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Harry Potter gets all-new covers for paperback anniversary editions

Kazu Kibuishi, writer and illustrator of the 'Amulet' graphic novel series, created seven new covers for paperback editions of the 'Harry Potter' novels, to be released on the 15th anniversary of the series.

'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone' (known in the UK as 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone') was first released in the US in 1998.
'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone' will be released in its new edition this September.
  • By Molly Driscoll Staff Writer

Harry Potter’s getting a makeover for his fifteenth birthday.

Scholastic announced that to celebrate the phenomenally popular series’ fifteenth anniversary, the Harry Potter series would receive all-new covers on new trade paperback editions, which will be released in September 2013.

The publisher released the new “Sorcerer” cover as a preview, which you can check out above and to the side.

Artist Kazu Kibuishi, who illustrated the new covers, called those done by artist Mary GrandPré “fantastic and iconic.” GrandPré also drew the pictures that appeared at the beginning of each chapter.

“When I was asked to submit samples, I initially hesitated because I didn't want to see them reinterpreted!” Kibuishi, who is the author and illustrator for the Amulet graphic novel children’s series, said in a statement. “However, I felt that if I were to handle the project, I could bring something to it that many other designers and illustrators probably couldn't, and that was that I was also a writer of my own series of middle grade fiction.” Kibuishi told Publishers Weekly he was inspired by novels by Charles Dickens when drawing the first cover.

The only details Scholastic revealed about the other new covers is that each will “depict a distinctive and memorable moment” from the book, according to the press release.

The novels will be released as stand-alone editions and compiled in a box set. That set will be followed in November by a boxed set of the books known together as the Hogwarts Library series, which consists of the titles “Quidditch Through the Ages,” “The Tales of Beedle the Bard,” and “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” all written by J.K. Rowling. “Quidditch” and “Beasts” were originally mentioned in the Potter series as textbooks assigned to Harry and his friends, while “Beedle” played a crucial part in unraveling a riddle in the seventh and final book. Proceeds from the sales of the Hogwarts Library will go to the UK charities Comic Relief and Lumos, the latter of which was founded by Rowling to prevent children being institutionalized.

GrandPré’s covers will still appear on the hardcover editions as well as mass-market paperback versions.

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