When my editor at Houghton Mifflin first asked me for my ideas on the cover, I was adamant (as in foot stomping, no-no-no) that it couldn’t include a photograph of a girl. Every reader, I felt, needed to develop their own image of D.J.; that, after all, is what makes reading so personal, that you forge your own relationship to these characters. As I recall, all of us separately came up with the idea of a cow in a tiara, which in and of itself is an auspicious sign, and we felt that the image would really jump off the shelf.

Other than several comments that it's “demeaning” (I’m still trying to figure that one out), we’ve gotten lots of compliments on the cover, but Houghton Mifflin felt that the paperback needed to jump even MORE off the shelf. Moreover, it didn’t really seem appropriate to repeat the cow theme on the cover of the sequel, which is a bit weighter, subject-matter-wise, than DQ. Plus by this point I wasn’t as neurotic about protecting D.J.’s image – she’s clearly strong enough to stand up for herself. And it didn’t hurt that I completely fell in love with this cover – I believe my initial response was “I can’t wait to read this book!”, which is illogical but heartfelt – and I loved the sequel cover as well. (Another auspicious sign: two book designers independently came up with these two covers.) I must say that the D.J. in my mind doesn’t have eyebrows nearly that perfect; no one does, probably, but I do love how the photo reflects D.J. and Brian’s relationship. And Brian looks so much like Brian!

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