Overthinking it
Borders emailed me this morning to tell me the cover art for the seventh Harry Potter book has been released. I couldn’t help it. I looked.
It’s not what I expected:
I mean, the book is called Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The pre-cover-art placeholder was all black with white lettering. I wasn’t anticipating a bright cheery yellow — almost golden — cover for this last volume.
The first three books have dark red/green covers, the fourth book has a dark green cover, the fifth book has a dark blue cover, and the sixth book has a dark green cover. I looked at the bouyant cover of the seventh book, and I wondered, is this symbolic? Does this mean the seventh book ends well? Harry doesn’t die, despite the rumors to the contrary? Or am I just overthinking it, and a yellow cover is cheaper to mass produce than a black one? (Because, as I learned as an editor of the erato, a black cover with white lettering is actually pretty expensive.)
In all likelihood, I’m seeing symbols where there are none. And for this, I blame Mrs. Dollander.