Janeen Brian on A Surprise Cover

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Many of you are familiar with the illustrative works of Tracie Grimwood. Her colourful geometric, whimsical character portraits feature in picture books such as, Reena’s Rainbow and Bo Loves Books.

Tracie also illustrated the cover for one of our favorite authors, Janeen Brian ; the Notable Award winning mid-grade novel, Eloise and the Bucket of Stars, (Walker Books Australia) but that came about as a ‘surprise cover.’

When Janeen revealed the intriguing backstory of the cover image Tracie used on her latest novel, we were all ears … and eyes! See for yourself.

“A book cover is a visual teaser. A good cover not only captivates and pulls the would-be-reader in, but also hints as to the tone and storyline without giving away the plot. So it must work hard. And, you’ d think that the illustrator would need to know the bones of the story, before attempting the cover, right?


Well, maybe not.


When I first saw the cover of my latest novel with Walker Books Australia, Eloise and the Bucket of Stars, I was excited. It was perfect. It was beautiful. And it both captivated and hinted at what lay in the story. Imagine my surprise when I found out the cover had been created 5 years before it graced my story. So I asked the talented illustrator, Tracie Grimwood, how it came to be. It’s an intriguing story.

To continue reading this post, please head to CBCA where this ‘revelation’ first appeared.

Excerpt used with author’s permission.

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