Regular readers of Fantasy-Faction will be fully aware that Bloomsbury plan to re-release new editions of Harry Potter later this year. Essentially, the publisher are putting together what they call ‘Children’s Editions’ of the books that are editions that adults and older siblings can give to a new generation of readers.
The slogan for this project is ‘it’s time to pass the magic on’, which we actually quite like. Getting the next generation hooked on reading with some amazing books (fantasy especially!) is always a good thing in our eyes. For those wondering what ‘children’s edition’ actually means, Bloomsbury says that “the editions will be reset to create a child-friendly reading experience for a new generation of readers.” From what we’ve heard this means bigger fonts, a couple of extra illustrations and even some bonus Pottermore content (perhaps profiles, bonus facts, etc).
Anyway, those who have adult copies of the books and are quite happy with them have mainly been interested in the covers – which we can reveal all 7 of today!
If we’ve had one complaint about these covers then it is that a few of them contain pretty big spoilers. At first we thought, ‘well, who hasn’t at least seen the movies’, but I guess when you think about it putting spoilers on the cover (such as the basilisk or patronus casting) kind of contradicts the slogan of ‘passing the magic on’, which suggests a ‘new experience’ for the person you are passing the magic to, right?
Regardless, the covers are all beautiful and perfect for children. They are action packed, they are full of colour and they have a friendliness about them which we are sure will appeal to younger readers and their parents. They have been designed by Jonny Duddle who is best known for his award-winning picture books, including The Pirate Cruncher and The Pirates Next Door (winner of the Waterstones Children’s Prize and shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize). Fantasy readers may also recognise his style as he has appeared in a number of Terry Pratchett novels in recent years too.
All seven new editions will be published on 1st September 2014. What do you guys think?
Jennie Ivins
The only thing I’m not overly fond of is the font used, but then it is probably more suitable for the target demographic… other than that, the art is gorgeous, and it’s not like the originals were devoid of spoilers – Prisoner of Azkaban most notably, and to a lesser extent Half Blood Prince.
I don’t like them at all. they don’t feel like they belong to the books. to me they say that harry is this super powerful Dumbledore like wizard from the start. you don’t get the feel of his maturing on his journey on them. and then the art style just looks too childish for even the children’s editions, they look like something meant for 5 year olds not not the age group that harry potter is appropriate for. when i was a smaller child ( i’m a teenager) I didn’t like being thought as as a little child who can’t handle anything, and that’s exactly what these feel like, I don’t think they even asked for an opinion from actual children when making these. I also don’t like that harry looks older in the first ones than in the last.
No, no, no! They lack class. Way too American. What is Bloomsbury playing at.
They look more like posters to advertise the movies, than they do book covers; which seems like a bit of a waste.
I actually like these quite a bit. I find them fun and fanciful. And as far as spoilers are concerned, I don’t think these are “big” ones; that is, readers aren’t necessarily going to know what the front cover is spoiling until they’re reading that particular scene in the book.