Kristin Wolden Nitz

I attended an SCBWI France retreat with Candlewick Editor Mary Lee Donovan about six years ago.  For part of her talk, she discussed the process of coming up with the right covers for books.  When they work, they have a sort of innate sparkle that says, “Twinkle, twinkle. Buy me now!”   I can’t remember whether she came up with this line or if she just  picked it up somewhere.  But some book covers do have that quality. 

The people who did the cover and book design of SUSPECT at Peachtree might have achieved this for SUSPECT.  Of course, I’m the biased, proud author….

But I do love the attention to detail complete with the black end paper. And then there are echoes of the cover scattered over the dust jacket.  The skull appears on the front flap.  The question mark wraps itself around my author photo.  The rose also reappears on the back of the book with a scrap of text from the book.