Book Cover Love (Top 10 Tuesday)

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Top Ten Books Whose Titles or Covers Made Me Buy It

(more like Made Me Pick It Up and Read the Back and Then Decide to Buy It)

     So, I'm an art student. I loooove book covers and my dream job is to design book covers for YA books. Because someone gets paid to make all these awesome covers and I want to be that person. I want to be responsible for the epic cover that makes someone pick the book up to learn more about it.

 

1. The Big Crunch by Pete Hautman.   Most YA book covers on the shelf have photographic covers that tend to blur together when you look at them. It's the girl in the pretty dress syndrome. This book cover is beautiful because it's illustrated and the different colors and scenes tell a story before you even open the book. This cover is, I think, by Chris Stengel, associate art director of Scholastic but I can't find much about him, so here's an interview with him about the covers for Maggie Stiefvater's books: http://blogs.publishersweekly.com/blogs/PWxyz/?p=2507 See my review here: http://brain-on-books.blogspot.com/2011/05/big-crunch.html

2. Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce.    Whoa. I love this cover. The colors and the shapes, the wolf and the girls. It's one of the best covers I've ever seen. Art is by strawberryluna, http://strawberryluna.com/gallery1.php

3. Beauty Queens by Libba Bray.     The lipsticks instead of bullets had my attention immediately and made me want to find out what the book was about. Libba Bray has a talent for writing books that are all over the map in terms of subject matter! Review coming soon (after the creepy books for October!). Google has just informed me that this was designed by Elizabeth B. Parisi, executive art director at Scholastic, who also designed the cover for The Hunger Games. BUT this doesn't mean she was responsible for the creation of the art itself, as Tim O'Brien actually creates the art for most covers that Parisi designs.

4. Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev.     This is just so detailed and gorgeous. The blue hair and the vague setting combined with fairies makes this cover impossible to ignore. This illustration is breathtaking (at least to me, geeky art student) and you should definitely check out the designer, Jason Chan's website here: http://jasonchanart.blogspot.com/ He does a lot of book covers, trading cards, and video game art.

5. Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld.    This was designed by Sammy Yuen, who is responsible for some great YA covers, http://www.sammyyuen.com/ This is in a word: epic. I'm so upset that they started changing the covers for these books (at least in the US). I could care less about another book cover with people's faces on it, but this is beautiful. Stupid publishers/marketers. 

6. Why I Let My Hair Grow Out by Maryrose Wood.     I can't get over the combination of photo and illustration, it just works so magically for this cover. I wanted it the second I saw it. The artist is Sarah Howell. BE WARNED! ARTISTIC NUDITY AT THE LINK! http://www.debutart.com/illustration/sarah-howell/7898#/illustration-portfolio

And the rest of these are books I haven't read but am interested in because of their covers:

http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Someone-Elses-Life-Katie-Dale/9780857071415

7. Someone Else's Life by Katie Dale.     Google has just informed me that this is a YA contemporary coming out February of next year. It sounds really really sad actually. This cover is so simple and eye-catching. All of the chalk-like scribbling and writing just keeps me staring at it, even if I'm not sure the cover says much about the story. I'm not sure if this is the final cover because Amazon and B&N are showing a different cover completely. One I'm not so in love with. 

http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Amy-Rogers-Epic-Detour-Morgan-Matson/9780857072689

8. Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson.     This cover is not the US cover. The US cover is just ok, but this cover (which is British) is awesome. I've read more than a couple great reviews of this book and it sounds really good. This cover manages to weave in so many different things that make me want to find out where they come into the story. When I read this book, I'm going to buy it from the Book Depository so I can get this cover!

 

9. The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials, The Death Cure by James Dashner.     I wasn't sure which cover to pick out of this series. They all just scream post-apocalyptic action adventure. This cover just looks so intense/epic/awesome, which the Maze Runner series is. If I hadn't been reading these books already, this cover would make me want to know what on earth is going on. 

10. The Game of Triumphs by Laura Powell.     The hand silhouette, the ornate jewelry, the whole composition of the cover - everything about it is pure genius. The 4 little symbols on the edges of the cards make me want to know what this is about. I am so glad this is a YA book because this is the kind of cover I would readily hang a poster of on my wall. And it's been out since 2009 and is being reprinted with this beautiful cover. How have I never heard of this book until now? Must investigate.

Bonus non-YA book cover!

11. Owly: Flying Lessons by Andy Runton.    Isn't this adorable? With the chubby owl and the blue background I was in love with this cover the moment I saw it. I love it and I want to go find some small children to show it to (but not in a creepy way). Here is a link to a gallery of more cute drawings by Andy Runton: http://www.andyrunton.com/artwork.html