Do! Judge A Book By Its Cover is a regular feature on Pop! Goes The Reader in which I pay tribute to some of the best and brightest the publishing world has to offer in the way of book cover design. This feature is inspired by Katie’s feature Cover Love on her blog One Page At A Time. The idea is being used with her gracious permission.
Well, after a nearly three-month-long hiatus, Do! Judge A Book By Its Cover is back and better than ever, thanks in large part to a new, beautiful illustration by the phenomenally talented Vicki Tsai! (I am, unfortunately, approximately 75% less adorable in real life.) There have been so many wonderful cover reveals in this feature’s absence and I can’t wait to share even a few of my favourites with you in the weeks to come. This week I’ll begin by exploring one of my most beloved areas of all literature, the middle grade novel! Some of my favourite covers this week include Lucky Strikes by Louis Bayard, The Girl In The Well Is Me by Karen Rivers, Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo, Hour Of The Bees by Janette Rallison, The Distance To Home by Jenn Bishop, The Voyage To Magical North by Claire Fayers, Once Was A Time by Leila Sales, This Is Not A Werewolf Story by Sandra Evans, The Wild Robot by Peter Brown and Some Kind Of Happiness by Claire Legrand.
01. Lucky Strikes by Louis Bayard
02. The Girl In The Well Is Me by Karen Rivers
03. Finding Someplace by Denise Lewis Patrick
04. The Lost Treasure Of Tuckernuck by Emily Fairlie
05. Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo
06. Hour Of The Bees by Janette Rallison
07. The Distance To Home by Jenn Bishop (Cover illustrated by Erin McGuire)
08. The Voyage To Magical North by Claire Fayers
09. The Brightest Stars Of Summer by Leila Howland
10. The Secret Of Dreadwillow Carse by Brian Farrey (Cover illustrated by Matt Rockefeller)
11. Once Was A Time by Leila Sales
12. Nothing Up My Sleeve by Diana López
13. The Mysterious Moonstone by Eric Luper
14. This Is Not A Werewolf Story by Sandra Evans
15. Secrets Of Selkie Bay by Shelley Moore Thomas
16. The Wild Robot by Peter Brown
17. Some Kind Of Happiness by Claire Legrand
18. The Secret Destiny Of Pixie Piper by Annabelle Fisher (Cover illustrated by Natalie Andrewson)
19. Eleven and Holding by Mary Penney
20. The Day The Mustache Took Over by Alan Katz
21. Hoodoo by Ronald L. Smith
22. Summerlost by Ally Condie
23. Swing Sideways by Nanci Turner Steveson
24. Waiting For Augusta by Jessica Lawson
Now it’s your turn! What are some of your favourite middle grade covers? Did I list one of your favourites here or is there one I forgot that just has to be included? Let me know in the comments!
4 Responses
Thanks for this Jen. Some gorgeous-looking covers (Wild Robot and Lucky Strikes) and some fun covers there (the Day the Moustache took over and the Key Hunters). Very inspiring as I am looking to self-publish a couple of middle grade books soon and starting to think about covers.
Favourite covers of mine from the past are the ‘His Dark Materials’ books and ‘A series of unfortunate events’.
I read Finding Someplace, it’s a really good book and I recommend it. It’s sort of sad, though.
Books I want to read in this post:
Swing Sideways
Waiting for Agusta
The Distance to Home
The Brightest Stars of summer
I totally judge books by their covers and I’m so glad about these posts. Thank you!
There are SO MANY I could list and still not be satisfied. To add to those you have above, I submit SAVVY and all three of the FAIRYLAND novels by Catherine Valente.^-^
Gina recently posted…Don’t go into the woods…. Fey by C.S. Feldman
Thank you for including SWING SIDEWAYS. I was prepared to not like my cover at first (everyone said I would have to get used to it) but I loved it. It depicts that magical moment when two strangers develop an instant bond that changes their lives forever. Would love to hear how you like the book. Pub date is May 3. Thanks again! Nanci