Examples

In this example we started with a general description of the cover, and then went into more detail including the stand out elements that are meant to grab the reader's attention. We also counted the number of beavers to include in our description. This can help keep your description direct and concise!

Colour, text, and even illustration style are important to include, but try to remain objective and stick to the facts when describing. Let the readers come to their own conclusions about any emotional impact the cover may have.

Like any other type of image description, this just takes practice!

[Alt-text]: cover: Biindigen!: Amik Says Welcome. Nancy Cooper. A full color digital illustration of four beavers as they greet each other on a river. In the background, the river bank is lined with mud and stone with bright thick green grass above. Each beaver has smooth brown fur with red lines decorating their arms and bodies. They also have long, thick flat tails, round heads with no ears, and small snouts with two big white teeth. To the left, a mommy beaver waves towards another beaver with a smile. The mommy wears green beaded earrings and carries a baby on her back. The baby wears pink beaded earrings. To the right, the other beaver waves back with a big smile. They wear a black headband with a round white medallion at the front. Just behind them another beaver peaks its head up from the water. It wears a blue headband.

[Alt text:] cover: Malaika's Surprise. Nadia L Hohn. A young girl in a peacock headdress looks forward with a smile and clutches her hands to her chest. She has a dark skin tone and rosy cheeks. The headdress fills most of the cover. It has long green and purple peacock feathers that fan out from a yellow and red crown. The crown has a large blue jewel in the center surrounded by pink and yellow beads. She wears a blue top with a blue cape over her shoulders. Just behind her, another young girl with a light skin tone dances in a yellow dress and wears a blue mask with a crown of long blue and purple feathers. There are two framed pictures on a wall behind the girls. In a rectangular frame, an older man and women pose with their heads close together. The woman has dark skin tone and short black hair, and the man has light skin tone and brown hair. In a heart-shaped frame, a young girl with dark skin stands on a beach and smiles.

In this next example, you can get a sense of the tone of the story in the word choice.

[Alt-text] cover: The Barnabus Project. The Fan Brothers. In a dark, blue-tinted room, inside a bell-jar, stands an elephant-mouse creature. The bell-jar is a tall narrow glass dome that sits on top of a blue round base. The creature is small like a mouse, with big round ears like a mouse, and a tail like a mouse. The rest of him is gray like an elephant. He has an elephant body, and an elephant trunk. He has small, beady eyes. He is standing on his hind legs, with his arms pressed against the bell-jar glass. The jar has a brown washed out label on it that reads "The Barnabus Project".

The next example is a simple cover image.

[Alt text:] cover: The water sings to suli?. Harron Hall. A digital illustration of a young child. She stands smiling before a white background surrounded by floating water bubbles. Her arms stretch out at her sides, and she looks cross-eyed down at the tip of her nose at a water bubble. She has a medium skin tone, long brown hair, and brown eyes. She wears a pink t-shirt and a light blue-ribbon skirt with a blue ribbon and a green ribbon embroidered along the bottom.

The next example is of a cover with visually impactful font.

[Alt-text]: cover: Help Wanted: Must Love Books. Janet Summer Johnson. A young girl stands in front of a bookshelf. She holds an orange book to her chest and looks to the side with a smile and one eyebrow raised. The bookshelf stands behind her to the right. It has four shelves and no back, and is taller than the girl. Each shelf is filled with books with multiple coloured covers. A large brown teddy bear sits on the ground in front of the bookcase, and is half the height of the girl. Six books are piled on the ground around the girl and over a round orange carpet. They are divided into two piles, with one open facedown on the carpet near her feet. The girl has a medium-dark skin tone and wears her dark tight-curly hair in a large fluffy bun on top of her head with a pink bow headband. She has large almond shaped brown eyes and rosy cheeks. She wears a long-sleeved pink shirt with purple sleeves, yellow polka dot pants, and pink socks. The title is written on a white poster pasted to the left of the bookshelf. The phrase “Help Wanted” is written in brown text in the style of a Wanted Poster. The phrase “Must Love Books” is written in large colourful blocky text as if hand drawn with markers. Three butterflies fly around the poster: one is blue, one is pink, and one is orange.