Cover Reveal: Unsinkable Cayenne by Jessica Vitalis
TLT: Today we’re pleased to interview author Jessica Vitalis and share the cover for her upcoming historical novel in verse, Unsinkable Cayenne, which publishes with Greenwillow/HarperCollins on October 29th. Jessica, welcome! Before we share your cover, let’s talk more generally about the process. Conventional wisdom holds that traditionally published authors don’t usually have much, if any, input into their covers. Has that been your experience?
JV: Hello, and thank you for hosting me today! I’ve been really lucky with my covers in that my editor has always asked for my input. For my first three books, they shared two different concept sketches, and asked for my thoughts on each. Unsinkable Cayenne was unique in that they shared five sketches! They were all absolutely gorgeous and spoke to the book in different ways. Ultimately, we all agreed on a sketch that seemed to best convey all of the different elements in the story, and I’m so thrilled with how it turned out!
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TLT: We love how it turned out, too! Without any further ado, let’s share it with our audience. Jessica, could you please walk us through the cover as it relates to your story?
JV: Absolutely! The girl on the cover is my main character, Cayenne; she’s lived with her parents in a small, cozy van all her life, but at the start of the book they’ve traded in their wandering lifestyle for an actual house. Cayenne is desperate to live a “normal” life and finally feel like she belongs somewhere, but she soon learns that her hippy parents, hand-made clothes, and small house with chickens running around in the front yard create an invisible wall between her and the popular girls with their big houses and fancy clothing. Cayenne’s sense of not being worthy is intensified when she develops a crush on a cute (and well-dressed) boy she spots while out walking George, the St. Bernard her father brings home.
All of these doubts and insecurities are hinted at on the cover where we see Cayenne’s tattered clothing as well as the nicer houses on one side of the tracks and the less impressive houses on the other. Cayenne stands looking toward the sky, where an assortment of birds fly overhead. Besides representing Cayenne’s longing to find her flock, the birds also speak to her fraught relationship with her mother, who used to spend long hours birdwatching with her. But now that a set of twins have arrived, Mom is too busy changing diapers and nursing babies to look up. I feel like this cover will really appeal to middle grade readers who are struggling to figure out their place in the world, and I need to give a shout-out to the designer, Paul Zakris, and the illustrator, Celia Krampien, for their brilliant work.
TLT: Wow! We love hearing how all of the different elements on the cover fit into what sounds like a story we can all relate to! Can you tell us a little bit about how the title, Unsinkable Cayenne, fits in with your story?
JV: For sure! The book takes place in the fall of 1985, just after the discovery of the Titanic wreckage. Cayenne’s social studies teacher is obsessed with the boat, and as Cayenne learns more about the tragedy, she begins to see parallels between the socioeconomics that defined the tragedy and her own life (parallels that modern readers will also identify with). The title speaks to these Titanic themes as well as Cayenne’s resiliency.
TLT: Jessica, thank you for dropping by today and sharing your beautiful new cover. Before we wrap things up, can you share where readers can find your book?
JV: Thank you for having me! Unsinkable Cayenne is available everywhere books are sold; readers can place their orders now to make sure their copy is delivered as soon as the book is available. (For those who don’t follow the industry closely, it’s important to note that preorders are more important to middle grade authors now than ever before—your support is greatly appreciated!)
Meet the author
JESSICA VITALIS is a Columbia MBA-wielding author on a mission to share entertaining and thought-provoking literature. Her work motivates, inspires, and engages readers with topics that often explore resilience and tenacity. Her books have been translated into three languages and received multiple starred reviews. The Rabbit’s Gift is a CCBC Best Book for Kids and Teens 2023 and her most recent novel, Coyote Queen, is a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection and on the Kirkus Best Books of 2023 list. A historical novel in verse, Unsinkable Cayenne, comes out in the fall of 2024. An American by birth, Jessica currently lives and writes in Ontario but speaks at schools, conferences, and festivals all over North America.
Links |
http://jessicavitalis.com |
https://twitter.com/jessicavitalis |
https://www.instagram.com/jessicavauthor/ |
https://www.facebook.com/jessicavauthor/ |
About Unsinkable Cayenne
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Cayenne and her family drift from place to place, living in their van. It hasn’t been a bad life—Cayenne and her mother birdwatch in every new location, they have a cozy setup in the van, and they sing and dance and bond over campfires most nights. But they’ve never belonged anywhere.
As Cayenne enters seventh grade, her parents decide to settle down in a small Montana town. Cayenne hopes that this means she will finally fit in and make some friends. But it turns out that staying in one place isn’t easy.
As her social studies class studies the Titanic tragedy (the wreckage has just been discovered and her teacher is obsessed), Cayenne sees more and more parallels between the social strata of the infamous ship and her own life. Will she ever squeeze her way into the popular girls’ clique, even though they live in fancy houses on the hill, and she lives in a tiny, rundown home with chickens in the front yard? Is it possible that the rich boy she likes actually likes her back? Can she find a way to make room for herself in this town? Does she really want to? Maybe being “normal” isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Unsinkable Cayenne is a character-driven novel-in-verse about family, friendship, first crushes, and fitting in. Set in the mid-1980s, this literary novel is for readers of Megan E. Freeman’s Alone and Erin Entrada Kelly’s We Dream of Space.
ISBN-13: 9780063314450
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date: 10/29/2024
Age Range: 8 – 12 Years
Filed under: Cover Reveal
About Amanda MacGregor
Amanda MacGregor works in an elementary library, loves dogs, and can be found on Twitter @CiteSomething.
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