Malinda Lo

As I mentioned last month, I’m part of a great group of debut YA authors — we’re all coming out with first novels this year. Our books range across a wide spectrum of topics, from ghosts to zombies to baseball to young folks in love. There’s something for everyone!

Since I love looking at book covers, every month I’ll be highlighting a few of our new releases, along with the author’s thoughts about their cover design. This month, take a look at these books that just came out in February:

Models Don’t Eat Chocolate Cookies (Dial) by Erin Dionne

Thirteen-year-old Celeste Harris is no string bean, but comfy sweatpants and a daily chocolate cookie suit her just fine. Her under-the-radar lifestyle could have continued too, if her aunt hadn’t entered her in the HuskyPeach Modeling Challenge. To get out of it, she’s forced to launch Operation Skinny Celeste—because, after all, a thin girl can’t be a fat model! What Celeste never imagined was that losing weight would help her gain a backbone . . . or that all she needed to shine was a spotlight.

Erin says:

I really didn’t have any expectations about my cover, because I’m so not artistically inclined (best to leave that stuff to the professionals!). However, I was hoping that my book would not be pink–too many pink covers on the market for tween girls!

I love my final cover!! My favorite part is definitely the falling Oreos. Too cute! On the paperback, the Oreos–ahem–chocolate cookies–are raised and shiny off the matte cover. They really pop.

Shadowed Summer (Delacorte) by Saundra Mitchell

Fourteen-year-old Iris Rhame conjures the ghost of a boy missing for decades and decides to solve his disappearance, never realizing that in a town as small as hers, every secret is a family secret.

Saundra says:

I didn’t have any specific ideas [about what my book cover would look like], but I was hoping that I could convince my editor to use a specific artist. (Loraine Sammy, if anyone is curious.) They still went illustrated, just with their own artist, Chad Michael Ward.

I don’t know if it’s a feature of the cover or just universal novelty, but I think it’s funny-cool that people think the model on the cover is me. Dishwater blondes of the world, unite!

The Great Call of China (Puffin) by Cynthea Liu

Chinese-born Cece was adopted when she was two years old by her American parents. Living in Texas, she’s bored of her ho-hum high school and dull job. So when she learns about the S.A.S.S. program to Xi’an, China, she jumps at the chance. She’ll be able to learn about her passion—anthropology—and it will give her the opportunity to explore her roots. But when she arrives, she receives quite a culture shock. And the closer she comes to finding out about her birth parents, the more apprehensive she gets. Enter Will, the cute guy she first meets on the plane. He and Cece really connect during the program. But can he help her get accustomed to a culture she should already know about, or will she leave China without the answers she’s been looking for?

Cynthea says:

For The Great Call of China, I had a pretty good idea of what the book would look like since all the S.A.S.S. books have a similar design and palette. I wondered how they’d incorporate the Chinese flag. When I got it, of course, I loved it. They worked the flag into Cece’s top. And bonus: I even got a chance to incorporate Cece’s look into the book!

Waiting To Score (Westside) by J.E. MacLeod

Quirky, smart, and good looking, Zack Chase is a book-loving, talented hockey player. But he doesn’t want to turn pro like his late dad, despite his mom’s hopes. New in town, Zack’s pitted against obnoxious Mac, the hockey team captain with something against Jane, the alluring Goth-girl who’s caught Zack’s eye. As incidents on the ice and off force Zack to decide what he really wants, he copes with sore losers, other people’s drinking problems, and the consequences of making out with too many girls. Soon Zack finds out the hard way that people have secrets and burdens all their own, and that some actions have tragic, far-reaching consequences.

J.E. says:

I had no idea what to expect from my cover. Zip. Zero. None. I love Zack’s expression [in the cover]. It’s a bit cocky, just like him.