Influences of cover design

This post is in reference of a lecture given by Deborah Kaplan, art director of the teen section at Penguin Book publishing company.

Who will read it?

Ms. Kaplan explained the difference between boy cover art v. girl cover art. There is a weird phenomenon that girls can read boy books, but most boys are not willing to read a girl book. This affects that design of the cover art. Boy book covers are generally neutral, inviting everyone to read them. Girl book covers are most definitely for girls, which alienates the male audience. That's OK because girls are more likely to read.

A great example of this is with the second book in the Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor called Seeing Redd. Originally the illustrator had drawn Redd as feminine. But this book is aimed to teen boys, so the cover art was switched to a darker and less feminine cover.

Ms. Kaplan explained that J.K. Rowling used her initials instead of her name, because she did not want to alienate her male audience.

The New Look

There have been a few new changes to cover art for teen literature. The design has changed to photography. A lot of girl covers nowadays are designed with cropped body parts as the cover. You will only see the feet, or hands, head or eyes. The whole form is not shown.

Here are some examples:

Also Kaplan related that the reason some book covers now had metal elements, embossing or special designs is because it draws people to these novels. People, like birds, like shiny things.

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Book Banning

Why are some books banned? Here is a chart for the reasons why:

Here is a funny movie clip produced by the American Library Association:

I was reading a website that was dedicated to Harry Potter books. In a comment board, one person put that people who read these books were of the devil because they were openly suggesting people should practice witchcraft. The next comment asked if the person had actually read the books. I think that brings up a good point. Why are people restricting books when they do not know what the book is about?

Catcher in the Rye is a great book about human nature. But when we stop others from making the choice to read it, we are denying them their right to the book.

We should not make book choices for other people, but we should let everyone discover their own level of tolerance.

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When do mature topics turn obscene?

It has become very apparent that literature, especially for teens, has shifted to illustrating more adult content. Issues that were always hidden like suicide and homosexuality are now being written about more frequently.

But when does the literature change from describing a characters point of view and journey in life to something obscene?

In some ways, I believe literature changes to something obscene when characters are not used as teaching tools, but as stereotype. When the character is only 2 dimensional, there is nothing to be learned. Characters are supposed to show us about human nature. We are supposed to be reading about a person, not just a cheerleader who is loose with her morals. We need to know why are the characters doing the things they are.


I think the question we have to ask is if we were to take out that scene or image, would we lose the purpose of the book? Some novels go beyond to explain things that are not relevant to the character or story. Does the integrity of the book lie in something that a difficult subject or are those areas placed in the book for entertainment?

Everyone has their own level of tolerance. We need to examine the worth of literature for ourselves and then make a decision. I was recently reading a book that address some really harsh and jarring topics. I know that while I might have found this novel difficult morally, it would not have affected a friend of mine as harshly. While beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and so is offense. We should let others choose their own level.

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