This weekend I started reading Magic Under Glass by Jaclyn Dolamore. (Which I am really enjoying, btw) While looking over some of the blogs I follow I read a post about the whitewashing of the cover.
That post lead to me discovering some other posts:
Ari of Reading in Color: Really Bloomsbury? I'm Done. The Publishing World Needs to Take Note
Susan of Black-Eyed Susan's: No Magic for Bloomsbury
GAL Novelty: Stop Failing Bloomsbury
I have to admit while I was reading, I kept flipping back to the cover and thinking... hmm that girl doesn’t really look like what I picture as Nim, as far as the book description goes. And then I would think, well I guess she does have dark hair, or maybe I just can’t see the color of her skin because of the lighting. Which I admit may have been dumb on my part. The whole Liar cover controversy never crossed my mind. I never thought to be outraged about the cover. (And I'm embarrassed for that.)
Does that mean I’m a bad person? Am I ignorant?
Should I be reprimanded for not expressing outrage on my blog?
(Note: Let me just say that these questions are rhetorical. I don't think I'm a bad or ignorant person. Nor do I believe anyone should be reprimanded for not posting about the cover controversy.)
Some of the comments from the posts above make me feel that way. And I can imagine other bloggers feel that way too. To quote a passage in Ari’s post: “I'm disappointed that my fellow teen book bloggers didn't say anything about the cover. As I recall, not many said anything about the cover of Liar either.” (Note: Ari is not at all a bad person, my intention is not to single Ari out, but to draw attention to the fact that as much as she has the right to post about the outrage she feels about the cover, I have the right to not post about it. Despite that I feel that it was wrong.)
Not that I am meaning to demean the importance of having people of color on covers, or having more people of color in young adult literature because I’m not. I can see the lack of people in color gracing the covers of young adult literature. I’m not denying the that. And I’m not condoning what Bloomsbury did either.
Awareness is very important, but honestly, sometimes I just don’t notice these things. I appreciate when it’s brought to my attention, but I cannot express my dislike of the accusation for my (and other "teen" blogggers) lack of posting. (I commend people for bringing it to my attention. Because although we may think we are "aware" we are only human too, and we make mistakes. It doesn't mean we don't care.)
I LOVE that people are blogging about the cover. But I don’t think they should be calling out teen bloggers for their lack of participation. They should be reaching out to them, encouraging them, explaining why this is something they should want to post about.
I'm very disappointed to see that people have chosen not to buy the book because of the cover. You're not hurting the publisher, you're hurting the author, who is NOT at fault in anyway.
While we are on this topic. Rarely does a cover accurately depict what a character look like. And I mean more than just hair color, or eye color. (And I'm not trying to replace one wrong with another. I'm saying that this happens all the time, and IT SHOULDN'T!)
The cover designers, I’m assuming, rarely if ever read the book that they are designing for. The author, as I’m aware, rarely if ever has control over their covers. The publishers most certainly know what the book is about, as such, there are are factors that they must weigh in on to determine the cover.
It’s not right, it's not fair, but it’s true.
Take...
And honestly I could go on. And no, it's not right.
I guess as a reader I care more about the story than how the cover depicts the character inside.... and ultimately that’s why I’m not quick to post about the misinterpretation of the character on the cover. It's not that I don't care, because I DO!
It's a problem yes, I admit that. I hope I become more conscience of instances like this, and I hope that the publishers realize that this is something that some readers take very seriously.
** I have closed comments on this post. I appreciate the insight that everyone provided. The conversation took a turn to a place that was never intended when I wrote this post. At the urge of my fellow peers that were offended by some of the comments, myself included, I have hidden the comments from view.
