I remember reading Adele’s FIVE challenges back in 2009 and absolutely loving them. Now that I’ve got a little blog to allow me to participate this year, I figured I’d give the “covers” post a go. 
Thanks for the challenge, Adele.
Seriously. It was a hard challenge. Difficult enough to the point where I simply could not narrow it down to only five covers. So, below you’ll find my top 10 covers of YA novels published in 2010. Some of these covers have been shown cover love already, and some are new to grace this blog’s little web space. Regardless, kudos to the publishers, art directors, and graphic designers who’ve worked so hard to make these novels’ faces look as awesome as they do.
#10: Hothouse (Chris Lynch)
The title, the worn look of the type treatment, and the red and black colors of this cover immediately grabbed my attention. And in case you couldn’t tell, yep, that’s a fireman’s hat.
#9: The Line (Teri Hall)
When I first saw this title’s cover, I thought: OMG ALIENS. But, apparently it’s not about aliens. Regardless, I loved the play on the “line,” the glowing greenhouse, the dark void above and below. Haunting.
#8: Matched (Ally Condie)
I’ll have to admit that I was getting really annoyed with the “girls with pretty flowing dresses” on covers. They were (and still are) everywhere. Matched’s cover art made me instantly eat my words.
#7: Girl, Stolen (April Henry)
This one was beyond cover love, folks. It was Coverlust: The Documentary.
#6: Heist Society (Ally Carter)
Back in October I wrote a discussion post about faces on covers (and got some awesome feedback as well!). While my opinions about faces have remained pretty staunch, every now and then I’m drawn to a cover that does include a face. Heist Society was one of those few covers this year. Its smart and curious cover art tells a story in her sunglasses. And while I don’t feel this photo best represents Katarina Bishop, I do think that Hyperion did a pretty good number luring me in.
#5: Incarceron (Catherine Fisher)
Designed by the amazingly talented Sammy Yuen, I was taken in by Incarceron’s feel of mystery and dark magic. Its incredible attention to detail, multiple layers, type treatment and color scheme that make this cover one that I’ll never get tired of staring at.
#4: The Red Umbrella (Christina Gonzalez)
It may be obvious to throw a red umbrella on a cover of a book called The Red Umbrella, but there was just something about this cover art that made me fawn over it. I love this entire illustration. It has a little hint of whimsy, but also a serious tone, and once I read the summary, I was curious to know why this red umbrella was so important to Lucía Álvarez’s story.
#3: A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend (Emily Horner)
I recently featured A Love Story for the Cell Coverage feature. Cover art that features signage almost always has big gold stars next to it in my book.
#2: The Mockingbirds (Daisy Whitney)
You’d think I’m just being biased about The Mockingbirds, but I’m not, I promise. The final cover art was not my preferred color (I was partial to the red ARC cover), but all of the design elements — the bird, the homage to Harper Lee, the patterned background — made the cover flow beautifully together. It’s even lovelier holding the finished copy.
#1: The Kid Table (Andrea Seigel)
It’s like this cover knew exactly where to pull on my heartstrings: 1) the food heartstring and 2) the funny heartstring. I absolutely love it.
So there you have it! It took me an eternity and a half to come up with this seemingly short list. I’ve poked my nose around the internet to see who else came up with their favorite YA covers of 2010, and the only cover I had in common with most posts was the Matched cover art. Did any of my top 10 covers surprise you? What were some of your favorite covers from this year?
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