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?
