School Books Week: To Kill a Mockingbird

Title: To Kill a Mockingbird
Author:  Harper Lee
Artist: Unknown (Publisher: J.B. Lippincott & Co.)

The Text Inside
And the books just keep getting better and better. To Kill a Mockingbird was one of my favorite required reading books, behind only The Westing Game and possibly The Illustrated Man. The writing was wonderful and the plot was extremely well put together.


Goodreads Book Review: 

"Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."

A lawyer's advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee's classic novel—a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. Through the young eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with rich humor and unswerving honesty the irrationality of adult attitudes toward race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s. The conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence, and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina and quiet heroism of one man's struggle for justice—but the weight of history will only tolerate so much.

The Actual Cover Picture:

The cover does not give you any idea of the plot, characters, or the setting. However, it does use a very important element from the story - the tree with the knot hole. The things put into this tree bring about the ending, which happens underneath the tree itself. It a sort of symbol of friendship. As for stating the mood of the book, the dark blacks and reds do a good job of showing that despite the child narrator, this is not a book for children.

It also does a good job of catching the viewer's eye, with the light green against a dark background. But, like I said before, it does not give any indication of what the story is about. The eye-catching cover, however, might entice you to try to find out.

Edition Differences

The first cover below is a 1962 edition (the book was published in 1960).

The second cover is a 2002 edition.

The first cover is the one I had when I read this book for school. It focuses on the same subject as the original - the tree - but uses more specific details to tie in even more closely with the book. The pocket watch and the string in the knothole are easily recognizable to those who've read the book, and the bird flying away is clearly meant to be a mocking bird. This cover also demonstrates something interesting about famous books as they go on - they are less of "books" and more "famous". Half the cover is taken up by reminding us that the book is famous, and even when searching for a goodreads book review for the section above I had to go through several editions that did not simply talk about the critical acclaim this book has gotten. 

The second cover is clearly meant to be the main character, Scout. Unlike the original cover, it does an excellent job of relating setting, character, and mood all at once. The setting, as evidenced by the washed-out colors, flannel shirt, and bowl hair cut, points towards the South a few decades ago. The main character is quickly identified as a little girl, and her serious face shows that this is not a whimsical story.

Of all three covers - original and the two most common - I lean towards the original, for its eye-catching simplicity. The third is very bland and dull, and the second does not let the book stand on its own, instead propping it up with titles and awards.

Original Cover Rating

Creativity: 4

Information: 3

Aesthetics: 5

OVERALL RATING: 4 out of 5

School Books Week: Lord of the Flies

Title: Lord of the Flies
Author: William Golding
Artist: Faber & Faber


The Text Inside
From my least favorite 8th grade book to the one I liked the best. I've always liked the "survive on a deserted island" genre of books. In fact, I enjoyed it so much I barely noticed the heavy allegory, and what I did notice seemed well done.


Goodreads Book Review: 
At first, the stranded boys cooperate, attempting to gather food, make shelters, and maintain signal fires. Overseeing their efforts are Ralph, "the boy with fair hair," and Piggy, Ralph's chubby, wisdom-dispensing sidekick whose thick spectacles come in handy for lighting fires. Although Ralph tries to impose order and delegate responsibility, there are many in their number who would rather swim, play, or hunt the island's wild pig population. Soon Ralph's rules are being ignored or challenged outright. 


His fiercest antagonist is Jack, the redheaded leader of the pig hunters, who manages to lure away many of the boys to join his band of painted savages. The situation deteriorates as the trappings of civilization continue to fall away, until Ralph discovers that instead of being hunters, he and Piggy have become the hunted: "He forgot his words, his hunger and thirst, and became fear; hopeless fear on flying feet." Golding's gripping novel explores the boundary between human reason and animal instinct, all on the brutal playing field of adolescent competition.


The Actual Cover Picture:
The cover at the beginning, as with all the future posts, is the original edition, published in 1954 in England. It does a fairly good job of explaining with a glance the general idea of the book. The palm trees and fronds indicate that the book takes place in a tropical area, in the wilderness. The small boys which seem to blend into the background are easy to overlook at first, demonstrating that they are lost. It gives you the general idea of the setting and characters.


However, there is nothing particularly eye-catching about this image. The title, dark red on a yellow background, certainly stands out, but the rest of the image is difficult to see. This could be a good thing, as indicated above because of the connection to being lost, but it could also be difficult for people to look at and understand. Additionally, it does nothing to convey the tone of the story - this seems like a young boy's adventure story, when it is in reality much darker than that. 


Edition Differences
The image below is only one of several covers used on later releases in the US.
















I personally prefer this cover to the first. The fronds and twisted plants still give the impression of the jungle wilderness, and the boy on the cover has a youthful face with a piercing stare. This indicates both the setting (a deserted island) and the characters (innocent on the outside, soon haunted on the inside). It also gives a much darker impression than the original cover. 


Original Cover Rating:
Creativity: 4
Information: 4
Aesthetics: 3


OVERALL: 4 out of 5

School Books Week: The Giver

Title: The Giver
Author: Lois Lowry
Artist: Cliff Nielsen


The Text Inside
Let me just preface this by saying: I hated this book. But this isn't a book review blog (although it very nearly was), and I'm judging Cliff Nielsen's work here, not Lois Lowry's (which is good, because I've disliked all two Lois Lowry books I've read.)


Goodreads Summary:
Jonas's world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear or pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the Community. When Jonas turns twelve, he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver. The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life. Now, it is time for Jonas to receive the truth. There is no turning back.


The Actual Cover Picture
The man on the cover is the titular character - "The Giver", a wise man who is the only one in the dystopian society who holds the full truth.  To put into perspective the knowledge gap between him and the rest of his society, he is the only character, other than Jonas ("The Receiver"), who sees in color. The cover illustrates this by giving him features that we often associate with the wisdom that comes with old age - a scraggly beard, a wrinkled forehead, bags under the eyes. He has a troubled look, to show the burden of carrying around these societies.


The trees in the corner, where the book cover appears to be torn away, are symbolic of the ending of the book, when Jonas's perfect picture of his society is similarly "torn away". He escapes through the trees and enters the number one spot in my least favorite book endings of all of the books to ever be books. 

Edition Differences

Most other editions of this book cover are similar enough that it's almost silly to call them separate editions. The title design is the main change between book covers. There are a few covers that have entirely different designs, but they aren't nearly as popular.


Original Cover Rating
Creativity: 3
Information: 3
Aesthetics: 3


OVERALL: 3 out of 5

Intro

Everybody says not to judge a book by its cover. If that's true, why then does so much effort go into making them? Why update the cover with a new edition of a book if the text within remains largely unchanged? Why do the covers of books from 1911 look so vastly different from the covers in 2011?

The truth is, the cover of a book tells a lot more about it than most people think it does. First and foremost it tells us the title (the importance of which would take up a whole new blog). It may also tell us the genre and style - an extravagant cover, peppered with intricately drawn dragons and swords and depth, might indicate epic fantasy. A more minimalistic cover, such as part of a person's face or some simple line drawings, might point to a more down-to-earth, realistic type book.

These are only examples, not guidelines. There are hundreds of millions of books in the world and several covers for almost all of them. No two will be exactly alike, even in books that are extraordinarily similar in theme and plot. That's what this blog is about - looking at book covers of dozens of different books and noting what makes them different, what makes them similar, and ultimately, what makes them good.


Each week there will be a new theme. Sometimes there will be three books. Sometimes five. Sometimes seven. It just depends on how many books fit that theme. The theme will change week to week, but the structure of the posts will not.

So hold onto your hats, idioms. We're going to judge books by their cover.