The new Penguin cover for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Status
Not open for further replies.

cornflake

practical experience, FTW
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 11, 2012
Messages
16,171
Reaction score
3,734
:Wha:

Oh. My. God.

What the ...
 

Mclesh

It's too hot
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 18, 2010
Messages
4,526
Reaction score
1,804
Location
Southern California
Website
www.storyrhyme.com
We've discussed this in our house quite a bit. I despise it, myself. It turns the whimsical, sometimes dark, children's classic into horror--at least that's what I read when I see that cover.

Stock footage, too.

If Penguin wanted to spur conversation, they certainly did. Blech.
 

Mclesh

It's too hot
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 18, 2010
Messages
4,526
Reaction score
1,804
Location
Southern California
Website
www.storyrhyme.com
Doubt they will sell many copies though.

Yeah, I don't think they will, unless someone wants to purchase it as a special edition. My instant reaction: Creepy! The vacant doll expression on the little girl's face bothered me in a visceral way. (CATCF is one of my favorite books, so I had a strong reaction.)
 

Jperez6

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 2, 2014
Messages
88
Reaction score
3
Location
Maryland, My Maryland
I legitimately thought this was a spoof until Penguin decided to defend themselves. Light and dark themes of the work? It's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, for Pete's sake!
 

Sage

Currently titleless
Staff member
Moderator
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 15, 2005
Messages
64,562
Reaction score
22,369
Age
43
Location
Cheering you all on!
There are light and dark themes in the work, but I mean, make a cover that relates to them
 

Polenth

Mushroom
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 27, 2007
Messages
5,017
Reaction score
735
Location
England
Website
www.polenthblake.com
Charlie certainly looks different than I imagined him!

It does look rather, "Hey, this a children's book... let's stick a random child on the cover. This one looks creepy." I know publishers don't always spend time getting covers that represent the book, but for the big anniversary, it's not unrealistic to think they'd commission something that matches the story. Like maybe a picture of Charlie.
 

Sage

Currently titleless
Staff member
Moderator
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 15, 2005
Messages
64,562
Reaction score
22,369
Age
43
Location
Cheering you all on!
I couldn't figure out which character the girl on the cover was supposed to be. She reminded me a bit of JonBenet Ramsay.

I assumed Veruca Salt, but the article says she's not any of the children
 

Toothpaste

THE RECKLESS RESCUE is out now!
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 18, 2006
Messages
8,745
Reaction score
3,096
Location
Toronto, Canada
Website
www.adriennekress.com
Bugs the crap out of me. I actually LOVE adult covers for kids books, I love how often they will mine the darker parts of kids stories for a very cool new kind of cover. It's something I find fun and fascinating. But dude! Make the cover relevant to the darn book please and thank you! This cover has NOTHING to do with the story, they've even admitted it does not represent any of the kids. There is no creativity behind this cover. Just a bunch of folks going, "Ooh isn't this creepy, and a little Lolita taboo and kind of Stepford Wife and look at this neat font we're using with it!". Hate lazy work. Hate it.
 

Alessandra Kelley

Sophipygian
Staff member
Moderator
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 27, 2011
Messages
16,881
Reaction score
5,197
Location
Near the gargoyles
Website
www.alessandrakelley.com
A very little girl in heavy makeup and glamorous clothes?

This has to do with Roald Dahl's dark satirical masterpiece of a maniacal candymaker and an extremely impoverished boy and his grandfather how, exactly?
 

K. Q. Watson

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 6, 2009
Messages
718
Reaction score
60
Website
twitter.com
Her soulless eyes...the mannequin for her mother...
Combined with the title I'm pretty sure this is a book about under-age anal rape.

That or Lolita's cover now bares a golden ticket and an Oompa Loompa.
 

Hanson

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 8, 2013
Messages
651
Reaction score
37
Location
is fraught with frosting
Doubt they will sell many copies though.
None over here, but this is the very copy an investor will buy.

anyway, I assume it's the spoiled rich girl in the book, but she was one of five children so...

The image doesn't really capture the light/dark of the book accurately.

It might work for Great Expectations though....
 
Last edited:

mirandashell

Banned
Joined
Feb 7, 2010
Messages
16,197
Reaction score
1,889
Location
England
No, it really wouldn't. The last thing Estella was is brainless. Heartless yes. Brainless absolutely not.
 

Alessandra Kelley

Sophipygian
Staff member
Moderator
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 27, 2011
Messages
16,881
Reaction score
5,197
Location
Near the gargoyles
Website
www.alessandrakelley.com
So wait. It's a recycled image, from a fashion magazine shoot of six years go called "Mommy Dearest".

Okay, maybe Penguin has a lot of books to bring out in its adult-oriented line. Maybe stock photos are a prudent decision. Plenty of cover designers have turned stock photos into wonderful, appropriate, relevant covers.

But good heavens, out of all the stock photos in all the world, why is this is the one that sang to the cover designers? Did they even read the book?
 

frimble3

Heckuva good sport
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 7, 2006
Messages
11,574
Reaction score
6,396
Location
west coast, canada
If it was a vacant-eyed boy, on his plasticky grandfather's lap, it might be just as creepy, but at least it would be, in some way, related to the book.
If they're going to put a girl, who, they admit, isn't even meant to be one of the characters, front and center on the cover, why not put a partly opened chocolate bar, light glowing from within, on the cover? There's your symbolic light-and-dark, and it relates to the book, and it's not creepy.
Why, Penguin, why?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.