Children and Adults

[alexx]

Personally I've seen more adults with the children's edition than the adult's..so it was a bit of a waste of money to make them as far as I'm concerned.

[Grimward]

Sorry to resurrect an old one here....

It would be interesting to learn whether the different covers made any actual difference in the rate customers grabbed them off the shelves....especially in the case of the older books from the series, like the Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone book on the previous page. The "mature" cover (Bloomsbury's, apparently) had to have been published after that first book had already reached "saturation" levels, no?

[The Ace]

I'm not sure, I know they were released simultaneously in the UK, you got to choose which cover you wanted when you ordered it.

[Grimward]

Wow....I'm not sure I ever physically saw the "mature" covers over here. Could have been oblivious, of course, but if they are over here, they either aren't in the YA section where Potter usually resides (which, reasonably, might make sense if the cover was angling for an "older" audience) or they disguise themselves as Piers Anthony offerings....

[kythe]

I haven't seen either of those covers at all, but the American editions have always looked different anyway. I rather like the youthful appearance. All of mine have illustrations of Harry Potter and various characters from the books. I think the movies have done a lot to try to retain that "feel" of a magical community in the real world.

I just don't relate to a HP book with a picture of a gem on it. It looks more like a romance novel or something. I also think the HP books are so immensely popular even among adults that there should be no embarrassment for people of any age reading them.

[Grimward]

I have to agree, kythe. Whether it's long association (it has been what, 12 years since the first was published?) of her art to the stories or the fact that her art hearkens back to similar illustrations I grew up with in stories I read as a child, a Potter story without Mary GrandPré art would not be the same, methinks....

[The Procrastinator]

I never saw the point of the "grown-up" covers. "Grown-up" seems to equate with Boring. Much prefer the "kiddies" covers and am not the slightest bit embarrassed to be seen reading them in public. Marketing gimmicks, we do not appreciate you.