Hate the modern illustrations in today's Malory Towers books

[littleguineapig]

I really hate the modern illustrations in the later reprints of MT books. They are so inauthentic- they show the girls with their hair long and loose when in Enids day it would be bobbed or tied up in plaits. In the Last Term at MT there is a picture of the “fat” Josephine Jones in a bathing costume (a modern high legged one too) looking not fat but like something out of Baywatch. I wish they had kept the old illustrations

[littleguineapig]

Oh and I forgot to add that I hate the covers of the new MT and St Clares editions as well. Totally modern and inappropriate. They suck

[joanne_chan]

Somebody in marketing no doubt feels this attracts newer readers although I'd have to say when I was young I always looked for more traditional covers on books such as Enid's simply because they just look right.
I'm not impressed with many of the newer covers too, littlegineapig.

[Poppy]

Which editions do you mean, exactly, littleguineapig?


2006, Egmont.


2009, Dean.

I think the Dean edition is OK; not to modern - just nice, I think. I mut say, however that I think the Egmont ones are awful! I know they have to look appealing to the new generation, but personally, if I didn't know what this book actually was, I certainly wouldn't pick it up...

[Ming]

I hate the lips on the girls in the Egmont cover - they look as if they are pursed up, and remind me of teenage girls taking photos of themselves in front of their bathroom mirrors while pouting (a pet peeve).

[Fiona1986]

I see what you mean, Ming. Duck-face. Yuck. I recently accepted the daughter of a cousin on facebook, I think she's about 14 and all she does is post hundreds of pouty-faces

[Ming]

And all from the same angle and the same red lipstick, I bet!

[Poppy]

Yes, that's certainly a very weak point, of the illustrations, Ming. I think the Egmont covers are very mis-leading, it's certainly not what I'd expect to see on the front cover of a Malory Towers books. The character illustrations always remind of those of the 'BRATZ'.

[honesty]

Hate is a harsh word but I agree-the Egmont covers and illustrations are way too modern! I actually like EB's books without illustrations as I can 'paint' a picture in my mind of what's happening...But if they have to put in illustrations, I prefer the originals-
Honesty

[Carlotta King]

I completely agree. The girls on the Egmont version look like they would be texting on their phones in class, chewing gum, cheeking the teachers and probably wearing high heels!

Malory Towers isn't anything like that and they could have made the covers bright and appealing without making them so modern and 'tacky' for want of a better word.

Like Poppy said, if I didnt know what it was, I wouldn't bother to look at it, it just looks like another silly book about modern bratty schoolgirls who live on facebook. Yuck.

I went to school in the 80s and 90s so I can hardly claim to have been educated in the 'good old days' but I love reading about school life back then and wish I had been a schoolgirl then!!

From what I see and hear of school today, its like another world (and not a very nice one at that!!) compared even to 1990 when I was a pupil.

[Carlotta King]

I have a feeling that if the awful modern facebook photo-in-mirror generation girls picked up this book because they thought the cover looked 'cool' and was about modern 'cool' schoolgirls, they would have a shock because they would probably be expecting it to be all about boys and catty girls etc etc, I can't imagine them wanting to read a proper, fun, wholesome and traditionally nice book about 1940s schoolgirls!

[Daisy]

On the other hand perhaps the only redeeming point about the awful covers is that modern girls might read and enjoy these stories! That many do is obvious from the continuing editions which keep appearing.

[Ming]

I have a feeling that if the awful modern facebook photo-in-mirror generation girls picked up this book because they thought the cover looked 'cool' and was about modern 'cool' schoolgirls, they would have a shock because they would probably be expecting it to be all about boys and catty girls etc etc, I can't imagine them wanting to read a proper, fun, wholesome and traditionally nice book about 1940s schoolgirls!

Or maybe they'll have a pleasant surprise and find themselves enjoying a book written about nicer girls.

[7upromana01]

I have the Egmont editions. *huffs* By the way, I did not get them by choice, my parents got them for me.

[Moonraker]

I had a feeling that these covers were not taken from Malory Towers at all, but from another series. Am I correct, or have I lost the plot again?