Inspired by What She Reads, Pure Imagination Blog, and Stacked.I admit I’m a book cover snob. Who isn’t though?
Book covers are the first thing that attracts readers to a book. A good cover can draw someone is, just as a bad cover can easily draw someone away. It can essentially make or break a book. Holy, Mother Cover! is where I showcase the book covers that stand out (or make me cringe) and discuss cover changes.
(A big special thanks to Georgie at What She Reads for bestowing me this fabulous name and to Charlotte at Gypsy Reviews for creating the beautiful feature banner you see before you.)
I love maps on book covers, mainly because I daydream of road tripping across the country. (Though, in this day and age, maps aren’t needed when you have GPS, which is a bit sad.)
I weirdly had a hard time finding covers that had maps on it? I thought there would be tons because hello, maps! But I guess not? I think I’m looking in all the wrong places, but that’s okay! That means there can be a part two of the maps theme when I do find those covers.
THEME: Maps
[row][column size=”1/3″]Illustrated map, my heart! Don’t Stop Now has that cartoonish look to it because it’s completely illustrated. I feel like I’m looking at a map in a picture book or in an animated cartoon of a town. I love it. The folded creases remind me of the maps I used to see when I was younger. Very nostalgic. And can we talk about the fonts used? I love how each have a different width and weight to it. It looks really good.
I think my only problem is that the “Friend or Boyfriend?” is a bit distracting. I found myself just going “huh.” [/column] [column size=”1/3″]I love that the cover of Let’s Get Lost looks a bit rumbled. It’s like it was new, but somebody had used it recently to find their way around whatever place they’re at. I love that each “town” is a feeling, and I assume the main character (or whoever) has to make a journey to these places. It’s a great way to show the type of themes that will appear in the book.
The colors of the title work well with each other too. I like that it matches the road lines. [/column] [column size=”1/3″]I love that the image of Maphead is a map in the shape of a head. I did grin at the visual pun because how can you not? I like that the other part of the title is in the map legend. It’s making good use of the map theme and the title of the book.
The only problem I have with this cover is the ‘D’ in the title. The shadow of the map piece at the top right corner kind of hides the bottom bit of the ‘D.’ It makes the title not stand out as much and not as clear. [/column][/row] 
The only thing I really want in this cover is for the map to be more detailed. It’s just a map of the United States. There are no squiggly lines, indicating roads. All we get is a drawn line from a red marker, marking down the places they’re going to go. How do these girls know the exact location of the points? [/column] [column size=”1/2″]Vintage awesomeness! I really like this cover of On the Map because of the vintage map. I find it fascinating to compare maps from back then in the 14th century to the present day because they are vastly different. The lettering on this is incredibly gorgeous. I love how it fits perfectly inside of the hand.
I think I would love the cover if the finger was actually pointing down on the continent, as opposed to the edges of the map. It could’ve been like a “I want to go there” type of image. Also, the little embellishes in the first letters of “A Mind Expanding Exploration Way World Looks” are a bit too much. It just looks a bit cluttered near the edges of the finger. [/column][/row]
On the Map is a little too busy for me, but I do love the vintage feel to the actual map! Let’s Get Lost is actually my favorite, I think. Those colors work really well together.
Do you know, I haven’t seen all that many map covers either. You’d think The Glass Sentence & The Mapmaker’s War series would have map covers since they’re about cartographers, but surprisingly, they dont. Huh. I do, however, know of two book with map covers: The Map Thief by Michael Blanding and The Door to Time by Ulysses Moore. You can see only a bit of the map on The Door to Time, and it appears like a hand drawn map of the inside of a castle or something, with cartoon people climbing the castle stairs. Looks funny, actually.
As for the ones you’ve featured here, I think my favourites are Dont Stop Now and Let’s Get Lost. I love how neat Dont Stop Now’s cover looks, and the lettering is so cool! And although I didn’t enjoy Let’s Get Lost at all, and that is making me not want to like it’s cover, I’m not going to allow my baser instincts to control me ;) What I love most about the Let’s Get Lost cover is how the title looks like it’s handwritten with an actual marker, which some parts overlapping, making them darker. It’s got such a ‘lived in’ feel to it, if you get what I mean. And I totally love the On The Map cover for vintage-ness, too! Especially that hand! :D
I think I love all of these covers.
They could have easily moved the title of Maphead a little bit to the right and it’d have been way more fabulous. Oh well. The yellow in Reunited just compliments the cover so well and the cover of Let’s Get Lost is perfect. The cover of On the Map is amazing but it would have been more if, like you said, the finger was pointing something on the map rather than below it or whatever. The vintage map is so prettyyy!
P.S. My heart broke a bit because I wanted to see A Darker Shade of Magic here. I know it’s not a map map but still. :sad face:
Okay, this is such an awesome theme because – maps! I am really liking Maphead the most, for the actual map, but the font reminds me of Papyrus 2.0., and the D is so off tangent. *pouts*
I really like the Let’s Get Lost cover! I don’t think I’ll be reading that book, but the cover makes me wish I wanted to haha. Maps are so cool :D More books should make use of them for cover art.
You know, I thought I’d seen quite a few covers with maps on, but now that you mention it, I don’t actually think there are that many. Which totally needs to be corrected. Obviously.
My favourite of these has to be Let’s Get Lost! The way the map is crumpled makes the cover look so wonderfully textured. I hope the cover is a matte, textured paper when it’s bound!
These are all so pretty! I’ve just found your blog and I already know my TBR list is going to pile up. I can’t resist books with nice covers.