Senior Book Jacket: A Senior Narrative Book Jacket by Maxwell Evans (2015)

The story I wrote is based off several classic children's picture books with a slight change. The story follows Joshua the Hedgehog, who has always had a need for speed. While Joshua does not know why he wants to run so much, he does know that he will never achieve that dream as long as he is stuck in a cage. So, when his owner accidentally leave the cage door open one day, Joshua does not hesitate to run away as fast as possible. He eventually makes it outside the house his cage was in, but soon realizes that said house was actually in the center of a minefield. Joshua is then faced with the decision on whether or not to return to his life in the cage or to face this minefield head-on so that he may finally be fast. After a few taunts from his neighbor, Billy the Rat, and some random bird he finds him the minefield, Joshua chooses the latter and sprint through the minefield at full speed. He finally reaches the end with nary a scratch, but he is sadly struck by a car, which propels him in the air back towards the minefield, hits a mine which then propels him even further, and ends up getting catapulted back into his cage. So basically, a classic children's picture book story.

The scene I used for the book jacket is the few seconds where Joshua realizes the cage is open and books it at full speed. The reason I chose this scene is because I feel like it gets the entire plot through to the reader at nothing more than a first glance. A hedgehog with such a look of determination, running in the opposite direction of a cage, leaving a trail of dust behind him - what else could it possibly mean? I also feel that the best children's books have simple covers, so I didn't want to cover the book in clip art or cartoonish drawings. I went with a construction paper theme for the art, simply because I felt it was an appropriate art style for a children's picture book. Overall, I wanted the book jacket to pull the customers in and make them actually buy the book for their children. I felt that a simplified look would draw the eyes towards the main focus, that being the hedgehog and the cage, which would then in turn create a sense of confusion and wonder, prompting them to buy the book.