Today, I am excited to be taking part in the 50 Years, 50 Days, 50 Blogs Tour in celebration of the 50th anniversary of A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. When I was asked to create an alternate cover for A Wrinkle in Time, it seemed like a daunting task. Such a well-known and popular book, I don’t know if there’s any way to do it justice, mostly because I love the original cover from when it was published 50 years ago so much. For my cover, I chose to showcase a tesseract (a wrinkle in time) in which the characters are able to travel through space and time. I’m also fairly sure a Newbury award shouldn’t be sliced into, but you can’t control those tesseracts!  Find out for yourself what there is to love about Charles Wallace and A Wrinkle in Time in the new 50th anniversary edition, now in stores everywhere! The new, 50th anniversary edition of A Wrinkle in Time includes: Frontispiece photo*† Photo scrapbook with approximately 10 photos*† Manuscript pages*† Letter from 1963 Caldecott winner, Ezra Jack Keats*† New introduction by Katherine Paterson, US National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature † New afterword by Madeleine L’Engle’s granddaughter Charlotte Voiklis including six never-before-seen photos † Murry-O’Keefe family tree with new artwork † Madeleine L’Engle’s Newbery acceptance speech * Unique to this edition† never previously published Be sure to check out the Wrinkle in Time facebook page & visit the other blogs on the 50 blog tour!
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Today, I am excited to be taking part in the 50 Years, 50 Days, 50 Blogs Tour in celebration of the 50th anniversary of A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle.

When I was asked to create an alternate cover for A Wrinkle in Time, it seemed like a daunting task. Such a well-known and popular book, I don’t know if there’s any way to do it justice, mostly because I love the original cover from when it was published 50 years ago so much. For my cover, I chose to showcase a tesseract (a wrinkle in time) in which the characters are able to travel through space and time. I’m also fairly sure a Newbury award shouldn’t be sliced into, but you can’t control those tesseracts!

 Find out for yourself what there is to love about Charles Wallace and A Wrinkle in Time in the new 50th anniversary edition, now in stores everywhere!

The new, 50th anniversary edition of A Wrinkle in Time includes:

  • Frontispiece photo*†
  • Photo scrapbook with approximately 10 photos*†
  • Manuscript pages*†
  • Letter from 1963 Caldecott winner, Ezra Jack Keats*†
  • New introduction by Katherine Paterson, US National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature †
  • New afterword by Madeleine L’Engle’s granddaughter Charlotte Voiklis including six never-before-seen photos †
  • Murry-O’Keefe family tree with new artwork †
  • Madeleine L’Engle’s Newbery acceptance speech

* Unique to this edition
† never previously published

Be sure to check out the Wrinkle in Time facebook page & visit the other blogs on the 50 blog tour!

World War Z by Max Brooks Unlike any horror book I’ve read before, World War Z is eerily realistic. Positioned as an oral history of the zombie war, the book is made up of short interviews with various people from around the world as they recount their experiences to the author. It’s an awesome book which I highly recommend. For my cover, I’ve got the zombie hoard approaching from the top, while the humans below run for their lives.
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World War Z by Max Brooks

Unlike any horror book I’ve read before, World War Z is eerily realistic. Positioned as an oral history of the zombie war, the book is made up of short interviews with various people from around the world as they recount their experiences to the author. It’s an awesome book which I highly recommend.

For my cover, I’ve got the zombie hoard approaching from the top, while the humans below run for their lives.

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg One of my favorite books growing up, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler is the reason I still want to run away and live in a museum to this day. If you haven’t read this book, stop reading this and go get it. My cover portrays the funky (and mixed-up) files of Lady Basil, combining my other love of card catalogs into some sort of dream cabinet that has various drawers of various sizes.
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From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg

One of my favorite books growing up, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler is the reason I still want to run away and live in a museum to this day. If you haven’t read this book, stop reading this and go get it.

My cover portrays the funky (and mixed-up) files of Lady Basil, combining my other love of card catalogs into some sort of dream cabinet that has various drawers of various sizes.

Inherit the Earth: Beach by Mauricio Bruce My friend Mauricio has been working on a series of young adult books for the past several years. He recently submitted the first book to Amazon’s Breakthrough Novel Award where it was chosen as one of 50 semifinalists from amongst 5000 entries. Regarding the novel, Mauricio writes, “After his father’s unforeseen death, fourteen year old Seth finds himself taking care of his younger sister and supporting his heartbroken mother at a remote beach house. When he starts having nightmares that threaten to take his life, and he finds his mysterious elderly neighbor dead, being the man of the house becomes a dangerous responsibility. Meanwhile, in a world beneath the waves, Maya and Stela, two shy, young, teenage girls are tasked with saving the fantastic underwater city of Maris from destruction. Yet all is not as it seems as they delve into a mystery set into motion centuries before by forces they’re only beginning to understand. When Seth’s sister vanishes and Maris’s last lights are drowned out, the children despair as the weight of their actions crashes down on them. As their paths converge, the children discover their missions are one and the same, and that no one is alone.” You can read the first 5,000 words of the novel and view some of his other stories here. Just as the challenges the main characters face parallel each other, I sought to parallel the two worlds where the story is shifting between (up on the beach and below in the water) for my cover design. The cover for book two, Jungle, is in the works.
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Inherit the Earth: Beach by Mauricio Bruce

My friend Mauricio has been working on a series of young adult books for the past several years. He recently submitted the first book to Amazon’s Breakthrough Novel Award where it was chosen as one of 50 semifinalists from amongst 5000 entries.

Regarding the novel, Mauricio writes, “After his father’s unforeseen death, fourteen year old Seth finds himself taking care of his younger sister and supporting his heartbroken mother at a remote beach house. When he starts having nightmares that threaten to take his life, and he finds his mysterious elderly neighbor dead, being the man of the house becomes a dangerous responsibility.

Meanwhile, in a world beneath the waves, Maya and Stela, two shy, young, teenage girls are tasked with saving the fantastic underwater city of Maris from destruction. Yet all is not as it seems as they delve into a mystery set into motion centuries before by forces they’re only beginning to understand. When Seth’s sister vanishes and Maris’s last lights are drowned out, the children despair as the weight of their actions crashes down on them.

As their paths converge, the children discover their missions are one and the same, and that no one is alone.”

You can read the first 5,000 words of the novel and view some of his other stories here.

Just as the challenges the main characters face parallel each other, I sought to parallel the two worlds where the story is shifting between (up on the beach and below in the water) for my cover design. The cover for book two, Jungle, is in the works.

A Series of Unfortunate Events (Adult Covers) by Lemony Snicket I remember reading an article a while back about the reason Bloomsbury released “adult” covers for Harry Potter over in England. It was due to customer demand that adult readers were a bit embarrassed to be seen reading “children’s books” around town. Thus, Bloomsbury released non-illustrated versions of the covers that had simple photographs and a more subdued color-palette. So it got me thinking. What other popular children’s series would an adult be a bit embarrassed to be seen reading in public? And I immediately thought of Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events. Not only are they covered in (amazing) illustrations on the outside, but have the extra bonus of being a teeny tiny postcard-sized book, telling those on the subway that yes, you read children’s books, and yes, 200 regular-sized pages is where you max out. With that in mind, I sought to redesign the series for the self-conscious adult. Using the brilliant photography of Rodney Smith, I ditched the orphans on the cover and instead brought the focus of each to that of the illusive Mr. Snicket, observing the events as they happen, later to be retold in his unique prose. His identity in the stories is always in question, as his relationship with the events is shrouded in mystery. Because of this, he remains hidden from view from the reader, even on the cover.
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A Series of Unfortunate Events (Adult Covers) by Lemony Snicket

I remember reading an article a while back about the reason Bloomsbury released “adult” covers for Harry Potter over in England. It was due to customer demand that adult readers were a bit embarrassed to be seen reading “children’s books” around town. Thus, Bloomsbury released non-illustrated versions of the covers that had simple photographs and a more subdued color-palette.

So it got me thinking. What other popular children’s series would an adult be a bit embarrassed to be seen reading in public? And I immediately thought of Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events. Not only are they covered in (amazing) illustrations on the outside, but have the extra bonus of being a teeny tiny postcard-sized book, telling those on the subway that yes, you read children’s books, and yes, 200 regular-sized pages is where you max out.

With that in mind, I sought to redesign the series for the self-conscious adult. Using the brilliant photography of Rodney Smith, I ditched the orphans on the cover and instead brought the focus of each to that of the illusive Mr. Snicket, observing the events as they happen, later to be retold in his unique prose. His identity in the stories is always in question, as his relationship with the events is shrouded in mystery. Because of this, he remains hidden from view from the reader, even on the cover.

The Game of Thrones Series by George R.R. Martin This is a new series I recently started (on book 2 now) after hearing lots of great things about it. It’s also being made into an HBO show that debuts this month. Sadly, even though the series started 15 years ago and has been widely popular ever since, the various covers throughout the years have been pretty lackluster. For my covers, I wanted to showcase the idea of these feuding medieval families that are constantly vying for power, but didn’t want to have knights on horses, epic battle scenes and the other visuals that are usually on these types of fantasy novels. So instead, I depicted the idea of house crests and the importance the author puts in each of the families and gave each of the 5 books a distinct color. View all of the new covers in the series here.
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The Game of Thrones Series by George R.R. Martin

This is a new series I recently started (on book 2 now) after hearing lots of great things about it. It’s also being made into an HBO show that debuts this month.

Sadly, even though the series started 15 years ago and has been widely popular ever since, the various covers throughout the years have been pretty lackluster.

For my covers, I wanted to showcase the idea of these feuding medieval families that are constantly vying for power, but didn’t want to have knights on horses, epic battle scenes and the other visuals that are usually on these types of fantasy novels. So instead, I depicted the idea of house crests and the importance the author puts in each of the families and gave each of the 5 books a distinct color.

View all of the new covers in the series here.

The Odyssey by Homer The Odyssey is one of my favorite stories because of the epic scale of adventure in it. So, for my cover, I decided I couldn’t just pick one part of the adventure to illustrate and instead tried to give a sense of the plethora of bullshit Odysseus encounters, including my take on the Scylla, the whirlpool, Circe turning his men into pigs, visiting the underworld and talking to spirits, Poseidon’s trident, a saucy siren, and a cyclops. I just wanted to give someone looking at the book the idea that they’re in for an awesome adventure.
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The Odyssey by Homer

The Odyssey is one of my favorite stories because of the epic scale of adventure in it. So, for my cover, I decided I couldn’t just pick one part of the adventure to illustrate and instead tried to give a sense of the plethora of bullshit Odysseus encounters, including my take on the Scylla, the whirlpool, Circe turning his men into pigs, visiting the underworld and talking to spirits, Poseidon’s trident, a saucy siren, and a cyclops. I just wanted to give someone looking at the book the idea that they’re in for an awesome adventure.

The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pène du Bois Another one of my favorite children’s books, The Twenty-One Balloons is an adventure tale that I’ll let Wikipedia set up: The story begins with the rescue of Professor William Waterman Sherman, who was picked up by a steamship whilst floating among a strange wreck of twenty deflated gas balloons in the North Atlantic. Sherman, a recently retired schoolteacher, was last seen three weeks ago leaving San Francisco on a giant balloon, determined to spend a year drifting alone. The world waits breathlessly to find out how he could have circumnavigated the globe in record time and landed in the ocean with twenty balloons rather than the one with which he began his journey. After several days’ rest and a hero’s welcome, the professor recounts his journey before a captivated audience. In my dream world, this would be a limited edition of 100, with each of the 21 balloons on the cover hand-pressed (in differing places each time) making each of the covers unique.
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The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pène du Bois

Another one of my favorite children’s books, The Twenty-One Balloons is an adventure tale that I’ll let Wikipedia set up: The story begins with the rescue of Professor William Waterman Sherman, who was picked up by a steamship whilst floating among a strange wreck of twenty deflated gas balloons in the North Atlantic. Sherman, a recently retired schoolteacher, was last seen three weeks ago leaving San Francisco on a giant balloon, determined to spend a year drifting alone. The world waits breathlessly to find out how he could have circumnavigated the globe in record time and landed in the ocean with twenty balloons rather than the one with which he began his journey. After several days’ rest and a hero’s welcome, the professor recounts his journey before a captivated audience.

In my dream world, this would be a limited edition of 100, with each of the 21 balloons on the cover hand-pressed (in differing places each time) making each of the covers unique.

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde After the popularity of my Shades of Grey cover, I thought I’d take on another Jasper Fforde book, so I turned to his first novel: The Eyre Affair. The first in a series, it centers around literary detective Thursday Next, who lives in a world where the line between literature and reality becomes increasingly thin, allowing characters in the books and those in “real life” to jump in and out of novels.  When a madman, Acheron Hades, enters the original text of Jane Eyre intent on changing the story forever, Thursday follows him in and tries to contain the chaos he causes. For my cover, I portrayed a prim and proper copy of Jane Eyre with the story being torn apart and changed by Acheron as Jane Eyre hightails it out of there…
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The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

After the popularity of my Shades of Grey cover, I thought I’d take on another Jasper Fforde book, so I turned to his first novel: The Eyre Affair.

The first in a series, it centers around literary detective Thursday Next, who lives in a world where the line between literature and reality becomes increasingly thin, allowing characters in the books and those in “real life” to jump in and out of novels. 

When a madman, Acheron Hades, enters the original text of Jane Eyre intent on changing the story forever, Thursday follows him in and tries to contain the chaos he causes.

For my cover, I portrayed a prim and proper copy of Jane Eyre with the story being torn apart and changed by Acheron as Jane Eyre hightails it out of there…

Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde Jasper Fforde writes some awesomely fun fiction. He creates these slightly (or sometimes drastically) different versions of our world that border on the geniusly bizarre.  In his Thursday Next series, the main character is a literary detective for the Jurisfiction department, which patrols the law inside books. Another of his series is the Nursery Crimes books, which features the investigations of DCI Jack Spratt, where he investigates what really happened in classic nursery rhymes. For a book nerd like me, they’re sort of perfect.  For his latest series, Shades of Grey, Fforde has created a future version of our world where social class is determined by one’s ability to perceive color. No one can see more than their own color, and no one knows why— there are many unknowns ever since The Something That Happened. It follows the main character of Eddie Russett, a Red, as he beginnings to discover the truth behind the world he lives in. In the book, when a person turns 20, they take the Ishihara to determine what color and how high of a percentage of it they can see (the more you can see, the higher your rank will be).  Because the Ishihara is an actual test created to determine color-blindness, I used that as the basis for my design, having the title appear in red as Eddie would see it, among a sea of grey. You can find out more about the book here. UPDATE: Jasper posted the cover on his website, which you can view here. Awesome! 2nd UPDATE: Jasper is using the artwork from my cover to print out postcards that he signs and hands out at his book-reading tours across the world! Insanely cool!
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Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde

Jasper Fforde writes some awesomely fun fiction. He creates these slightly (or sometimes drastically) different versions of our world that border on the geniusly bizarre. 

In his Thursday Next series, the main character is a literary detective for the Jurisfiction department, which patrols the law inside books. Another of his series is the Nursery Crimes books, which features the investigations of DCI Jack Spratt, where he investigates what really happened in classic nursery rhymes. For a book nerd like me, they’re sort of perfect. 

For his latest series, Shades of Grey, Fforde has created a future version of our world where social class is determined by one’s ability to perceive color. No one can see more than their own color, and no one knows why— there are many unknowns ever since The Something That Happened. It follows the main character of Eddie Russett, a Red, as he beginnings to discover the truth behind the world he lives in.

In the book, when a person turns 20, they take the Ishihara to determine what color and how high of a percentage of it they can see (the more you can see, the higher your rank will be). 

Because the Ishihara is an actual test created to determine color-blindness, I used that as the basis for my design, having the title appear in red as Eddie would see it, among a sea of grey.

You can find out more about the book here.

UPDATE: Jasper posted the cover on his website, which you can view here. Awesome!

2nd UPDATE: Jasper is using the artwork from my cover to print out postcards that he signs and hands out at his book-reading tours across the world! Insanely cool!

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