The cover of Amy Brecount White's Young Adult novel Forget-Her-Nots (Greenwillow) reminds me of pressing flowers with my mom when I was younger. There's something so delicate and sweet about it. I had to ask Amy how the design came about:
"For the cover, I imagined a girl's hand holding a bunch of flowers, but I thought it might be blue forget-me-nots because of the pun on those in the title. So the pink was surprising, but in the best of ways.
"I didn't give any input at all, but I was fine with that. I'm not nearly as good with images as I am with words, so I was very curious to see what the experts came up with. Paul Zakris, the art director at Greenwillow, did an amazing job.
"The first time I saw my cover, my jaw literally dropped, because the flowers are so gorgeous. I love the transparency of the petals! They look ethereal and magic.
"I had a chance to preview the cover, but I really couldn't imagine improving it. The typeface on the title is a special one Greenwillow uses, which is pretty cool, I think. I love that it looks Victorian, but isn't too over-the-top swirls and curlicues.
"My editor said the moment they saw the pink mock-up, they knew they had a winner. The flower shot comes from a very talented photographer, Harold Davis. According to the Greenwillow folk, it was serendipity! Paul was looking for a flower shot that looked very feminine and natural, and Harold Davis sent his at exactly the right time. You can see some other lovely floral images on Harold Davis' site.
"I love to show off my cover! I get so many oooh's and ahhh's. The flowers in the shot are scarlet poppies, which mean 'fantastic extravagance' in the language of flowers. I think that perfectly describes my main character Laurel's relationship with blooms throughout the novel. Also, if you look closely, the left side of the F and H look like red hearts turned sideways, which reminds of all the romance in the novel!"
Thanks, Amy! I love hearing about the publisher-specific typeface and the meaning behind the scarlet poppies -- and I completely see the interlocking hearts in the F and the H of the title. Cool!
What do you think of the flower image and the typeface? Does this cover grab you?
Melissa Walker is the author of four Young Adult novels, including the Violet trilogy and Lovestruck Summer. She is co-creator of the popular teen newsletter I Heart Daily, and her author blog, where Cover Stories originated, is melissacwalker.com.
