Harry Potter Month is hosted by Faith at Geeky Zoo Girl and Micheline at Lunar Rainbows Reviews. This fun event runs throughout the month of July. Find out more about it here.
I have never paid much attention to the Harry Potter covers, by the time I got into the series they were so familiar that I never looked closer. Recently I've been finding a lot of things in the art that I had never noticed before and I'll never be taking these covers for granted again. Here's a list of all the things I found:
2. Possibly a flying key?
3. DUMBLEDORE!
4. Unicorn that hasn't been killed by Voldemort
5. The Snitch
6. Fluffy
7. Hogwarts
8. Student sneaking out of bed
2. Mrs. Norris
3. a VERY LONG snake
4. Written in the same style as the messages left by Ginny
5. Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom?
6. The Sword of Godric Gryffandor
7. What is with the cloak? Is that from the story or is it just supposed to go with the red theme?
8. Basilisk
9. Lockhart's shadow?
2. Harry's Patronu
3. Womping Willow
4. Forbidden Forest
5. Moony
6. Crookshanks?
7. Lots of Dementors
8. Sirius
9. Wormtale
*This is one of my favorite covers. Hogwarts at night is beautiful and I love that all of the Marauders are on this cover one way or another (if you count the stag as a version of Prongs)
It turns out the covers are as amazing as the stories are, filled with many small details that create the magic. And I also notice something new each time I look at them, just like when I read the books.
How about you, did you notice anything new? What do you think of the more questionable objects? Did you see anything else hidden in the art?
-Christina
Love this post- there are A LOT of things I've missed on these covers! I can't believe I missed the stag on the PoA cover, especially since that's my favorite book in the series, lol. I definitely need to take a much closer look at the covers of all of my HP books now!
ReplyDeleteThanks! Yeah, I never looked much past the Hippogriff on the front cover. It was one of my favorites before just because of Buckbeak and now there's just so much awesome hidden in the cover.
DeleteI find book covers in general fascinating subjects for study. In fact, sometimes looking at different covers done by skilled artists, I get the feeling that they are much better at telling the story than writers. I'm afraid that I've been more than once deceived by an excellent cover into buying a book that turned out to be an utter disappointment.
ReplyDeleteOf course, it never happened with the Harry Potter books))) I remember that there has always been a lot of grumbling about these particular book covers, done by Mary GrandPre, I think, but once you start actually looking at them and exploring them, you realise just how magical they are, you uncover lots of new clues and layers that they hold within and that you've never seen before. They are lovely.
Cover art can be pretty amazing. I agree that sometimes a book can be disappointing when the cover is so beautiful. I've never been much of an art person, but I've started to notice the depth in some cover art which manage to add to the world that is contained in the book.
DeleteI've never been the biggest fan of these HP covers, but I wouldn't want any other either. For me these covers are HP. They are the ones I've always known, the ones I've always read. And now that I've started to look closer at them I love them even more than before.
I absolutely LOVE this post. I got into the series in my early 20's and I thought I was too grown up for these covers so I got the adult UK covers instead. Now I have to say that these^^ are my favorites and my wish is to own the series with these covers ♥ There is A LOT of detail that I overlooked too and looking at them here just made me desire them MORE. The artwork is stunning and the detail you pointed out here just made them better!! GREAT post and I'm really happy to have you join in HP Month :D
ReplyDeleteThanks! The covers are pretty amazing. I always thought they were kind of childish, but I didn't have the option of getting different covers and I was fairly young when I started the series anyway. Now the covers are just a part of the series for me, I wouldn't change them. And taking a closer look makes me love them more. Glad you enjoyed the post!
DeleteOh Yay! There are some things here that I haven't noticed before. I was too busy tearing in to the book to give it the attention that it really deserved. How awesome that all the Marauders are on there! I saw one or two but didn't notice they were all there. I love that there are so many little hidden goodies that tell a little bit about the story.
ReplyDeleteI love the book jackets for this very reason. There is so much going on in each cover, I love discovering something new every time I pick one of the books up. It's awesome that you compiled a list of everything you noticed on each cover. It's great thinking about the first time I looked at the cover art before reading. I had no clue that there were so many hints about what I was about to read. The Prisoner of Azkaban cover is one of my favorites, and I love that you pointed out the Marauders are all on there in some form. It's a beautiful tribute.
ReplyDeleteAh, this is amazing! I love that you put the numbers on the covers to match the things you were pointing out, otherwise I definitely would have missed some bits. These aren't the same covers I had, but now I'm wondering just what I might have overlooked on my covers too. I had a total mixture of covers, some paperbacks, some hardbacks, some with the children's covers and some with the adult's, and like you I never really paid much attention to them either. I recently treated myself to a matching set of the newish Bloomsbury kids paperbacks, and I'm embarassed to admit I've barely looked at those either! My other half always pays loads of attention to the cover art, and by half way through whatever book he's reading he wants to know who everyone is, where they are and what everything is representing, but I've never really thought about it. I'm definitely feeling a bit sheepish now, and I'm determined to pay more attention in future!
ReplyDeleteAck! I felt like I'd been gut-punched when you pointed out that all the Marauders are on the PoA cover, because of course Harry's Patronus counts as Prongs!
ReplyDeleteI like how Wormtail casts a huge shadow; it's rather *achem* foreshadowing. But I'm also noticing that each of the Marauders popped up at the same location of their memorable moments. Prongs by the lake; Moony at the Whomping Willow; Sirius locked up behind the window. Okay, I guess Wormtail is the exception on that one.
This was such a fun post! I wouldn't have noticed have of this stuff otherwise! I wonder if Cursed Child will have the same qualities on its cover?