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
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