Reading With Our Eyes

Whenever I go to the bookstore, I head straight to the YA New Releases section to take a look at—what else?—the new releases! Sometimes I go to the section with a certain book in mind, but most of the time I just want to peruse.

And when I'm merely perusing, I can't help but let my eyes do all of the picking. After all, human beings are a pretty visual species and I'm no exception. I let my eyeballs do the pickin'!

Here are a few covers that have caught my eye in the past:

Love, love this cover. Such a striking image, isn't it? Granted, I haven't read HUSH, HUSH yet, but you can bet it definitely caught my eye at the bookstore.

I think SHIVER has certainly one of the loveliest YA covers I've ever seen. Love the simple color palette, love the wolf image in the background, and LOVE the red dot in the title.

I really like this cover for one main reason: the girl seems like she can kick some serious ass. Yeah, she looks pretty and innocent as well—but watch out for that sword!

This cover is plain awesomeness. Again, I love the simple colors and the hidden wolf imagery. (Hmm, was this made by the same artist who did Shiver?) And the design itself is just plain cool.

And now, here's a cover that doesn't do the book justice in my mind:

Okay, this cover is just all right. Admittedly, I do like the font and the mockingjay pin (although the pin won't make sense unless you read the book), but I'm not sure if this cover really does THE HUNGER GAMES justice.

Personally, I like the German edition of THE HUNGER GAMES much better. Love the colors, the mystery, and the obscured face. Then again, this cover makes me think of fairies for some reason...so maybe it doesn't convey the story that well either! But I still like it anyway.

So what are your favorite covers—be it YA, MG, PB, or adult? What covers have caught your eye in particular?