Audience: Teen – Grade 8-12 / Adults
Genre: Crime
Blurb:
‘Shane Alderman, a headstrong high school senior who craves loves after his father disappeared when Shane was thirteen. But Shane doesn’t believe his father just left him—he believes he was kidnapped. So much so that he steals his father’s possessions from his mother, who just wants Shane to move on, and gives them to the police as evidence. This has been Shane’s practice for several years, although the evidence never amounts to anything.
The police aren’t much help, and, frustrated, Shane takes a new approach. When he learns that runners who place at the state cross-country meet will be televised nationally, Shane joins his high school team. His father, a former runner himself, often watched televised meets when Shane was younger.
To Shane, it’s a simple plan: place at state, make it on TV, hope his father—kidnapped or not—is watching and learns Shane’s looking for him.
But running isn’t just about the races—it’s about the journey. While chasing after his father, Shane meets and falls for fellow student Lyla, but as he tries to win her heart the fear of rejection he’s felt in his father’s absence holds him back. Can Shane learn to love himself enough to have the future he wants, or will he simply run away from both his future and his past?’
This book cover was designed to create an iconic, unique and eye-catching piece.
In the contest brief, the Author requested a neutral pallette of gradiented greys / blacks, blues and yellows. By using a black to grey combination, the sinister undertones of this storyline are instantly visible and give a depth of field from top to bottom. The style attributes given were: simple, modern, casual, playful, loud, masculine, grunge and literal / abstract.