BookCoverDle

About BookCoverDle

BookCoverDle is a daily guessing game for people who know their picture books and middle-grade reads. Each day one book is chosen as the puzzle, and its cover appears with a black box over most of it, leaving only a thin border of the artwork and a pixelated strip where the title would be.

You type into a searchable list of titles and pick your guess. A wrong answer shrinks the black box and reveals more of the illustration, until the sixth guess shows the whole cover.

The books run from picture books for babies to chapter books for middle schoolers. Many have won awards such as the Caldecott or Newbery Medal, and others are simply popular. The site keeps a permanent link to each puzzle and lets you explore previous days, and it takes suggestions for books to add by email.

It suits parents, teachers, librarians and anyone who grew up on illustrated books, and it plays well with a child beside you.

How to play BookCoverDle

1. Look at the visible edges of today's cover: colours, art style and any shapes that show.
2. Search the dropdown for a book title and press Guess.
3. Each wrong guess reveals more of the cover; use the new detail for your next guess.
4. Name the book within six guesses, then copy the permanent link or explore earlier puzzles.

Tips

• The art style at the border often gives away the illustrator before the picture does.
• Think of award winners first: many of the books are Caldecott or Newbery titles.
• The pixelated band at the top is where the title sits, so its length and colour can narrow things down.

Questions