 

The Truth of Right Now by Kara Lee Corthron was one of the most underrated YA reads of 2017. In a year where books like The Hate U Give exploded on the scene, this one should have, too, but it didn’t. And try as I encouraged people to read it, so few did; those who did read it ended up being really glad they did.

Which, when I look at the original hardcover, I wonder if it didn’t click for readers on the shelf as something they’d want to pick up.

The hardcover features two people — a girl and a guy — on a subway. It’s entirely sketch, with very little color. That sketchiness is, I think, the power of that particular cover. The font for the title and the author’s name (which does a weird thing in being uneven in size) look like they’ve been designed in crayon, which only makes the sketchy nature of the cover stronger. This hardcover really pops for me because it’s so different, and it really reflects the story itself. But, I can also see where the feeling of being unfinished and raw is exactly what turned readers off from picking this up.

But the paperback!

This is a gorgeous image of New York City, which is where the novel is set. The image is so eye-appealing, and it manages to tell a whole lot of story with very little. The centering of the image across a walkway and stacking of the font above it creates all kinds of pretty lines without trying too hard to do just that. It feels like a spring day, but what really makes it work is the fact that it’s not necessarily sunny: there’s a bit of a foggy sheen to the sky, making everything pop against that. I don’t actually think that this cover tells you much about the book, especially not when it’s compared to the hardcover, but it’s so damn pretty that it’ll make readers at least look at the jacket copy.

No blurbs or tag lines on either cover. In a lot of ways, that in itself is unique.

The Truth of Right Now hit shelves in paperback on January 2, so you can pick it up now.

 

 

 

 

When The Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore was a National Book Award finalist and the original hardcover design of this is utterly dreamy. The font for the title uses a nice combination of script-like letters with more standard fonts, giving it something special without sacrificing the readability. The gold against the black is easy to read, and the slight incorporation of flowers with the two main characters is clever and evokes a fantastical feel. More, what really makes this cover unique is that it feels like it’s a stage. We’re seeing the whole set along with the performers — there are the moons handing, the stage is the water tower, and the lights have been dimmed to make their stories shine. Written in tiny letters below the word Ours is a blurb from Laura Ruby.

This cover appeals to so many readers and more, tells those readers exactly the sort of feel to expect from it. It’s magical and dreamy.

Enter the paperback.

I mentioned earlier that I mostly dislike illustrated covers, and this is a perfect example of why. The magic is gone. This cover is super generic, with a color palette that does nothing especially interesting except blend it into the other generic illustrated covers. The giant moon in the middle of the cover looks more like a sun drowning in an ocean, and more, the fact that the moon is taking over the bottom of the letters in the is really harsh on the eyes. The choice to not capitalize the “t” in the is also jarring — the font for the title is already so insubstantial that the word follows the moon-sun in drowning in a sea of blue. The script for the Booklist review is nearly impossible to read on screen. The choice blurb there tells you nothing, either: “Lovely, necessary, and true” doesn’t give any insight into the book, which is a real shame with a cover that also offers nothing.

Everything that made the hardcover a special cover is gone with this one. There’s no magic. No hint of what the book’s about. No invitation to the reader to pick it up and enjoy. It’s generic. It’s boring. And it offers no hint of who the audience it’ll reach.

When The Moon Was Ours hits shelves in paperback February 13. But maybe skip it and seek out the hardcover instead.