Cover Stories: Girl Stolen by April Henry

April Henry's Girl Stolen is about a girl who's asleep in her mom's car when the car is stolen, with her inside. Also, she's blind. Stakes? HIGH.

Here's April to talk about the cover:

"I have to confess that I am not good at visualizing covers for my own books. I love book covers and am also married to a graphic designer who asks for feedback, but that's more reacting than acting, so I did not give any input.

"My agent had a comp in hard copy and mine hadn't arrived yet. She told me she loved it. I was dying of curiosity! She managed to take a slightly blurry photo of it with her camera phone and then emailed it to me. When I saw it, I fell in love, too.

"My editor and I discussed little changes. For example, the girl is wearing fingernail polish on the cover. In the book there is no mention of her wearing fingernail polish, but I decided it was something Cheyenne might do to fit in, so I suggested adding a line about it.

"Initially, the polish looked a little uneven, so it was plausible that a blind girl had done it. Then they decided to scuff up her nails so that they looked more like she had been fighting (she's been kidnapped). The cover designer told me that all the fingernail polish, in whatever state, was added in Photoshop.

"We also discussed whether there should be any punctuation on the cover, and I was presented with two covers to choose from..."

Read the rest of April's Cover Story, and peek at some early cover ideas, at melissacwalker.com.