Jenny Grigg is the talented book designer behind The Luminaries and Gerald Murnane’s last book. We asked her to explain how covers communicate – and how they can fall short.
Am I the only person that thinks if you, as a parent, are going to give your child a book you should probably at least look it up first, or maybe skim it real quick?
I’ll admit I don’t have kids, but the book was labeled and honestly the bit about it being a swooning romance on the cover would be enough for me to take a second look before I read it, much less give it to someone else.
So, I just looked up the Amazon page for the book. It shows the coverpage as well as the backcover (including the summary / blurb) and I don’t see any mention of explicit content. It seems like a romance book for YA. Also, it mentions million books sold, and that author is a “fluffy comfort book” author. Which makes you think of a mass marketing book, which generally don’t have explicit content.
While, as a parent, I generally agree with what you are saying, and I try to read any book I give to my kids, it isn’t always possible for all parents to do that, specially when everything points to it being a YA romance book.
Am I the only person that thinks if you, as a parent, are going to give your child a book you should probably at least look it up first, or maybe skim it real quick?
I’ll admit I don’t have kids, but the book was labeled and honestly the bit about it being a swooning romance on the cover would be enough for me to take a second look before I read it, much less give it to someone else.
So, I just looked up the Amazon page for the book. It shows the coverpage as well as the backcover (including the summary / blurb) and I don’t see any mention of explicit content. It seems like a romance book for YA. Also, it mentions million books sold, and that author is a “fluffy comfort book” author. Which makes you think of a mass marketing book, which generally don’t have explicit content.
While, as a parent, I generally agree with what you are saying, and I try to read any book I give to my kids, it isn’t always possible for all parents to do that, specially when everything points to it being a YA romance book.