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Cover Reveal

Cover Reveal for The Colliding Worlds of Mina Lee by Ellen Oh

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The Colliding Worlds of Mina Lee cover reveal header

Today we’re thrilled to reveal the cover for The Colliding Worlds of Mina Lee by Ellen Oh! The cover was illustrated by Audrey Mok. This young adult novel will be released on January 23, 2024 by Crown Books for Young Readers. Preorder it here, here, or here. Keep scrolling for an exclusive letter from the author!

Mina has become the hero of her own story. Literally.

When Mina Lee woke up on Saturday morning for SAT prep, she did NOT expect to:

  1. Nearly be fried by a superhero who turned out to be a supervillain.
  2. Come face to face with Jin, the handsome boy of her dreams.
  3. Discover a conspiracy involving the evil corporation Merco that she created.

And it’s all happening in her fictional world. Mina is trapped in the story she created. Now it’s up to her to save everyone. Even if it means losing Jin forever.

From the award-winning author of Finding Junie Kim and co-founder of We Need Diverse Books, Ellen Oh. In the speculative fiction adventure Colliding Worlds, a teenage artist grapples with her first love, grief, and learning how to take charge of her own life.

Cover art for The Colliding Worlds of Mina Lee. A Korean American girl with dark hair dyed light purple at the ends stands to the left inside a comic book-like panel. She is wearing a camouflage-patterned jacket, white tee, and black pants with the strap of a bag slung across her chest. In her hand is a tablet, the screen of which displays the page of a comic. To her right is another comic panel with a school flanked by bushes and trees in the background. In the foreground is a dark-haired Asian boy with short hair wearing a dark grey tee, dark grey jeans, a black jacket, and black sneakers with white laces and trim. He is walking with his hands in his pockets and he has his gaze on the girl to the left.

A word from the author:

Dear Reader,

In October 1985, MTV premiered a music video by A-ha that became a defining moment in my life. The comic book animation style in “Take on Me” had never been seen before, and it became an immediate smash hit. This video blew my mind! Here was a four-minute movie that told a love story that crossed dimensions. Almost forty years later, “Take on Me” still captivates me, especially its cartoon world. I keep wondering who created it. What was the backstory of the main characters? There had to be so much more than what we were seeing in the video.

Over the years, the story would come and go in my imagination until one day it came to life, complete with a soundtrack! The acoustic version of “Take on Me” was released in 2017, and the slow melodic remake brought the story into focus.

Colliding Worlds is my reimagination of that brilliant music video. I had a lot of fun playing around with many of my favorite and not-so-favorite tropes. Who thought quantum physics could be fascinating? But ultimately, this is a love story about two best friends. Of love lost and found and then . . . well, you can read it yourself. I hope you will root for Mina and Jin and for that perfect “Take on Me” ending.

Ellen Oh

******

Headshot for Ellen Oh
Credit: Susie James Photography

ELLEN OH is a founding member of We Need Diverse Books and an award-winning author of numerous middle-grade novels and the YA Prophecy trilogy. She has edited and contributed to You Are Here: Connecting Flights; Flying Lessons and Other Stories; and A Thousand Beginnings and Endings. Ellen is a former lawyer who loves K-pop, K-dramas, and cooking shows, but her favorite thing to do is to try new places to eat good food. A Gen Xer who grew up with MTV, Ellen credits A-ha’s iconic Take On Me video as the inspiration for Colliding Worlds. Originally from New York City, Ellen lives in Rockville, Maryland, with her husband, three human children, and two dog children, and has yet to satisfy her quest for a decent bagel.