The Bluest Eye, published in 1970, is the first novel written by Toni Morrison, winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature. It tells the story of eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove, a black girl who is mocked for her dark skin, curly hair and brown eyes. Inspired by her love of Shirley Temple, she believes whiteness is the key to beauty and prays for blonde hair and blue eyes to fit in. After suffering a terrible loss, her life takes a downward spiral as she tries to achieve her dream, losing her grip on reality at every step.
The goal in redesigning the cover was to communicate the main plot of the novel through the use of type and color. Pecola spends a majority of the story trying to fulfill an impossible desire. Her feelings are so strong that towards the end, she has driven herself insane and believes that her eyes have indeed changed colors when she looks at her reflection in the mirror.
