I know I’ve blogged pretty extensively about cover trends already but another one that’s been popping up and I’ve noted keeps coming around. So of course, I have to note it.

It is the bird.

I keep seeing birds on covers. They’re taking up different shapes and purposes. And for the most part, it’s a trend I’m really digging. It could possibly be from watching too much Portlandia, but I think the covers with the birds have been pretty good!

These are all 2013 titles, and not all of them are out quiet yet. It’s very possible I’m missing some other titles, so feel free to chime in in the comments. All descriptions are from Worldcat or Goodreads.

First, here are three middle grade novels getting the bird cover treatment. It’s pretty amusing they’re all blue, too. 

Texting the Underworld by Ellen Booraem: Conor O’Neill faces his cowardice and visits the underworld to bargain with the Lady who can prevent the imminent death of a family member, but first Ashling, the banshee who brought the news, wants to visit his middle school.

Bird Nerd by Tracy Edward Wymer: Eddie Waymire is not a birdwatcher. He’s a birder. And he’d be the first to tell you that birders do more than watch. They listen, smell, and when necessary they taste. Eddie learned everything there is to know about birding from his dad, including the story of the mythical Golden Eagle. And then, when Eddie started sixth grade, stomach cancer made his dad “fly away” for good. Now Eddie is in seventh grade and lives with his mom, the head janitor at West Plains Middle School. As the school year begins, Eddie tries to impress Gabriela, the new girl in town. But it’s no use. She has no interest in a scrawny seventh grader who everyone calls bird this and bird that. To make matters worse, Eddie is paired with Mouton, an oversized enemy with Tourette syndrome, for the year-long Science Symposium project. Eddie must find a way to survive seventh grade and make the most of his star-crossed life, all while searching for that elusive Golden Eagle. If he can do that, he just might soar higher than ever before.

One Came Home by Amy Timberlake: In 1871 Wisconsin, thirteen-year-old Georgia sets out to find her sister Agatha, presumed dead when remains are found wearing the dress she was last seen in, and before the end of the year gains fame as a sharpshooter and foiler of counterfeiters.

Bird by Crystal Chan: A girl, who was born on the day her brother Bird died, has grown up in a house of silence and secrets; when she meets John, a mysterious new boy in her rural Iowan town, and those secrets start to come out.

Canary by Rachele Alpine:  Kate Franklin’s life changes for the better when her dad lands a job at Beacon Prep, an elite private school with one of the best basketball teams in the state. She begins to date a player on the team and quickly gets caught up in a world of idolatry and entitlement, learning that there are perks to being an athlete. But those perks also come with a price. Another player takes his power too far and Kate is assaulted at a party. Although she knows she should speak out, her dad’s vehemently against it and so, like a canary sent into a mine to test toxicity levels and protect miners, Kate alone breathes the poisonous secrets to protect her dad and the team. The world that Kate was once welcomed into is now her worst enemy, and she must decide whether to stay silent or expose the corruption, destroying her father’s career and bringing down a town’s heroes.

The Chaos of Stars by Kiersten White: Isadora’s family is seriously screwed up. Of course, as the human daughter of Egyptian gods, that pretty much comes with the territory. She’s also stuck with parents who barely notice her, and a house full of relatives who can’t be bothered to remember her name. After all, they are going to be around forever—and she’s a mere mortal. Isadora’s sick of living a life where she’s only worthy of a passing glance, and when she has the chance to move to San Diego with her brother, she jumps on it. But Isadora’s quickly finding that a “normal” life comes with plenty of its own epic complications—and that there’s no such thing as a clean break when it comes to family. Much as she wants to leave her past behind, she can’t shake the ominous dreams that foretell destruction for her entire family. When it turns out there may be truth in her nightmares, Isadora has to decide whether she can abandon her divine heritage after all.

Dr. Bird’s Advice for Sad Poets by Evan Roskos: A sixteen-year-old boy wrestling with depression and anxiety tries to cope by writing poems, reciting Walt Whitman, hugging trees, and figuring out why his sister has been kicked out of the house.

Infinite Sky by C. J. Flood (note: this is a UK book): Iris Dancy’s free-spirited mum has left for Tunisia, her dad’s rarely sober and her brother’s determined to fight anyone with a pair of fists. When a family of travellers move into the overgrown paddock overnight, her dad looks set to finally lose it. Gypsies are parasites he says, but Iris is intrigued. As her dad plans to evict the travelling family, Iris makes friends with their teenage son. Trick Deran is a bare knuckle boxer who says he’s done with fighting, but is he telling the truth? When tools go missing from the shed, the travellers are the first suspects. Iris’s brother, Sam, warns her to stay away from Trick; he’s dangerous, but Iris can no longer blindly follow her brother’s advice. He’s got secrets of his own, and she’s not sure he can be trusted himself. 

The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater: No description yet, but this is the second book in the “Raven Boys” cycle.

Legacy of the Clockwork Key by Kristin Bailey: A orphaned sixteen-year-old servant in Victorian England finds love while unraveling the secrets of a mysterious society of inventors and their most dangerous creation.

Prodigy by Marie Lu: June and Day make their way to Las Vegas where they join the rebel Patriot group and become involved in an assassination plot against the Elector in hopes of saving the Republic.

The Nightmare Affair by Mindee Arnett: Being the only Nightmare at Arkwell Academy, a boarding school for “magickind,” sixteen-year-old Destiny Everhart feeds on the dreams of others, working with a handsome human student to find a killer.

Tandem by Anna Jarzab: Sasha, who lives a quiet life with her grandfather in Chicago but dreams of adventure, is thrilled to be asked to prom by her long-time crush, Grant, but after the dance he abducts her to a parallel universe to impersonate a princess.

Shadowlands by Kate Brian: Rory, a girl in witness protection, thinks the serial killer she turned in has found her and is killing people around her. But as she investigates, she discovers a dark, disturbing truth about her new hometown. 

What do you think of putting a bird on it? Are there others coming out in 2013 featuring our fine feathered friends? I guess I don’t need to mention there are a few books with nothing but feathers, too, do I (looking at you, Antigoddess and Phoenix, among others).