#i could probably reread the pegasus series for eternity. but divergent? meh

[bookwyrminspiration]

yes, that's exactly the difference! and particularly in the talks about quality--it was really strange to hear people talk about the quality standard being so low when i personally grew up in the junior section with really well-written and designed books that still hold up upon rereads. of course there are books that don't appeal to me at my age now: i read a book recently by an author i used to love and it was almost as if i could physically see the difference between my life experience and the intended demographic, but at the same time there are still a lot of books i read back then that are still fully capable of taking my breath away.

i know at thirteen would not have picked a book with this cover up from the library without the prior knowledge that this was sophie and fitz!!! because i was a child with Taste^tm and almost always judged books by their covers (which, tbh, i still do! is that saying actually meant to apply to books too because if so, the entire graphic design industry says a collective ouch). especially when so much of what i read was from artists like Kazu Kibuishi haha, there was a lot of criteria i remember having! so i was absolutely disappointed when i saw the graphic novel cover reveal and it was just like any of the ones that you'd see on the side of the shelves at the end of the week when all of the older kids had taken all the interesting books, and then you ended reading the entire Geronimo Stilton series in like half a year (there was a borrow limit) instead.

to backtrack a bit though, from an artist's standpoint i don't think it's terrible! i don't think it's badly designed or maliciously designed--i think it's the job i probably would have done if i were hired to do something like that without any prior knowledge of the series. i don't even know what's in the first issue to make sense of what scene they "should" have illustrated for the cover, so it was kind of just like.... well that's a thing. that happened. and i talked to my friends about it privately instead of posting because in what way would it be productive to complain publicly about how mediocre a book cover is, but then people started bringing up the children's media arguments again and it was just so frustrating to me. i'm sure they didn't mean to belittle children's media, but it was just like... i am struggling to articulate but just a why are you here, in the children's media playpen, saying "yeah these plastic toy guns mass-bought from dollar tree suck but it's okay the toys don't have to be manufactured with great quality because the kids won't care!" like to some degree yes but there are also i didn't spend my days searching for the best quality my little pony toys for nothing? if that makes sense.

(2/2) i am concluding that long thing with um. i have just eaten a piece of the most truly awful mango i have ever had. is this what the mango haters mean when they say they don't like it. this tastes like coconut

(and also thank you for adding your tags to my post! i am glad you did because i hope it helped people look at it with a more attentive eye and didn't let them take my words at Face Value. and my brain is now melting from all of that writing haha but yes, as much as there is a huge difference between the majority of us and the age of the intended audience, kids also deserve quality things and that was what i was trying to get at! + hope you are doing well and that you have a lovely day)

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Thanks! I'm doing alright and hope you're having a lovely time as well. You articulated yourself very well in this, so I don't want to detract from that with a long response. But you make several great points, and I agree that I don't think I would've picked up this book as a kid without already being invested in keeper. Which isn't meant to criticize or be rude to those behind it, just acknowledgement that the cover is what draws you in to a book, and that doesn't have the elements I look for or typically find appealing--or in this case what I found appealing at that age, as my tastes have changed.

Based on what I know, I do think the scene they chose is an appropriate one and makes a lot of sense! It's the huge transition in Sophie's life, leaping to this new world where "magic" is real and there's so much fantasy and otherworldly yet mundane things to discover. It completely flips her world upside down, but that's not really reflected in the image itself. It's just two tweens smiling with a burst of light; I think that could've been represented better, but I don't have the technical skill or knowledge to do a truly thorough and meaningful critique.

But getting to your overall point: children deserve good media, you're right. I don't think anyone here (at least that I saw) was truly trying to make that argument, but there can be a fine line that takes some awareness that you walk in these kinds of conversations. The distinction between not liking it because it's not for you, and not liking it because it's lower quality regardless of it's for you is an important one--I don't know if I've worded that well, but I hope you get my meaning.

I think something like this may also remind many of us of the trends we seen in books overall recently: the booktok book. The appeal to tropes and popularity instead of creativity and care taken with the medium. More generic and impersonal designs, which one could argue the cover is. So perhaps the cover isn't bad, but in it we can see evidence of a wider trend and how it could continue, and that's bad.

There's a lot of ways to look at this and things that can be considered. At the end of the day, children deserve good media and that cover doesn't seem fully representative of the story---in my opinion, but I don't have much familiarity with graphic novels so take it with a grain of salt. And your welcome, I hope my additions help as well! I feel like I've inevitably forgotten something or left something unsaid because of the length, but if anyone thinks I've missed something or wants to continue this conversation further, my ask box is open! (just please be respectful, I'm a real actual person)

also oh shit just remembered there's two mangoes in the kitchen i sure hope they haven't gone bad because i totally forgot about them