I do love me some fore-edge painting, so naturally I was delighted to see this from Publisher’s Weekly:
The story reads in part
Sprayed edges—better-known as the province of deluxe YA and adult fantasy editions and BookTok collector culture—are making a colorful splash in middle grade. Publishers are giving mysteries, fantasies, and ghost stories patterned page edges and other premium design treatments in an effort to make books feel like objects worth coveting at a moment when the category continues to search for new readers.
“Middle graders are looking for different ways to engage with the story,” said Lindsay Currie, author of The Secret Bookstore Sleuth Society (Sourcebooks, Sept.), a series starter about four best friends who are trapped in a book-themed inn and who must use their special skills to figure out who killed one of the regular customers. In Sleuth Society, the sprayed edges aren’t simply decorative. Yellow motifs embedded in the bookshelf pattern reference objects tied to individual characters, extending the mystery beyond the text. The novel also includes a character gallery to help readers keep track of suspects and sleuths.
“I think readers are going to be very excited,” Currie said. She noted that the team aimed to create “a book to carry around and show off—anything to get middle graders hyped to read.”
I don’t know about middle graders but this, ahem, mature reader is absolutely delighted. Enough that I went looking for closeups:
I especially like that last one. Quoth the raven…
Get ’em young, publishers!