Conclusion
An interview with Nina Moreno verified the prioritization of Latinx representation on the cover and elements that contributed to this, such as the title of Don't Date Rosa Santos. The examination of Undead Girl Gang’s covers—one with a brown girl on the cover and one without—enabled the assertion of the importance of real people representation for communication with consumers. Three Labyrinth Lost covers were analyzed for their different symbols and how these symbols communicated varying levels of the novel’s contents.
The same techniques can be applied to other traditionally published #OwnVoices young adult novels, especially given the context of the changing landscape of young adult fiction.
Cover art of a novel is important to communicating a novel’s contents to readers, and the evolution of young adult book covers with regard to diversity is representative of a larger change happening in Western popular culture. Both in terms of the performativity of publishers’ actions in order to appeal to consumers, but also the greater consumer desire for legitimate representation within the media and popular culture consumed.The way these stories are marketed can be broken down into more specific racial and ethnic coding, as previously detailed. Whether these techniques in the packaging and presentation of popular culture are used for good purposes or for harmful ones is up to the publishers, but the analysis of this can provide information on the changing landscape of young adult literature.