Choosing a favourite cover was really hard – design has really come on in the last few years and there are some very eye-catching book jackets around. To make my shortlist though, I wanted to pick a book that had went beyond just fabulous graphic design. Chris Riddell’s illustrations are wonderful (he’s a great writer too – for confident younger readers his Ottoline and Goth Girl series are brilliant and The Son loved the Fergus Crane series) and the work he’s done with Neil Gaiman has produced some award-winning books. The Graveyard Book was one of the first he illustrated (shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal while the narrative by Gaiman won the companion Carnegie Medal) but I prefer this edition of Coraline by a whisker.
