Packed into my list of cover changes to highlight in the coming months are a number of YA books which have been staples in the category for a while or are books that didn’t quite land with audiences when they were first published — as you’ll see, many of them are by and about characters of color — that are getting new looks. These reissue editions are meant to entice new readers or encourage long-time fans to step into the backlist of favorite long-time YA authors. Let’s take a look at some of these YA reissue/new editions and talk about the new looks they’re getting.
Original packaging is on the left, while the new looks are on the right.
Illegal by Bettina Restrepo’s reissue isn’t exactly brand new, but I wanted to begin with this one because the reissue hit shelves in August 2019, when culturally, discussions of immigration really ramped up. It was the perfect timing to bring this book to the attention of YA readers, as it was a debut in 2011. The new and updated look follows what we’ve seen in terms of YA cover trends — it’s illustrated, and we know immediately that the main character is a girl of color — but it doesn’t necessarily convey the same sense of longing that the original cover does. But for today’s YA readers, I suspect that paperback is extremely appealing and the tagline, “We are all immigrants,” nicely conveys the essential nature of Nora’s story.
When I was working as a teen librarian, Helen Frost was a go-to for YA verse novels. I’m not sure whether that’s still the case or not, but I do think the decision to repackage her classic Crossing Stones this August with a new, fresh cover is a smart way to introduce her writing to a new generation of readers. It’s a far more compelling and contemporary cover in paperback, with bright colors, but it’s also quite clear that it’s a historical verse novel given the ways that the characters are dressed. Since it’s set and about the women’s suffrage movement, the choice for putting a strong-looking girl at the center and holding a flag cues the reader to the main character in a way that the somewhat removed, wistful looking girl in the original cover does not. A new tagline was added as well, which reads “Maybe you won’t rock a cradle. Some women prefer to rock the boat.” A definite cover upgrade timed well with the 100th anniversary of (white) women’s suffrage.
I could not love the new look of Cynthia Leitich Smith’s debut YA novel any more. The original cover feels a tiny bit dated, in so much as her style of dress is very early-2000s and the images that are behind her are black and white photographs (and that boy in one of the photographs also does a great job showcasing just how great early 00s was for style). The new look, which will be part of Leitich Smith’s inaugural line for her imprint Heartdrum, hits shelves February 9 and is beautifully contemporary and timeless. It’s illustrated, with a much larger font choice for the title and author, and the style of the girl’s clothing and hair give less clues as to when the book was written and published. I love that it looks like it’s a perfect read for younger YA readers, too, as I think Leitich Smith writes such great work for that emerging YA reader without watering down the big issues she seeks to convey.
Marie Myung-Ok Lee’s Finding My Voice is believed to be the first Asian American #OwnVoices novel for YA readers, and the fact it’s being reissued with such a beautiful, modern cover in December is an utter treat. The original book, published in October of 1992, has a very of-the-time cover. That was a few years before I was reading YA books, but I remember that style of cover being popular for chapter books at the time. It’s not bad nor spectacular but very 1992. What’s interesting and most noteworthy, though, is that Marie’s full-name is not on the cover. Rather, she’s Marie G. Lee, a moniker that doesn’t make her heritage front and center. We really only know that the main character in the story is Asian by the illustration. The new cover, though, highlights Marie’s full name, and it features an incredible illustration of a modern Asian American girl. Like with Leitich Smith’s book above, I’m especially happy to see that her style doesn’t date her, meaning that this design will likely look fresh and modern years from now. The title font is big and central, and the colorful stripes in the background make the cover pop. I don’t know about you, but I am so eager to get my hands on this reissue.
Coming June 1 next year is the five-year anniversary edition of Nina LaCour and David Levithan’s You Know Me Well. What I love about this set of covers is how much they tell you about the ways cover design and the push to see diverse characters on YA book covers has changed in just a short period of time. The initial cover is fine, but it’s very 2016 — it’s font drive, with an illustration that doesn’t really tell you much. If you didn’t know the authors and what they tend to write, you might not pick up the cues that this is a queer YA book by two leading queer YA authors (and yes, there are a lot of YA readers who wouldn’t!). But the paperback reissue is queer as queer can be, without reinventing the entire cover. The bridge is still there, the font for the title is still big and bold, but now you see all kinds of teenagers showing their pride. It’s beautiful and inclusive and tells the reader everything they’d want to know (though if I could nitpick, I’d note that there’s not a physical disability represented, which feels a bit like a missed opportunity given everything else this cover nails). I’m not usually a big fan of taglines, but this one here is a nice addition: “Kate’s in love with Violet. Mark’s in love with Ryan. The hard part comes next.” That hardcover is very much for grownups who are fans of the authors. The paperback? For readers who want queer YA.
What do you think? Favorites in the bunch? Are there any older or classic YA books you’d love to see recovered and repackaged?
