In February, I returned to my mom's home country of Taiwan for the first time in over a decade. It was a great trip, and I'll be blogging more about the food, the sights, and my family over on my own website. But here, I just want to talk about the flights. Why the flights?

Because YA.

Getting to Taiwan required 3 separate flights, altogether totaling (with layovers) about 36 hours of travel. And it was the same coming back. That's... a lot of time. Fortunately, transoceanic planes are now usually equipped with personal entertainment centers. So while my neck, back, and butt still had to suffer through the long ride on those uncomfortable seats, at least my mind was pleasantly occupied.

The Fault in Our Stars

Confession: This movie was just so-so for me.

(Please don't hurt me! I loved the book!)

Don't get me wrong: I still cried. A lot. And I think there were great aspects. Shailene was excellent as Hazel, as was Laura Dern as her mother. It was beautifully filmed. It captured the spirit of the story.

But I think certain things -- like Hazel's internal monologues, and Augustus's external ones -- worked better in print than on screen.

Still, I'm glad I finally saw it. Even more than that, I'm glad the movie will bring so many new readers to the book.


This was a beautifully animated, quirky, but slightly uneven story about a boy and the endearingly strange underground creatures that raised him.
Book Covers

One of my favorite things to do in foreign countries is go to a local bookstore and browse the shelves. Granted, I can't read most of what I see, but it's still fun. To see the cover designs and trends. To see what's popular.

Here's what I saw in Taipei. What series and titles can you spot?

We Heart YA has never done a reveal before, but when I saw this cover, I immediately wanted to be the one to share it with the world. More than that, I wanted to introduce my friend Jasmine Warga, who was like an instant soulmate for me. She and I have had so many heartfelt & thought-provoking conversations -- about everything from pets to relationships, and from diversity in publishing, to writing your own truths.

Every time we hang out, I leave feeling refreshed and inspired. I am quite certain that anyone who spends time with Jasmine -- by reading her book -- will feel the same way.


ABOUT THE BOOK

Sixteen-year-old physics nerd Aysel is obsessed with plotting her own death. With a mother who seems scared of her, classmates who whisper behind her back, and a father who has made her the town pariah, Aysel’s ready to turn her potential energy into nothingness.

There’s only one problem: she’s not sure she has the courage to do it alone. But once she discovers the website Smooth Passages and its section called Suicide Partners, Aysel’s convinced she’s found her solution. Better yet, a boy with the username FrozenRobot (aka Roman), who’s haunted by a family tragedy, is looking for a partner.

But as their suicide pact starts to become more concrete, Aysel begins to question whether she really wants to go through with it. Ultimately, Aysel must choose between wanting to die or trying to convince Roman to live so they can discover the potential of their energy together. Except that Roman may not be so easy to convince.

This is a gorgeously written and compulsively readable debut novel about the transformative power of love and acceptance.


ABOUT JASMINE

Jasmine Warga lives in a small town that is a few miles outside of Cincinnati, Ohio. She finds it exceedingly difficult to write about herself in the third person so she will keep this short. Her first novel, MY HEART AND OTHER BLACK HOLES, will be published by Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins in Winter 2015. She is currently at work on her second book. Before becoming an author, she briefly worked as a science teacher. You can find visit her online at: http://jasminewarga.com/

ABOUT AYSEL

••• She’s not big on favorites, but if pressed to pick a favorite song, she’d probably choose Mozart’s "Requiem Mass in D Minor."
••• Both of her parents are originally from Turkey, but she sadly doesn’t speak a word of Turkish.
••• She thinks John Berryman’s poems are lame, but she totally gets them. More than she would ever admit.
••• She’s convinced her potential energy is poisoned.
••• Her best childhood memory is one involving her father and this terrifies her.
••• She would probably like the cover of MY HEART AND OTHER BLACK HOLES, but she might be suspicious of the bursts of color. (Though as her spokesperson, Jasmine is going to step up and say: WE LOVE IT!)

ABOUT ROMAN (AKA "FROZENROBOT")

Redacted for spoilers. You’re just going to have to read the book!


ABOUT THE COVER

From Alison Donalty, Executive Art Director, HarperCollins Children's Books:

It is not often that an art director gets to work on a book with a title as visually rich as MY HEART AND OTHER BLACK HOLES. When that happens, I feel like I've hit the cover-design-possibilities jackpot!

After reading Jasmine’s manuscript, I knew I needed to find an artist who would bring all the texture and emotion of this story to life on the cover. That perfect artist was Jessica Musumeci. Jessica is the Creative Director at Seventeen, as well as a fine artist. She has a special flair for creating hand-drawn type that is expressive and gorgeous to look at.

Collaborating with Jess on the art was a blast! She zeroed in on all the illustrative possibilities inherent in the title and sent us many options for consideration. On creating the art for this book Jess said, "I really enjoyed working on this cover. I love mixing rich black ink with bright watercolor. The contrast creates this pretty kind of tension which encapsulates the story beautifully."

The final cover does just that. It is bold, fresh, and evocative -- the perfect complement to Jasmine’s story.

WITHOUT FURTHER ADO...


Isn't it gorgeous? You know you want it...

BOOKMARK, PRE-ORDER, WIN




BONUS: EXCERPT

“I just figured the whole world feels sorry for you.” I say. “You obviously aren’t looking for someone to do what everyone else already does.”

I’m getting higher and higher and I feel the swing set creak.

“Be careful,” he says.

“Why?” I’m not thinking about being careful. I’m thinking about one last push, of letting go, of flying, and of falling.

“You aren’t allowed to die without me,” he whispers.

What impressions do you get when you look at this cover?

I see the girl first, front and center. Then I see the shadows and silhouette, a foreboding backdrop. But there is also a softness, a radiance, a light -- both behind the girl and drifting down from the top like snow. Last but not least, there is the elegant typography, for a simple and strong one-word title.

After reading POINTE, I have to say, I think the cover perfectly encapsulates the story within its pages, and smartly translates the themes and tone into visual language.

This is Theo's story. It's character-driven -- and no, that's not a code-word for boring. All it means is that we have a front-row seat for Theo's emotions, her internal struggles, and (eventually) her growth. She's a dancer, which is also reflected by the cover if you look closely at the details, like the bun and her dress. And she's haunted by several dark things in her past.

POINTE is a thoughtful, nuanced read -- one that everyone here at We Heart YA really enjoyed. There's a lot of tough stuff in Theo's life -- from drugs and drinking to abuse and abandonment -- and Colbert handles it all with grace, never preaching. When I closed the book after the last page, I found myself staring at the cover, savoring the story and marveling at how much of it had been there for me to see at first glance.

I'm thinking about that feeling again now because (A) POINTE is a story that will stay with me for a long time, and (B) next week we're doing something we've never done before at We Heart YA. We're hosting a cover reveal! So be sure to check in on Thursday June 19th to see the amazing cover of MY HEART AND OTHER BLACK HOLES by Jasmine Warga, who is a dear friend of mine. It's brilliant and beautiful and fun, and I can't wait to share it with all of you.

There are a couple Big Book Things happening this week and next. We'll let Auntie MJ explain the first one:

It's #rockthedrop day! Gonna scatter some of my books around NYC if youz wants them.
— Maureen Johnson (@maureenjohnson) April 17, 2014

If you don't know what #rockthedrop is, THIS IS WHAT IT IS--> http://t.co/x2PJkSxEpG
— Maureen Johnson (@maureenjohnson) April 17, 2014

Stephen and Matt can take the second:

Pls become a Community Book Giver on next Wednesday's World Book Night. I have signed up. It's simple & important. https://t.co/nofk55irtY
— Stephen Fry (@stephenfry) April 16, 2014

Still time to be a community book giver on @WorldBookNight. Anyone can take part, giving ANY book they choose. Give! http://t.co/ytv6Zq2z2k
— Matt Haig (@matthaig1) April 15, 2014

Are you participating in either Rock the Drop or World Book Night?



Oh, speaking of books around the world... I was recently on vacation in Italy, and I found their book stores to be fascinating. First of all, there were so many of them! I bumped into book stores inside train stations, on the corner of major plazas, facing beautiful river banks, even outdoors under ancient porticos...

I guess online stores and e-readers haven't taken over everywhere.


I also found the book covers pretty interesting. They were SO different from their American counterparts. There was a lot of photography, and a lot of white. (Sort of evident in the blurry photo.)

Here are a couple YA favorites as examples...

Pretty, no?

Then there are the covers that are sort of different, but sort of the same...



Isn't it interesting how Suzanne Collins' MG series was given a cover that looks so much like the Hunger Games' mockingjay symbol?

Speaking of which, there are some covers that apparently need no translation:



What do you think about foreign edition covers? Do you like them better? Do you collect them? Do you think books should have the same covers everywhere?

Pardon us for getting a bit shallow today. Normally we're not ones to judge a book by its cover, but... we blame the heat for frying our brains! We also blame the pretty for blinding us to reason. Because these covers? Are so, SO pretty.

Alternate title for this post: "Trend-spotting: Typographic Beauties."


All of these books have permission to join our bookshelf. Or heck, our walls! They're practically art.

We also love when series have covers that tie together. Such as these lovelies...


And even though it's a standalone, we like how the style of FANGIRL's cover fits in with Rainbow Rowell's other books, all quirky and hand-drawn:

I've recently started designing book covers, so it's all I've thought about the last couple weeks. And what do you do with the stuff you can't get out of your head? You blog about it.

When we come across a book, the first thing we see is the cover. That's where we usually get our first impression of the story. Unfortunately, you really can't judge a book by its cover. Some of the best stories look awful on the outside.

Do you ever leave the dust jacket at home because you're embarrassed by how it looks? I do that all the time. There are other covers that always catch my eye at Barnes and Noble, even when I already own the books.

Here are a few favorites among the WHYA girls:







So what makes a good book cover? Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder (there's another cliché for you), but I think we can all agree that some stand out more than others. What are your favorites?

♥Steph