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Reader's Paradise

Book Covers - selling a classic to the younger crowd

17 years ago

Found this article this morning and thought it to be interesting, especially in the light of the recent to-do of the book that Bloomsbury printed which had a short-haired black girl protagonist and the publishers put a long-haired white girl protagonist on the cover. That got swiftly changed, I might add.

What do you think about book covers especially in this situation? Should it link in with the Twilight books or maintain its distance? Is this a good thing?

Here is a link that might be useful: Guardian article on book covers

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Comments (5)

balrog1954
17 years ago
I think it's a good thing. Tells young and impressionable readers that they can't trust the book cover to tell them about the content.

Oh, you mean about WH? It's survived 162+ years with worse covers than that; I'm sure it will be read long after Stephanie Meyer has been consigned to the dustbin of history.
hazel_dove
17 years ago
Honestly, I'm not sure it should matter to anyone other than the author. The author might have serious issues with the book cover not coinciding with the content of the book, but there is a difference between books just being published and those that have been beloved as classics for over a hundred years.
If the new cover art or the reference to the novel in the Twilight series inspires younger readers to look at classics and read them, I dont' see a problem with that. I have done that myself with other books and always appreciated it afterwards.
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annpan
17 years ago
I gave up on the honesty of book covers many years ago. I bought a book (a rare event for me) which had a cartoon-style cover. It looked amusing and reflected the title, something like 'Grandma's Revolt'.
The actual story was a non-fiction self-pitying moan from a grandmother who decided she had had enough of looking after her grandchild and took up the whole book to justify herself. Yuk!
I'll bet that you all have had a similar story to relate of a cover that you could not tell a book by!
woodnymph2_gw
17 years ago
I've compared and contrasted the original and modern Anne of Green Gables bookcovers and found the newer ones really wanting in grace and appeal. I also dislike the more "modern" Nancy Drew mystery book covers.

I've noticed recently a trend to use the photo of actors for a book cover, if the novel has been made into a popular film.
annpan
17 years ago
Lemonhead, back to your question. I suppose that mentioning that a fictional character likes a particular author or book is not a bad thing. I have come across this type of recommendation in the mystery books that I devour. A character is depicted reading a favourite author or book and this is a pointer to me quite often of someone I have not come across.
I wonder how young people relate to WH? I tried to read it and gave it away after a couple of pages. Just could not get into it at all but my granddaughter loves it. There you go!

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