I need some help with a book cover

[CeriClark]

Hello, I'm really sorry if I've posted this in the wrong place.

I've created a picture/puzzle book for children aged 3-5. I've tested it on my 3 year old boy and on my 5 year old (girl) cousins. I don't actually know that many people with kids of that age group and I'm a little (very) introverted so I don't want to ask the parents at my kids nursery!

I'm looking for feedback for the cover of the book. My kid loves B but I would love to know what other kids think. Also, do you involve your kids with choosing books or do you choose them and surprise them with the books. I'm guilty of the latter!

This makes a difference over which cover to choose as well. From my Facebook feed the parents choose different covers to their children!

What do you think?

I would choose B too! Don't like C, as it looks too "busy".

I don't have a 5 year old to test it on, but when DD was that age I would've chosen the book and surprised her with it.

I like c best. The title is clearer and the little full pic of the alien is cute. I can see you have mimicked the Star Wars Style on a and d but I think that would be lost on children and I found it difficult to read. a and d seem a bit cluttered with the overlapping images. It's definitely c for me but I'll ask my kids in the morning what they think.

B for me!
To answer your question about choosing books we do a bit of both. Some I get because I think DS will like them and others I let him choose

B or C. I don't like the star wars writing as its not as clear.

Is the series called Space Puzzles and the title of this specific book the rest? You need to separate the two out if that's the case, which would make B and C work better.

Are you self-publishing?

C too, for the same reasons as new5poundnote
I also don't like the Star Wars writing.

Thanks Leeds2, strawberrypenguin, BigOldClownFeet and BikeRunSki.

I really appreciate you asking your kids new5poundnote.

I will be self-publishing through Myrddin Publishing which is a collection of authors who have banded together to help each other out after we broke away from a small publisher. :)

Unfortunately it does mean the book will be slightly more pricey than I would like (around £6.99 for a 32 page book) because I will be going through Createspace and the book is colour throughout.

I usually do tech guides but I sort of made it for my son who loves the character Minkie.

It is a bit of a strange one for the title. Space Puzzles is the title but Minkie and the Birthday Surprise is the subtitle. This is because it is primarily a puzzle book and the story is secondary. I want people to know what the book is so they won't be surprised when they get it.

I like B but I think that the Space puzzle wording needs to be bigger/ more prominent

It's a nice, clean, cheery design.

I like b best- but would tweak if pos to make the title bolder.

Good luck!

How about this?

I like the way 'space puzzles' is different now as it is clearer it is not a part of the rest of the title but I like the rest of C better. The images are better on C. And I like the little monster sitting on your name.

I like c straightaway. It just looks clearer. Good luck!

i just wanted to say thank you everyone for all your help. I really appreciate it. I've listened to everyone's feedback and decided to go for B but altered slightly. My three year old obsessed about the planet so I had to put that one in again. The other thing a lot of people said (on here and on Facebook) was that they liked the bigger Space Puzzles and the title needed to be less on poor Minkie's face.

Thank you, I like to think the cover is better by magnitudes from asking for your help! My 3 year old said "I like that one best." Awesome!

Just asked DD who is 6. She liked the bigger alien on b but the writing on c. I showed her your latest design and she said "YES!"

New5poundnote that's awesome. Thank you for asking. 👍