This week, Penguin Books released a new cover of the Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Exciting news for fan of this classic novel, right? Eh, not so much. Reactions across the web were largely negative, with fans deeming the cover inappropriately sexualized and reminiscent of JonBenét Ramsey. Others even thought it was a spoof.
But some people appreciated the cover’s creepiness because the book itself is, of course, pretty dark.
Penguin explains its design in a Facebook post:
Publishing for the first time as a Penguin Modern Classic, this design is in recognition of the book’s extraordinary cultural impact and is one of the few children’s books to be featured in the Penguin Modern Classics list.
This new image for CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY looks at the children at the centre of the story, and highlights the way Roald Dahl’s writing manages to embrace both the light and the dark aspects of life, ready for Charlie’s debut amongst the adult titles in the Penguin Modern Classics series.
Some people have speculated that the girl on the cover is meant to represent either Veruca Salt or Violet Beauregarde, though according to the BBC, that’s not true.
Either way, this art is a pretty puzzling choice, but at least the publisher didn’t put Johnny Depp on the cover.
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