My librarian mentor, in the all-boys school where I started out, used to lament the fact that boys would not check out
The Secret Garden. "If only they would put a picture of a bloody hand on the cover..." The problem still remains. Let's face it: kids are influenced in their reading choices by the cover design. One of my favorite childrens' lit blogs,
Scope Notes, has been publishing a series on
Unfortunate Covers. Another blog,
Jacket Whys, is devoted entirely to book jackets. I'm wishing that the publishers would catch on and package an easy-to-read, scary-but-not-too-scary book with in a cover that could compete with any Goosebumps title, rather than one with wide-eyed little kids running away from cute little ghosts and goblins.
Which book looks scarier?
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