SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
SLJ Blog Network +
  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About/Contact
  • *Best New Books*
    • Annual Best Lists
  • Reviews
    • One Star Review
    • Nonfiction
    • Toon Reviews
  • Articles
    • Authors
    • Link Du Jour
  • Covers
    • Covering the Newbery
    • Cover Curiosity
    • Unfortunate Covers
  • News
    • Books on Film
    • Morning Notes
  • Newsletter

June 12, 2018 by Travis Jonker

Exclusive Cover Reveal: The Lost Girl by Anne Ursu

June 12, 2018 by Travis Jonker   2 comments

Anne Ursu has a new book coming out called The Lost Girl. What’s it about?

When you’re an identical twin, your story always starts with someone else. For Iris, that means her story starts with Lark. Iris has always been the grounded, capable, and rational one; Lark has been inventive, dreamy, and brilliant—and from their first moments in the world together, they’ve never left each other’s side. Everyone around them realized early on what the two sisters already knew: they had better outcomes when they were together.

When fifth grade arrives, however, it is decided that Iris and Lark should be split into different classrooms, and something breaks in them both. Iris is no longer so confident; Lark retreats into herself as she deals with challenges at school. And at the same time, something strange is happening in the city around them, things both great and small going missing without a trace. As Iris begins to understand that anything can be lost in the blink of an eye, she decides it’s up to her to find a way to keep her sister safe.

We’ll take a look at the cover in a second, but first I wanted to talk with Anne about it.

SCROLL TO KEEP READING THIS POST

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Travis: What drew you to the idea of having your main characters be identical twins?

Anne Ursu: I’ve been really interested in the way that our culture prizes individualism over community, and at the way these narratives can be hugely dysfunctional. Writing about girl identical twins seemed an interesting way to examine the limits of that narrative.

THeParentTrap-Title

Plus I could make Parent Trap references, which is always fun.

Travis: What was the biggest challenge in writing The Lost Girl? What was the biggest joy?

Anne: I had all of these disparate plot elements when I started the book—a mystical antique shop, an after school girl-power club called Camp Awesome, these identical twins who grew up supporting each other separated in school for the first time. These elements kept insisting they did fit together but wouldn’t tell me how, which was incredibly annoying of them. So I had to figure it out myself, which was a process that took many drafts. But that challenge led to the biggest joy, which is the moment when it all does come together.

Travis: What’s the most powerful feeling for you when a new book comes out? Relief? Fear? Pride? Hopefulness? I could keep going . . .

Anne: Yes! All of that. It’s absolutely terrifying, and there’s part of me that wants to hide under the bed for a good year. But the best thing about writing for young readers is that if you do make it out from under the bed you get to go meet a group of kids who are clutching your book to their chests and then you remember that this whole thing isn’t about you at all.

Travis: Possibly the most important question (of all time): What snack puts you in peak creativity mode?

Anne: I feel it would be unfair to snacks to pick just one here, but for much of the writing process for this book my keyboard had a fine sheen of Sun Chip dust, and my desk was littered with Tootsie Pop wrappers. My blood also runs thick with Diet Dr. Pepper when I’m writing.

81FpNoe8sWL._SL1500_

Thanks for the chat, Anne!

And now, for the first time, the cover for The Lost Girl by Anne Ursu, which comes out on February 12, 2019. It’s Illustrated by Erin McGuire and designed by Sarah Kaufmann:

(click to enlarge)

LostGirl HC C

Playing this while you look at the cover makes the experience even better:

Filed under: Cover Reveal, Covers

SHARE:

Read or Leave Comments

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.

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

November 2022

Exclusive Cover Reveal: REAL TO ME by Minh Lê and Raissa Figueroa

by Travis Jonker

October 2021

Cover Reveal Q&A: THE BLUR by Minh Lê and Dan Santat

by Travis Jonker

September 2021

Exclusive Cover Reveal: THIS IS A SCHOOL by John Schu and Veronica Miller Jamison

by Travis Jonker

February 2021

Exclusive Cover Reveal: AMOS MCGEE MISSES THE BUS by Philip and Erin Stead

by Travis Jonker

January 2021

Cover Reveal Q&A: PLAYING THE CARDS YOU'RE DEALT by Varian Johnson

by Travis Jonker

ADVERTISEMENT

SLJ Blog Network

100 Scope Notes

One Star Review, Guess Who? (#181)

by Travis Jonker

A Fuse #8 Production

Review of the Day: The Tree and the River by Aaron Becker

by Betsy Bird

Good Comics for Kids

Monkey Prince Vol. 1: Enter the Monkey | Review

by J. Caleb Mozzocco

Heavy Medal

Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Readers’ Poll Results

by Steven Engelfried

Teen Librarian Toolbox

The Value of Innocence for BIPOC Students, a guest post by David Mura

by Amanda MacGregor

The Classroom Bookshelf

The Classroom Bookshelf is Moving

by Erika Thulin Dawes

The Yarn

A Book 25 Years in the Making: Marla Frazee Visits The Yarn

by Travis Jonker

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Articles on SLJ

Four Magical Middle Grade Novels for 'Encanto' Fans| Read-Alikes

Four YA Romances for Teens Watching 'The Summer I Turned Pretty'

Sports-Forward Books for Fans of the Movie "Space Jam: A New Legacy" | Read-Alikes

Three Action-Packed Adventures for Fans of 'Spider-Man: No Way Home'

Four Breezy YA Summer Reads for Fans of 'Along for the Ride' on Netflix | Read-Alikes

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Mike Jung says

    June 12, 2018 at 11:50 am

    This is hands-down the best news of the day. And the week. Probably the month, too. Quite possibly the whole year. LET’S GET SOME DONUTS, PEOPLE, I’M BUYING

  2. Jessica Haight says

    June 13, 2018 at 7:12 pm

    Great interview! It’s exciting to see the cover for The Lost Girl. I love that the plot elements were floating around, and then came together. There is a lot of joy in connecting ideas to create a story. Breadcrumbs and The Real Boy are amazing books, and I’m looking forward to reading The Lost Girl. Thanks for writing brilliant stories, Anne! You are a master of the craft. 🙂 ~ Jess

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

  • Author/Illustrator Blogs

    • Erin Stead Illustration
    • Hey, Rabbit!
    • James Preller's Blog
    • MATTHEWCORDELLBLOGS
    • Mo Willems Doodles
    • The Scop
  • Book Blogs I Like

    • A Book and a Hug
    • A Fuse #8 Production
    • A Kids Book a Day
    • A Year of Reading
    • Abby (the) Librarian
    • Awful Library Books
    • Becky’s Book Reviews
    • Better Book Titles
    • Book-A-Day Almanac
    • Bookends
    • books4yourkids.com
    • bookshelves of doom
    • Bottom Shelf Books
    • Calling Caldecott
    • Caustic Cover Critic
    • Chad C. Beckerman
    • Charlotte’s Library
    • Cheryl Rainfield
    • Chicken Spaghetti
    • CHILDREN’S ILLUSTRATION
    • Collecting Children’s Books
    • Cybils
    • EarlyWord
    • educating alice
    • Finding Wonderland
    • For Those About to Mock
    • Good Comics for Kids
    • Good Show Sir
    • GottaBook
    • Great Kid Books
    • Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog
    • Hi Miss Julie!
    • Jen Robinson’s Book Page
    • Kidsmomo
    • Maria T. Middleton Design
    • Nerdy Book Club
    • Neverending Search
    • Nine Kinds of Pie
    • One Book, Two Books, Old Books, New Books
    • Out of the Box
    • Oz and Ends
    • PlanetEsme
    • Read Roger
    • Reading Rants!
    • Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
    • sharpread
    • ShelfTalker
    • so tomorrow
    • The Children's Book Review
    • The Miss Rumphius Effect
    • Uncovered Cover Art
    • Waking Brain Cells
    • Watch. Connect. Read.
  • Library Blogs

    • ALSC Blog
    • Blue Skunk Blog
    • librarian.net
    • LISNews
    • Stephen's Lighthouse
    • Tame The Web: Libraries and Technology
    • Tame The Web: Libraries and Technology
    • Unshelved
  • Follow This Blog

    Enter your email address below to receive notifications of new blog posts by email.

    This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

    This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

    Primary Sidebar

    • News & Features
    • Reviews+
    • Technology
    • School Libraries
    • Public Libraries
    • Age Level
    • Ideas
    • Blogs
    • Classroom
    • Diversity
    • People
    • Job Zone

    Reviews+

    • Book Lists
    • Best Books
    • Media
    • Reference
    • Series Made Simple
    • Tech
    • Review for SLJ
    • Review Submissions

    SLJ Blog Network

    • 100 Scope Notes
    • A Fuse #8 Production
    • Good Comics for Kids
    • Heavy Medal
    • Neverending Search
    • Teen Librarian Toolbox
    • The Classroom Bookshelf
    • The Yarn

    Resources

    • 2022 Youth Media Awards
    • The Newbery at 100: SLJ Celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the Award
    • Special Report | School Libraries 2021
    • Summer Reading 2021
    • Series Made Simple Spring 2021
    • SLJ Diverse Books Survey
    • Summer Programming Survey
    • Research
    • White Papers / Case Studies
    • School Librarian of the Year
    • Mathical Book Prize Collection Development Awards
    • Librarian/Teacher Collaboration Award

    Events & PD

    • In-Person Events
    • Online Courses
    • Virtual Events
    • Webcasts
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Subscribe
    • Media Inquiries
    • Newsletter Sign Up
    • Content Submissions
    • Data Privacy
    • Terms of Use
    • Terms of Sale
    • FAQs
    • Diversity Policy
    • Careers at MSI


    COPYRIGHT © 2023


    COPYRIGHT © 2023