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July 29, 2009 by Travis Jonker

Gallery: Debut YA Covers

July 29, 2009 by Travis Jonker   43 comments

Huzzah to the brave souls who boldly assembled their debut YA book covers (click here to give it a try). Below is a gallery of the sometimes outstanding, sometimes outstandingly unfortunate results.

breakcover

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Break @ Words on Words by Maggie Stiefvater (author of the recently released Shiver)

strumcover

Strum @ Pop Candy.

signalcover

Signal @ princessdeia.

blustercover

Bluster @ Divinest Sense.

clickcover

Click @ It Came From Outer Space.

overdressingcover

Overdressing @ Bellas Novella.

believecover

Believe @ Reading at the Beach.

timecoverpromisecover

Time and Promise @ The Queen Bees Book Club.

findcover

Find @ Willing to See Less.

bowcover

Bow @ Cosy Catastrophe.

namecover

Name @ willmetz.

untwistedcover

Untwisted @ Penryn’s Dreams.

aircoverafraidcover

Air and Afraid @ Throwing Away Breadcrumbs.

jogcover

Jog @ Bookatopia.

endcover

End @ Paperback Pirate.

gaugecover

Gauge @ Libbie on the Label.

focuscover

Focus @ Booth & Dimock Teen Spot.

barragecover

Barrage @ Nothing Rhymes with Rachel.

stumpcover

Stump @ A Fuse #8 Production. Eco-themed YA coming up.

unwrapcover

Unwrap @ Libri Dilectio.

badmouthcover

Badmouth @ Bleatbox.

rubcover

Rub @ Today’s Adventure.

Peepcover

Peep @ Sunshine Edition.

lurecoverloitercover

Lure and Loiter @ Hey! Teenager of the Year.

enquirecovervomitcover

standcoverspotcover

Enlighten, Vomit, Stand, and Spot @ In the Booley House.

enlightencoverhaulcover

Enlighten and Haul @ Morike of the Chair.

rewardcover

Reward @ transientme.

betraycover

Betray @ Teacherninja.

vaultcover

Vault @ The YA YA YAs.

beatcover

Beat @ Half Asleep in Paisley Pajamas.

elevatecover

Elevate @ Lady Lazarus.

sighcoverhumourcover

Reachcover

Sigh, Humour, and Reach @ Gignacery.

returncover

Return @ Calliope and Thalia’s Modern Day Musings.

sheltercoverWranglecover

Shelter and Wrangle @ Alien Onion.

bathecover

Bathe @ Moored at Sea.

drapecover

Drape @ The Zen Leaf.

crumplecover

Crumple @ BookEnds.

sobercover

Sober @ The Infinite Shelf.

slumpcover

Slump @ The Summer.

Embracecoverembracecover2

Embrace (two versions) @ Oops…Wrong Cookie. Man, I couldn’t just see these possibly being on shelves – they should be.

votecover

Vote @ bookbrig.

thrashcover

Thrash @ Blog Was Star.

slidecover

Slide @ Mt. Lebanon Public Library.

slumbercover

Slumber @ Mt. Lebanon Public Library.

disemblecover

Dissemble @ Romantoes.

conspirecover

Conspire @ C.K. Kelly Martin.

mollycoddlecover

Mollycoddle @ Layers of Thought.

jumblecover

Jumble @ Nan’s Corner of the World.

pitchcover

Pitch @ The Vintage Reader.

adorecover

Adore @ Life on the Bookshelf.

cartwheelcover

Cartwheel @ Life on the Bookshelf.

expresscover

Express @ Linz.

surprisecover

Surprise @ this cat! it is not a cheesecake!

concludecover

Conclude @ Mrs. McGrew’s Blog.

manipulatecover

Manipulate @ Bookworm Buddies.

flipcover

Flip @ I Read, I Write, I Shelve Things.

straycoverfrozencover

Stray and Frozen @ I Read, I Write, I Shelve Things.

liarcover

Liar @ LibrariYAn. Alicia took the recently controversial-for-it’s-cover YA novel Liar and put it through the Create Your Debut YA Cover steps. A vastly different result.

sipcover

Sip @ LibrariYAn.

keepcover

Keep @ Stray Kitten. This one’s pretty smooth. The first of a few of these that I could see actually working in the real world.

yankcover

Yank @ Diana Peterfreund. Another one that I could envision on shelves. Where is the third hand coming from? Someone write a story for this ASAP.

reminiscecover

Reminisce @ Diana Peterfreund. This character is sad. An kind of mad about it.

huffcover

Huff @ Underage Reading. I think I saw this one on shelves back in the 80s.

pluckcover

Pluck @ Tanita S. Davis blog. Aww, yeah. I was just thinking the other day that eyebrow plucking has not been the basis for enough books. This one fills a much needed gap.

tensecover

Tense @ YABOOKNERD. A YA book about rock wall climbing ? Belay on!

centrecover

Centre @ Wish I Were Baking. “Look, look – I know the cover isn’t jumping out at you, but you just have to read it, man. So good.”

kickcover

Kick! @ Book Nut. I think I know about 53 cheerleaders in the making who would grab this as soon as it hit the shelves.

crowcover

Crow @ Anna Jarzab. Wow – ghost child makes for YA gold.

claimcover

Claim @ NBPL Teen Book Blog. Final line: “Just go out there and claim your life, dude.”

guzzlecover

Guzzle @ Shalan. Ha –

scorncover

Scorn @ ALD Youth Services Interest Group. I dare you to pick this one up.

whiskcover

Whisk @ Abby (the) Librarian. This could go the happy/funny route or veer toward the quirky/dark end of the spectrum.

wondercover

Wonder @ Emily’s Reading Room. I would venture to say that this one might work in real life.

sabotagecover

Sabotage! @ One Librarian’s Book Reviews. Bringin’ the gunplay that youngsters can’t get enough of.

eludecover

Elude @ Holly’s Red Bike. A good ol’ fashioned chase story.

stuffcover

Stuff @ The Reading Zone. Pushing the envelope.

stillcover

Still @ CMIS.

cleavecover

Cleave @ Finding Wonderland.

plungecover

Plunge @ Maples and Fiddleheads.

bendcover

Bend @ Spinning Jennie.

showcasecover

Showcase @ The Further Adventures of Seagull Boy.

archcover

Arch @ Under the Covers.

pluckcoverII

Pluck @ The Magic of Ink.

YAcover

Yawn. This one’s mine.

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About Travis Jonker

Travis Jonker is an elementary school librarian in Michigan. He writes reviews (and the occasional article or two) for School Library Journal and is a member of the 2014 Caldecott committee. You can email Travis at scopenotes@gmail.com, or follow him on Twitter: @100scopenotes.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Elizabeth says

    July 29, 2009 at 10:28 am

    Some of those are actually amazingly beautiful. And I’m stunned by how “Still” looks like a lot of books on my shelf. Just crop off three-quarter’s of the girl’s face and we’d have a real YA cover!

    Thanks for organizing this; it was great fun.

  2. Scope Notes says

    July 29, 2009 at 10:36 am

    Yeah, some of these turned out well. And the ones that didn’t came out wonderfully bad. A good balance.

  3. Rachel says

    July 29, 2009 at 12:28 pm

    What fun! Here’s mine.

  4. Stephanie F says

    July 29, 2009 at 3:03 pm

    Mine turned out surprisingly good. 😀

  5. aquafortis says

    July 29, 2009 at 5:12 pm

    Excellent!! Some of these are extremely plausible, which is frightening. I like Stump and Bend an awful lot.

  6. patti says

    July 29, 2009 at 8:13 pm

    Here’s mine! Fun stuff!
    http://oopswrongcookie.blogspot.com/2009/07/create-your-ya-cover.html

  7. Summer says

    July 29, 2009 at 9:05 pm

    here’s mine!

    http://thesummer.wordpress.com/2009/07/29/create-a-ya-cover/

  8. Summer says

    July 29, 2009 at 10:10 pm

    hahaha understandable. I felt a little uncomfortable with it as well. I added another one. same link as above.

  9. Scope Notes says

    July 29, 2009 at 10:14 pm

    Added!

  10. Amanda says

    July 30, 2009 at 8:49 am

    Hey! Thanks for adding mine. I’m going to link to this post on my blog.

    If you’re looking for more, my three boys put theirs up, too: http://gignacery.blogspot.com/2009/07/book-covers-from-boys.html

  11. thebooleyhouse says

    July 30, 2009 at 7:35 pm

    Mine! All four of them!

    http://thebooleyhouse.wordpress.com/2009/07/30/create-your-own-debut-ya-book-cover/

  12. Rachel says

    July 31, 2009 at 2:31 am

    Here’s mine!
    http://www.mechanicalcat.net/rachel/log/Silly%20Fun/Faux_b_b_b_book

  13. Rachel Morgan says

    July 31, 2009 at 11:22 am

    Check out mine !

    http://sunshineedition.blogspot.com/2009/07/create-ya-cover.html

    Thanks 🙂

  14. phantommidge says

    July 31, 2009 at 11:33 pm

    This is fantastic! I’d love to see these on the shelf in our Teen section. (Although, I’d like to add a small caption to the one with the chihuahua coming from the dog that says, “Madam, I protest!”)

  15. Nicole says

    August 1, 2009 at 1:36 pm

    I can’t believe how good most of them turned out! Here’s mine:
    http://paperbackpirate.blogspot.com/2009/07/i-wrote-my-first-book.html

  16. Jessica says

    August 1, 2009 at 7:17 pm

    I have a YA as well as an SF&F up on my livejournal.

    Love these! 😀

    http://penrynsdreams.livejournal.com/125163.html

  17. Holly says

    August 2, 2009 at 6:54 pm

    This was a lot of fun!!

    http://www.bellasnovella.com/2009/08/create-your-debut-ya-cover.html

  18. Bleatbox says

    August 2, 2009 at 9:10 pm

    That was a lot of fun, here’s mine: http://img222.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=badmouthcover.jpg

    Some of those covers are really great, better than many published jackets!

  19. Bleatbox says

    August 2, 2009 at 9:11 pm

    Sorry, wasn’t quite the right link!

    Here: http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/9806/badmouthcover.jpg

  20. MotherReader says

    August 2, 2009 at 10:52 pm

    So glad you did a round-up of the covers. I hadn’t seen many of them – and there were some great ones. I’d totally read Crumple, Gauge, and Wonder. And Stand and Spot must be on shelves already – they look so real.

  21. Scope Notes says

    August 2, 2009 at 11:15 pm

    I agree – some of these turned out eerily plausible. Crumple and Embrace seem especially “torn from the shelf” to me.

  22. Size says

    August 3, 2009 at 10:30 am

    Wow, some of these are just incredibly well done! Mine isn’t so good, but here it is anyway: http://willmetz.com/images/ya-cover.jpg

  23. NotNessie says

    August 3, 2009 at 3:31 pm

    Some of these are really great. Mine definitely doesn’t look like something I’d pick up at the bookstore: http://ultimatebookhound.blogspot.com/2009/08/create-your-debut-ya-novel-cover.html

  24. Literature Crazy says

    August 7, 2009 at 11:25 am

    Those are so fantastic.

    Here’s mine: Unbuckle by Anita Cheek.

  25. Katherine Battersby says

    August 13, 2009 at 12:24 am

    Love this! DIY covers. My YA debut is titled ‘Balance’ – your typical, tense ‘coming of age’ type YA. You can have a laugh at it over on my blog: http://wellreadrabbit.wordpress.com

  26. Scott King says

    August 20, 2009 at 7:08 am

    I couldn’t help but jump on the Fake YA Book Cover bandwagon:
    http://www.scottking.info/blog/2009/08/20/fake-ya-book-cover/

  27. Maggie Stiefvater says

    August 31, 2009 at 4:18 pm

    Okay, it was totally ridiculous for me to do this, as I already have not only a debut novel out but another novel on the NYT list and another one coming out in October, but it was too fun not to do it. Here it is: http://m-stiefvater.livejournal.com/124990.html.

  28. Scope Notes says

    September 3, 2009 at 3:33 pm

    I’m honored you have taken part! I added your cover to the gallery.

  29. Maggie Stiefvater says

    September 3, 2009 at 5:47 pm

    Thanks! 😀

  30. anna fong says

    December 19, 2009 at 5:48 pm

    oh my i found this late..

  31. anna fong says

    December 19, 2009 at 5:49 pm

    Come check out mine!
    http://whenitrainsonme.blogspot.com/2009/12/omg-my-debut-ya-book.html

  32. twilightdew says

    December 28, 2010 at 6:51 pm

    Here are mine…

    http://twilightdew.tumblr.com/post/2503969508/create-your-debut-ya-cover-my-results

Trackbacks

  1. Diana Peterfreund Blog | Still Busy! says:
    July 29, 2009 at 10:45 am

    […] 100 Scope Notes gallery of joke YA covers. Playing off the cliches of modern YA title and cover conventions, we automatically generated a few. These are the results. And yes, I am so calling YANK. I picture it as a sort of modern, Palahniuk body-horror kind of thing. Of the ones I didn’t make myself, I’m particularly partial to BEND and WONDER. […]

  2. Create Your Debut YA Cover « 100 Scope Notes says:
    July 29, 2009 at 12:10 pm

    […] *Update* Click here to view the Create Your Debut YA Cover gallery. […]

  3. Debut YA Covers « Jacket Whys says:
    July 29, 2009 at 8:39 pm

    […] YA Covers From Scope Notes – don’t miss this gallery! Some of these are better than what’s really out […]

  4. create a ya cover! « says:
    July 29, 2009 at 9:04 pm

    […] here’s a gallery of other people’s debut YA covers. Have […]

  5. YA Wednesday: The Treasure Map reviews, prices | eOpinions Product reviews says:
    July 30, 2009 at 11:27 am

    […] (This game appears to have started at 100 scope notes. Many examples here.) […]

  6. Create your own Debut YA Book Cover « In the Booley House says:
    July 30, 2009 at 7:51 pm

    […] further the addictive book cover insanity, and link to it in a comments on the original post or the gallery if you want it to be included in said […]

  7. 10 good things « Shelf Elf: read, write, rave. says:
    August 7, 2009 at 1:32 pm

    […] 7. 100 Scope Notes collection of blogger-generated debut YA covers. […]

  8. DIY Cover Art « the Well Read Rabbit || Katherine Battersby says:
    August 13, 2009 at 7:59 pm

    […] one. The original image can be found here. And there’s a great gallery of DIY covers over on 100 Scope Notes which you have to check […]

  9. It CAME from Outer Space… » My YA Novel Debut! says:
    August 19, 2009 at 11:36 pm

    […] out more at Debut Ya Covers. There’s an awesome showcase there. Share and […]

  10. Fake YA Book Cover | says:
    August 20, 2009 at 6:01 am

    […] A trend started yesterday with people making fake YA Book covers. Since those are the books I primarily read… I had to make one! Share and Enjoy: […]

  11. princessdeia says:
    August 20, 2009 at 10:10 am

    […] details here and the gallery of other novels is here (some of them are […]

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