This new weekly online column showcases books that have eye-catching covers. See last week’s picks of children’s books. Let’s give in and just judge a book by its cover, even though we’ve been admonished to never, ever do that.
These reimagined classics caught our eye:
1. “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”
By J.K. Rowling, Illustrated by Jim Kay, Bloomsbury, 256 pp., $45.25
Kay’s work is as magical as the world that lies inside this British edition’s pages. Smoke billows like mystical fog from the Hogwarts train, a rendering of the palpable anticipation of adventure. Students mill about amid an almost auditory cacaphony of steam engine growl and parents’ goodbyes. Get ready to figuratively embark with Harry into a world both fantastical, yet not so far removed from our own.
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2. “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”
By Lewis Carroll, Illustrated by Anna Bond, Puffin Books, 192 pp., $30
Carroll’s originally psychadelic tale has morphed into a more kid-friendly cartoon over the years — but here, Bond offers a welcome return to the eerily inverted world in which Alice belongs. Featured are glimpses of her adventures to come; with the Cheshire Cat, mystical caterpillar, and the white rabbit, scampering off the page. Rich neon hues and a sense of motion carry the reader into the whirlwind of adventure and turmoil about to ensue.
3. “Moby-Dick”
By Herman Melville, Illustrated by Coralie Bickford-Smith, Penguin UK, 720 pp., $38
Harpoons may fly, but none touch the ever-elusive white whale, multiplied and scattered across an ocean of navy-blue cloth. The cover’s quasi-symmetry and antique texture make this an apt edition of the tale to curl up with under a blanket, as readers lament the ocean-sprayed sailors bound within its pages.
Mallory Abreu can be reached at mallory.abreu@globe.com.