Covering the Newbery: Top 10
Last week our pals Colby Sharp and John Schumacher finished reading every single Newbery Medal-winning book. In honor of their completing this impressive feat, I thought I’d write what has to be my most self-indulgent post ever: revisit my Covering the Newbery project (where I attempted to give a new cover to every Newbery winner) and pick the 10 that worked out the best. Here we go…
(Click the links below each cover to see the original (to learn how I made these covers, click here))
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10. The Dark Frigate
It turned out fairly creepy, which never hurts shelf appeal.
With the hand-drawn font and out-of-focus girl, definitely the trendiest of the bunch. But pretty effective.
Just like the colors.
This re-do may have taken me the longest – I had to change some hair colors based on the characters in the book. I like how it represents the four perspectives in the novel.
The cover fits the book well (girl goes to live with her aunt outside of town), and the elements of color and text came together nicely.
Look closely – can you see the human face? For a book about a girl who communicates with wolves, this cover is a nice representation.
4. Daniel Boone
The tree cross-section makes it clear this is about a guy who likes some fresh air. It manages to look fairly modern, which helps.
The pursuit of cash in this novel is apparent.
2. Shiloh
It’s simple, but I think kids would dig it.
This one seems closest to looking like an actual book cover.
For the entire Covering the Newbery Gallery, click here.
Filed under: Articles, Covering the Newbery, Covers
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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Colby Sharp says
I can’t decide which one is my favorite. I think I’ll go with The Dark Frigate and The View From Saturday.
:Donna Marie says
Great work, Travis! VERY creative!
I’m going with THE DARK FRIGATE and SHADOW OF A BULL 🙂
Karen MacPherson says
Travis — These are wonderful covers! I know that more kids would check out these books with covers like these. Although I love them all, as a beagle lover (and owner) from way back, I have to say that new “Shiloh” cover is my favorite.
Carter Higgins says
This is so awesome. I really love Up a Road Slowly and The Westing Game.
:paula says
Awwww! Shiloh puppy! They’re all good, but I like Daniel Boone the best.