3 Eye-Catching Covers

Collage of WHEN YOU WISH UPON A LANTERN by Gloria Chao, DELICIOUS MONSTERS by Lieselle Sambury, and HARVEST HOUSE by Cynthia Leitich Smith.

Today I thought it would be fun to highlight three books that came out earlier this year that all had intriguing covers. Have you read them? What book covers have caught your eye lately?

There are two young people standing in the twilight letting a lantern go up into the sky with many, many others that have already been released. There is a skyscape of buildings in the background.When You Wish Upon a Lantern by Gloria Chao
Viking

Liya and Kai had been best friends since they were little kids, but all that changed when a humiliating incident sparked The Biggest Misunderstanding Of All Time—and they haven’t spoken since.

Then Liya discovers her family’s wishing lantern store is struggling, and she decides to resume a tradition she had with her beloved late grandmother: secretly fulfilling the wishes people write on the lanterns they send into the sky. It may boost sales and save the store, but she can’t do it alone . . . and Kai is the only one who cares enough to help.

While working on their covert missions, Liya and Kai rekindle their friendship—and maybe more. But when their feuding families and their changing futures threaten to tear them apart again, can they find a way to make their own wishes come true? — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

The cover is split into two parts. The bottom is rippling water with a reflection from the top of the cover. The top is The side of a Black young person's face. The eye is closed. Their hand has long fingers that stretch up like branches of a tree. There are birds on two of the tree like fingers. Delicious Monsters by Liselle Sambury
Margaret K. McElderry Books

Daisy sees dead people—something impossible to forget in bustling, ghost-packed Toronto. She usually manages to deal with her unwanted ability, but she’s completely unprepared to be dumped by her boyfriend. So when her mother inherits a secluded mansion in northern Ontario where she spent her childhood summers, Daisy jumps at the chance to escape. But the house is nothing like Daisy expects, and she begins to realize that her experience with the supernatural might be no match for her mother’s secrets, nor what lurks within these walls…

A decade later, Brittney is desperate to get out from under the thumb of her abusive mother, a bestselling author who claims her stay at “Miracle Mansion” allowed her to see the error of her ways. But Brittney knows that’s nothing but a sham. She decides the new season of her popular Haunted web series will uncover what happened to a young Black girl in the mansion ten years prior and finally expose her mother’s lies. But as she gets more wrapped up in the investigation, she’ll have to decide: if she can only bring one story to light, which one matters most—Daisy’s or her own?

As Brittney investigates the mansion in the present, Daisy’s story runs parallel in the past, both timelines propelling the girls to face the most dangerous monsters of all: those that hide in plain sight. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

The title is in the center. Below it, the image is of the back of a young woman with long dark hair wearing a dress walking between bare trees into a light sky with birds flying. This image is upside down. The top half of the book is dark with a young man walking towards the viewer. There are buildings behind him and birds flying in the mist near his legs. Harvest House by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Candlewick Press

Deftly leading readers to the literary crossroads of contemporary realism and haunting mystery, Cynthia Leitich Smith revisits the world of her American Indian Youth Literature Award winner Hearts Unbroken. Halloween is near, and Hughie Wolfe is volunteering at a new rural attraction: Harvest House. He’s excited to take part in the fun, spooky show—until he learns that an actor playing the vengeful spirit of an “Indian maiden,” a ghost inspired by local legend, will headline. Folklore aside, unusual things have been happening at night at the crossroads near Harvest House. A creepy man is stalking teenage girls and young women, particularly Indigenous women; dogs are fretful and on edge; and wild animals are behaving strangely. While Hughie weighs how and when to speak up about the bigoted legend, he and his friends begin to investigate the crossroads and whether it might be haunted after all. As Moon rises on All Hallow’s Eve, will they be able to protect themselves and their community? Gripping and evocative, Harvest House showcases a versatile storyteller at her spooky, unsettling best. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads