judge a book (by its) cover

Well, my wife is pretty into Harry Potter. I have to admit i've gotten into it a bit too. Some friends let us borrow the movies and i caught up last spring. Then we just went to see the latest movie. Very very good. (My review: Good special effects in the beginning, bad effects in the middle, great effects at the end...the plot roughly follows).

Now i am going to start listening through the unabridged audio books (so i can more intelligently argue some points of debate with my wife) thanks to the Nashville Public Library system, and just pre-ordered the new book for Christy.

I said it'd never happen, but i guess we're fans.

But now i wish i had ordered Christy's copy to be shipped from the UK. Apparently they get a better version there. First, their version has the original UK English intact (the US version is re-edited for US kids vocabulary), but mostly, they have a way cooler cover. I'm sorry, there is just no comparison. What's up with that?

This is the US cover.
(click to enlarge)

I know the US versions have had this same cover style for a while, but it...well...stinks. I just think it looks dumb. It doesn't match the feel of the stories that they hold inside. Looks more like a dark Dr. Seuss or something. Too melodramatic and stylized without being fun looking. It either needs to be creepy or fun. This fails at both.

These are the UK covers - plural.
(click to enlarge)

In Europe and Asia though, they get two covers: A kids cover, and an 'adult' cover. I find both of these a far better option than what we get in the US. The 'adult' cover in particular is way cooler, spookier, and generally more mysterious. And yes, it reminds me of cover of the book in The Neverending Story, so that probably helps. The kids version also seems a better fit somehow. Of course, from looking at the UK kids version, this is apparently going to be a cross-over with Stargate.

A quick skim of amazon.co.uk makes it look like they have only been doing the dual-covers for the last two books. Before that, they all followed the kids-cover style, but it was still far better than the US versions. Ok, except the first one. Aside from the different title, that cover does look pretty lame. But i guess at that point it really was more of a kids book.

Oh well. I guess in reality i would like all books to either be a pocket-size paperback or a leather-bound library volume. Can anyone hook me up with one of those yet?