Finished book 39 did a little bit if…

Finished book 39 — did a little bit if survey of the cover design. My students in various grades (middle school) were shown this cover and gave me their guesses of what the book was about: they invariably said that it’s a book of mystery, with “plots” and “schemes,” something exciting and could potentially be cool because the bad guys are caught and the mystery is solved. There might even be some magic. They judged this intelligently based on their many years of looking at book covers and what they represent: from the title, to the font choices, to the colors and graphic design. So, I told them about what the book is REALLY about — and everyone was shocked. And we know that if some young reader picks up and reads this book because the cover has “sold” them the potential story, this reader will be quickly disappointed. I do wish that the book was designed differently — and has hopefully a more straightforward telling than the device the author has employed. There is quite a bit of heart, likable characters, and meaningful interactions and messages. I actually liked most of the book (despite some glaring copy-editing errors and obvious inconsistencies) but it is not a stand-out.