This week’s Newsweek arrived in my mailbox yesterday (& I LOVE the new design & layout to pieces!), & in addition to coverage of the death of Michael Jackson, this edition is all about BOOKS. One feature talks about book covers & Chip Kidd’s (an editor at Alfred Knopp) favorites through the years. Although he nailed some of the best designs of the times (books such as Everything is Illuminated, Twilight, & A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius), I also felt like a lot of his choices were, well, really obvious! Dig deeper to find some chestnuts, like Sima’s Undergarments for Women!

One of the nice things about teen lit is that selling the book relies on the story & design alone – unless it’s a name like Stephenie Meyer or JK Rowling, teens usually don’t know & frankly don’t care. Some will recognize a name like Meg Cabot or Darren Shan, simply because their books take up so much of the shelf, but teens in general are rather more interested in whether the story is interesting, rather than which best-selling author’s name is plastered across the cover.

This means that some of the absolute best cover designs, in my opinion, are hidden over your bookstore’s & library’s teen section. Here’s a sampling of some of my favorites…

You can view the entire “Well Designed Books Make Better Lovers” set on my Flickr!