9 Children's Classics And Their Covers

We are judging these books by their covers.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

In the latest incarnation, Harry’s got a little scruffier, and Hogwarts, Hagrid, Ron and Hermione have made it to the front cover – hooray! One day Ron’s face will be shown. One day.

tumblr.com

Anne of Green Gables

resources0.news.com.au

Ah, Anne. Spirited and red of hair, she appeared in variations of the pinafore dress for years. Years that is, until some bright spark recast her as blonde and some might say, a bit ‘come hither’. The fans were not amused.

fc00.deviantart.net

The Hobbit

Via momentumbooks.com, dorthonion.net, blogspot.com

The story of Bilbo has had many guises, dallied with woodland scenes, flirted with dragons, but it started with mountains, and that’s where it’s come back to. You could say… it’s gone there and back again. LOL.

blogger.com

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Via storymobs.ca, blogspot.com

Alice is nearly always pictured with other characters, face usually turned away, which is why the cover art on the right wins. Here she looks out at the reader, giving us the side-eye, pinky raised, with a look that says ‘you’ve no idea what you’re in for’.

i.imgur.com

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe

Via stellabooks.com, openlibrary.org, wordpress.com

Always beautifully drawn (apart from the movie tie-in but we’re not counting them. Because I said so.), most depict Aslan; the children; some the witch; now even Tumnus makes it to the cover. When will the wardrobe get it’s time!? WHEN???

img.pandawhale.com

Even Loki wants to know.

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Via roalddahlfans.com, curledupwithabook.com, blogspot.com

The Quentin Blake Mr. Fox is so comfortingly familiar to us all, it’s hard to remember when he was the cartoony chap on the end, but I remember because I’m old.

memeguy.com

The Railway Children

Via goodreads.com, arranalexander.co.uk, trashionista.co.uk

Often featuring children and/or a train for obvious reasons, they’re always lovely but STOP SHOWING THEM WAVING THE RED PETTICOATS AT THE TRAIN AND GIVING AWAY A KEY DRAMATIC EVENT.

wordpress.com

The Worst Witch

Via tvtropes.org, telegraph.co.uk, goodreads.com

Mildred Hubble, style icon to disorganised girls everywhere has now graduated from unkempt silhouette to fully-drawn cover star. Her hair might be slightly more controlled, but her shoe laces are still untied and she’s clearly rubbish at flying (see cat). Rocking that look, Hubble.

p.gr-assets.com

The Borrowers

Via wordpress.com, goodtoread.org, penguin.com.au

The Borrowers are nearly always at home on these covers, which is why the rare journey out, above in the middle, gives a glimpse of the excitement and risk involved in their ‘borrowing’ (borrowing my foot, let’s call it what it is – stealing.)

tumblr.com

And the rest, and the rest.

The new editions of the Harry Potter series will be available September 2014.