Covers market a book, and despite the saying, we judge our books by them. We have to—in a world saturated with things trying to get our attention, a book cover is designed to both appeal to a reader and sell its contents to the appropriate reader. Historically, covers carried less weight than they do now, especially in the YA market. Libraries and schools would typically purchase hardcovers, so the designs for them didn’t need to necessarily attract the teenager at the bookstore. That was more frequently saved for paperback editions which came at a lower price point for the teen market.
Again, that’s historically. It hasn’t necessarily been that way for a long time, as more teens are purchasing hardcovers and libraries and schools don’t necessarily only purchase hardcovers (a tight budget, even with a jobber’s discount, would stretch to two paperback YA books vs. one hardcover). It’s not surprising that we might see cover changes between a hardcover edition of a title and its paperback; it’s also not surprising that we might see historically popular titles republished with fresh, contemporary covers to appeal to today’s teens.
Let’s take a peek at four—err, well, it’s more than four—YA books that have recently gotten a little facelift in their paperback editions. A couple of these are new, while a couple are out or have been out for a bit. I’ve done my best to credit cover designers, but as has been the regular drum I beat, it’s not easy to find this information without the book in front of you. It should be, but it is not. Here’s my regular plea for publishers to put that right on their landing pages for the book.
First up, a cover makeover that’s been on my list for a while and that has already been on shelves: The Agathas by Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson.
The hardcover edition has a lot going on, and while the sunglasses is meant to hint this is a mystery, the cover doesn’t capture the flavor of the book the same way that the paperback edition does. I love that the paperback harkens to classics and that it’s simply less busy. The second book in the series, The Night in Question, mirrors the paperback edition, down to the body falling. That’s not to say I don’t like the hardcover because it does pop, but I’m not sure it’s as strong as the paperback for this particular book.
The original cover design is by Alison Impey with cover art by Spiros Halaris.
Next up is So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole.
These two covers are very different and both are very visually appealing. Not having looked at the hardcover long enough, I missed that there were dragons on it, as they get a little bit lost in the colorful swirl and the fierce facial expression. The title font pops in its yellow. I might, however, have a slight preference for the paperback edition, which makes the dragon more prominent without losing the strength of the facial expression (I like that they’re both facing toward the pages of the book, inviting the reader to open). The title, like with the hardcover, takes up a lot of real estate and is equally effective.
The paperback will be out on January 7, and as a bonus, it’ll come with some cool sprayed edges.
Hardcover art is by Taj Francis, with design by Jenny Kimura. The paperback art is by Carlos Quevedo, with design by Jenny Kimura.
The cover makeover for Maurene Goo’s fun Throwback is one I have both a lot of feelings about and a lot of questions about. The original cover is one that so captures the book–there’s our 90s teen on top, with our contemporary teen on the bottom. I love the doubling up of the author’s name, as well as the clever positioning and fonts used for the book title. The hypercolor styling pops on screen and on shelf.
The paperback…does not do it for me, though I suspect it will appeal to many readers who don’t want a book that looks like a teen book. The font styling of the title is a little hard to read and doesn’t quite pop on screen like the original. It’s interesting that we have just one teen now, and the blurb changed. It’s no longer Marie Lu on the front cover; now it’s Mary HK Choi. My eyes glaze over this new look, in part because it looks like so many other illustrated covers. Again, I suspect that will be what makes it attractive to many other readers, though I think it doesn’t quite capture the zeitgeist-y flavors of the book the same way the hardcover does.
The hardcover was designed by Natalie Sousa with illustrations by Kemi Mai Willan. The paperback will hit shelves on August 27.
Finally, here’s where our “+” comes in. Three classics from Walter Dean Myers are being made over and repackaged for a new generation of readers.
Here’s the repackage of the 1983 Myers book Fallen Angels.
I don’t know 100% whether or not the hardcover edition of The Glory Field above is the original from its first publication in the early ’90s—there are several variations of the cover—but most of them show, well, a field. The new look on the right is going to absolutely catch the eye of its audience in a new, fresh way.
Again, caveat here that I do not actually think the cover on the left is the original early ’90s edition—this one has been repackaged a few times—but here’s another winner of a book cover update for today’s teen readers with Slam!.
All three of the new editions of Walter Dean Myers’s titles will hit shelves on March 4, 2025, and each has an introduction by a contemporary Black male author. New (and revisiting!) readers will get to hear about the legendary Myers from Jason Reynolds, Varian Johnson, and Kwame Alexander.
YA Book News This Week
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Thanks as always for hanging out, and we’ll see you again on Thursday.
Until then, happy reading!