My mission is this – give each and every Newbery Medal-winning book a new cover, beginning way back in the golden days of 1922 and working my way up to today. I have a ways to go, so enough with the chatter – let’s take a look at the latest cover redo.
1928: Gay Neck: The Story of a Pigeon by Dhan Gopal Mukerji, illustrated by Boris Artzybasheff
Original Cover:
My Redo:
Side by side:
Verdict: Simplified, but maybe too YA-ish. What do you say?
Read Previous Covering the Newbery Posts:
1927: Smoky, the Cowhorse by Will James
1926: Shen of the Sea by Arthur Bowie Chrisman
1925: Tales from Silver Lands by Charles J. Finger
1924: The Dark Frigate by Charles Boardman Hawes
1923: The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting
1922: The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Willem Van Loon
(Source Image: “See, told ya, he’s late again!” http://www.flickr.com/photos/linhngan/3953821298/)
About Travis Jonker
I love that you’re doing this series. I like the GAY NECK design, but it feels more like a poster than a dust jacket (I think it’s all that white at the bottom). For my money, your VOYAGES OF DR. DOLITTLE design is the one to beat!
A poster – yes I can see that, Jonathan! I think you hit the nail on the head. Funny how tricky it is to get to something that looks like an actual book cover. You’d think you could put a title on there and it would be clear, but that certain “cover-ness” can be elusive. Thanks for your thoughts.
I love the new cover! I like the image, where one pigeon (Gay-Neck, presumably) is in flight. I wasn’t thinking it was too YAish until you pointed it out. To somebody completely unfamiliar with the book, they might think it was about a gay teen and not about a pigeon at all?
I like the image, but it won’t help the book’s popularity (nothing but a title change could do that). I don’t like the scribbley font for the title, though – it makes me think of little pigeon feet and pigeon poop.
I love this feature, and there’s a few unfortunate Newbery covers that I can’t wait to see you take on!
Thanks Sandy, I have fun putting them together.
I really like this cover too, but it definitely does have a YA look to it. It looks all modern and urban and somewhat dark. I agree with Madigan, it looks like it could possibly be about a gay teen. But this cover is much more pick-up-able than the original!
I say it’s too Hitchcock!