Cover Confessional

WELL.

Late last year I asked Betsy Bird and Travis Jonker if they would like to do a joint cover reveal on their respective blogs over on the School Library Journal website. Heroes of children’s literature that they are, they agreed. Thanksgiving came and went, as did Christmas, then New Years, and then this morning…

The cover was revealed on Fuse Eight! This is, technically, a “spotlight” as the cover was already available to be viewed online at various retail sites. The Fuse Eight spotlight comes with an interview, nine questions that I had a lot of fun answering. I hope you take time to read it, Betsy’s sharply focused question anchor this project and sets the stage for JIM! perfectly.

Travis Jonker did me the honor of featuring the case (what you find under a dust jacket) on his blog, 100 Scope Notes. In this case, the case reveal was indeed a true reveal as this illustration isn’t shown in any online retail gallery. Case covers tend to be a surprise and not everyone thinks to look for them. Travis gives attention to this sometimes hidden, often underappreciated art form in his end-of-year award celebration “The Undies“. I’ll look forward to seeing where JIM! lands in 2025’s contest.

But I need to come clean about something. I lied to you, my dear friend. Neither of these reveals, nor those at retails sites, were the true debut of the cover. That happened on Halloween of last year. You see, our house gets about 1,200 trick or treaters and I had the idea that this could be an excellent grassroots marketing opportunity. I mean, how often do you have a guaranteed 2,400 young reader aged eyeballs passing by your front door? At the last minute (almost exactly an hour before our first trick or treaters would usually arrive) I covered a sheet of plywood in paper and began painting.

You’ll see a small blank spot above the “scan to learn more” sign. I wasn’t sure what to write. I didn’t want to do the hard sell, that didn’t feel right. Then it hit me:

It was a celebration more than a sales pitch and it was centered for kids, exactly where I’m most comfortable. Speaking of comfortable… the “unicorn” in question is me, I bought a fuzzy unicorn onesie at a garage sale in the summer and decided to wear it as my Halloween costume.

So there you go. I hope you can forgive me for the trickery.

Once more, a big thank you to Betsy and Travis for featuring me on their blogs and making the cover reveal available to the broader public. I am very grateful to them and to everyone sharing their enthusiasm for the book. Exciting times ahead!

Listening to: