Opinion - My Favourite Book Covers

We’re always told ‘don’t judge a book by it’s cover’ but then why on earth did the illustrator just spend days designing a cover worthy of the book? A cover is one of the first things that will draw you towards a book and even decide whether you will read it or not. It’s human nature to judge things without having any information about them apart from what they look like. If I see a large animal with huge teeth snarling at me I’m not going to go and take time to find out it’s life story, I’m going to run as fast as my skinny little legs are going to carry me. Also, side tangent; inside covers of books. I LOVE them. Why have blank pages when you can have beautiful, intricate designs that set the tone for the book.

Anyway, I have decided to compile a list of some of my favourite book covers. This list is in no particular order (You think I could chose only a few for the list and then order them?!? Are you crazy??) I’d also like to point out that these are only books from my bookshelf and I’m sure there will always be ‘better’ designs but here are some of my favourites:

Running On The Roof Of The World by Jess Butterworth -

Running on the roof of the world is a beautiful story of a girl in Tibet who’s parents are taken by soldiers on suspicion of being part of a rebel organisation. They tell her to run, to get far away from Tibet. So she grabs her best friend, Sam, and two yaks and they set off on a journey across the Himalayan mountains to get to their religious leader, The Dalai Lama, in India.

What I love about the cover is the beautiful colour scheme of the oranges and reds. I love the intricate designs down the bottom and the wonderful font that pays tribute to the Tibetan culture. I feel like this cover does justice to the wonderful story inside.

Pax by Sara Pennypacker -

Pax is a beautiful story about the connection between boy and his dog. Or fox. Pax’s family was killed by hunters when he was only weeks old. Peter found him curled up inside the burrow with no one to care for him. It’s been years since that fateful day and now that war is coming Peter’s father wants him to take Pax back to the wild. The moment he does Peter is consusmed with guilt so when he arrives at his grandfather’s house he starts to make plans to find his best friend again. Peter would travel 300 miles to get to his fox. So he does.

I’m not sure if I even have to tell you why this is definitely one of my favourite covers of all time. I’ve had this book for about two years now and I still love the story. If there had been a different cover illustration on this book who knows if I would have ever thought about picking it up and reading it? What book would be in it’s place? I love the wonderful foresty colours of this cover and the real organic feeling that this cover has.

Library of Souls, The third book in the Miss Peregrine‘s Home For Peculiar Children Series by Ransom Riggs -

The Library of Souls is the third book in the Peculiar Series and what we thought was the last until Map Of Days came out. Jacob’s friends have been taken by the Wights and are being tortured in their fortress, trying to find where the peculiar ability is located. Jacob, Emma and Addison - the talking dog- must travel from loop to loop in search of clues of their friend‘s whereabouts.

Now, this technically isn’t the cover for Library of Souls. Technically this is the cover underneath the dust cover. But I personally love the minimalistic design. You can really see each of the characters personalities in their signatures. Miss Peregrine is formal and old fashioned, Bronwyn isn’t very delicate and her handwriting is a little messy and Millard is neat and precise. I’ve had this book about 3-4 years now so the cover is getting a little worn but I think it looks even better that way.

The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe -

The Librarian of Auschwitz is the heart-wrenching story of a young girl in the Nazi camp - Auschwitz. Books are forbidden in this hellish prison but when the leader of the secret kids school, disguised as a playgroup, asks her to take care of the eight precious books that have been snuck past the guards she agrees. Dita risks her life to keep these books safe because these books are a reminder of what life is like outside the camps and they can’t stop hoping that they’ll get out.

I love the cover for this book. Dita stands on a stack of books - eight to be precise - and is staring up into the starry night away from the confinement of the camp. She stands tall, the Jewish star behind her showing that she is proud of who she is and by keeping these books safe she can see a life beyond the camp.

Rules For Vanishing by Kate Alice Marshall -

So, I have a confession. I haven’t actually finished this book yet. So I can’t really give you an accurate description about what this book is like without searching it up and if I did that then I risk being attacked by spoilers which I don’t really feel like right now. But I can give you a brief account of what has happened so far.

Sara’s sister disappeared. Just like Lucy. In fact, in the same place as Lucy. While looking for Lucy. On the same day Lucy was said to have disappeared decades ago. The first year anniversary is coming up and a mysterious message has been sent to all the kids at school containing the last words Sara ever said to her sister. Words she never told anyone else. Sara might have an idea where her sister is but she’s going to need a partner if she wants to get there.

I absolutely love the cover for this book (I know, I said that about all of them. But look at this one!!). I love covers with hidden things weaved into the design. Can you see her yet? Wait for it... There we go! You can see the faint outline of a quite creepy looking woman in the background. I’m not quite sure if this is Lucy or not but I don’t think it is. Lucy was a little girl in a pristine white dress with a blue ribbon. This can’t be Lucy. But it might be who took her...

English Fairy Tales and Legends by Rosalind Kerven-

English Fairy Tales and Legends is compilation of fairytales from all around England. Most of these fairy tales are a little messed up, not as bad as Grimms fairy tales but I wouldn’t go reading them to your future children. You know the usual things that make fairy tales messed up, someone killing a child only a few days old then finding out years later she’s alive and goes to try to kill her again, a small child being told she’s going to die because she saw faires and now she has to go into hiding and three boys dying trying to get an apple. Now that I think about it, it isn’t that messed up. Only a little messed up.

I really love the cartoony style this cover has, I feel like it really fits the book. It’s not a brilliant artwork but I don’t think it’s necessarily supposed to be like that. The princesses face is a little odd looking (honestly, the witch is better looking) and I don’t think that’s how dragons are supposed to fly but I think drawing it like that fits the book. The colour scheme is a little odd. With the pinks and yellows but I really like how playful it is.

Well that’s the end of the list! I hope you enjoyed reading about all these beautiful books and maybe you’ll go on to read some of them (I really recommend Pax and Running On the Roof Of The World). Comment down below your favourite book from the list or one you think should’ve made it on the list (bear in mind though this is just out of the books I own)! Happy reading Bookaholics, see you later!

- S.R.B