Well, I'll admit, this is stumping me

[conuly]

You'd think a middle grade portal fantasy with multiple color illustrations - but not a graphic novel! - would be easy to find.

Comments

[grav_ity]

Margaret Owen has illustrations in her YA fantasy Little Thieves. I had a backseat to the design process, and it was COSTLY, which is why even black and white is a stretch. GNs are printed on different paper, so they get colour more easily, but there's almost nothing in the middle. Like, all that comes to mind are the High Republic MG novels, which are definitely not portal fantasy either.

[conuly]

Indeed, aren't full color illustrations in regular novels printed on that more high quality paper as in graphic novels? You can feel the difference even just thumbing through them, and the books will often open directly on those pages even the first time you read them.

[grav_ity]

More or less, yes. Paper is a really complicated issue in publishing right now, as we have been in a shortage for a few years, and it's a mess.

[conuly]

Is this another pandemic shortage, or is it wholly unrelated?

[grav_ity]

Kind of! Paper comes from trees and so do houses, and we are in a housing crisis, so