Friday, April 10, 2009

By the Cover: Silouhettes

I've come across several beautiful book covers lately that feature silhouettes.

The first was Charles and Emma by Deborah Heiligman. So when I saw the cover of The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly, that's what it reminded me of. (Fitting since Calpurnia is about a young naturalist.) And then I saw the cover of Patricia Wrede's newest, The Thirteenth Child. The striking thing to me about these covers is that they all feature silouhettes on a background that looks vaguely old-fashioned. Warm. Or kind of like old paper. Here they are:



I find it interesting that the covers have such similar styles and the books are all from different genres. We have a biography, a historical fiction, and a fantasy (albeit: historical fantasy... is that a genre?).

And then I started thinking and, though it's a bit different, you could add The Cabinet of Wonders by Marie Rutkoski to this list. New trend? Perhaps... Who's got other examples?




And Lisa points out:



The Manny Files by Christian Burch
The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall
Highway Cats by Janet Taylor Lisle