Top Ten Book Covers

Today is Top Ten Tuesday over at The Broke and the Bookish, and the category is best covers. This takes a lot of thinking and searching, but here are my entries. Note: They're not all necessarily children's/YA/teen books.

1. Matilda by Roald Dahl

This cover captivated me when I was little, in fourth or fifth grade. I always liked the way she looked, just sitting there with her piles of books. She reminded me of me, I think, but obviously not as crazily intelligent. I always wanted to read it but never got around to it until this past weekend, so that's why it might be fresh in my mind. I still love the cover though, good

memories.

2. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

I know, I know! I just did this one. But this cover is SO COOL. It's so dark and foreboding; I think it was this cover that eventually got me to read the book. I had seen it around my friend's house a bunch of times, as her younger sister was WAY into L'Engle's books.

3. Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

I swear I'm not picking all my childhood faves on purpose! It's just been two so far! But this cover really is fantastic. Paper cut outs, a beautiful landscape of a lake and mountains (which I love), and deep colors. I want to be in this picture.

4. A Voice in the Wind by Kathryn Lasky

...Okay. Caught me again. But this time I have a REASON why I picked a childhood favorite. The old cover was awesome. It had Liberty and July Starbuck (main characters) climbing a ladder to an old adobe dwelling, it had the all-important pot on the cover, and if you looked really closely you could see the glowing blue ghost in the background standing on a mesa! There are lots of deep blues and purples and it was SO PRETTY. I couldn't even find an image online. Boooo. Then they reprinted it, and the cover is ALL WRONG. It looks gross and not at all like

the old one. Here's the new one for those of you who are curious:

See? Not nearly as good as the one I described.

5. Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver

I love landscape. Especially ones with rock formations. Especially ones in the Southwest U.S. This has it all here. Beautiful colors, the lighting, the blue sky through the orange rock, more formations through the hole in the rock, the placement of the title. So pretty. Oh, and the book was pretty good too.

6. Fire by Kristin Cashore

Again, it's the colors. I love how there's just a bit of purple along the edges in corners, and the fluidity of how they all blend together. It's like an ocean of oranges and reds, with a burning heart. Plus the addition of the bow lets me know there's some action, and the girl's face at the top is just mysterious enough.

7. The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron

Matt Phelan is a fantastic artist. This cover is gentle yet empowering, with striking contrast between the red dress and the the sandy color of the rest of the cover. Look at that dress twirl.

8. Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins

I haven't read this one yet, but I love the painting on this front cover. More colors that I love; more of the deeper purples and some dark greens, with the glowing lantern on the side. And don't you wonder what she's wondering about or wishing for?

9. Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer

You know why. Patterns, people.

10. Abarat by Clive Barker

This is one seriously cool cover. These beautiful oil paintings by Barker are spread throughout the book, and look at that title. It's the same upside down as it is right side up! Super crazy.

Well, that's it for me! This was a lot of work, but don't be afraid to find your own favorites. Do you have one in particular you can remember off the top of your head?