The book publishing business is nothing like journalism.

In the news business, a story is published within days—sometimes even minutes—of the final edit taking place. Almost the instant you hit accept on that final tracked change, your words are out in the world. Books are a bit different, to say the least.

I finished my back-and-forth with Nimbus editor Claire Bennet back in August. We firmed up the wording, switched out a couple of animals, and made sure every comma and colon was where it needed to be. We consulted with the marketing team and came up with a final title for the book.

Then, my work was over. And it was time to wait.

And wait.

And wait.

This is, of course, very expected. My words only made up half the book’s content after all—the illustrations are just as important. But for someone who is used to sharing their work as soon as the words are finished, the wait felt excruciatingly long.

But now, I can finally ask for a drumroll as I reveal the official cover for Canada’s Endangered Animals: Twelve species at risk of disappearing forever.

Isn’t it beautiful?!

This gorgeous cover was done by the very talented Alex MacAskill (Midnight Oil Print and Design House). His work was also featured in Nimbus Publishing’s Canada Wild, which features a number of species found only in Canada.

On the cover, you can find the elusive and extremely endangered northern spotted owl in the top right corner, as well as the little brown bat, the piping plover, the red knot, and the ivory gull. You can also see the Vancouver Island marmot peeping from behind a rock, the Gaspésie caribou running across the front, and the Ord’s kangaroo rat hiding among the bushes. The eastern tiger salamander, the spotted turtle, the Oregon spotted frog, and the five-lined skink are all lazily sunning themselves at the bottom of the page—as they should.

More details on the book will be available in Nimbus Publishing’s Spring 2025 catalogue (which I suspect will be online soon). And rumour has it that preorders for Canada’s Endangered Animals will begin sometime in the new year. I promise I will update as soon as that preorder button becomes available.

Until then, there is more waiting to endure. But at least there is a beautiful book cover to look at in the meantime.