I know whitewashing is a real problem, but I wonder some times in our attempts to address it we may not be jumping on the wrong targets. I feel weird saying anything too much because I am a Harper author (though I think that the girls on my covers could be Astrid -- on perhaps her best hair and make up day EVER).
I loved the original cover of SP and am happy I own it and that it will be the version I someday give to my daughter to read. I agree with you that I, personally, like the old concept more than the new, but I also think that if new people pick up this book because it looks more like Blue Bloods or Vampire Academy -- and I think they will-- then it's also good for SP.
Separate from that lies the issue of race representation. I think it's really hard to tell when you only see a chin or whatever. I have seen the full face of the woman whose chin and body is on the cover of my first two novels. She looks neither the age nor the ethnicity of my main character, but no one has ever mentioned it because when you only see her chin, she could be a white bread college student. (I even got one email saying they thought she looked like she was 12, which is funny, because the model was in her 30s!)
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I loved the original cover of SP and am happy I own it and that it will be the version I someday give to my daughter to read. I agree with you that I, personally, like the old concept more than the new, but I also think that if new people pick up this book because it looks more like Blue Bloods or Vampire Academy -- and I think they will-- then it's also good for SP.
Separate from that lies the issue of race representation. I think it's really hard to tell when you only see a chin or whatever. I have seen the full face of the woman whose chin and body is on the cover of my first two novels. She looks neither the age nor the ethnicity of my main character, but no one has ever mentioned it because when you only see her chin, she could be a white bread college student. (I even got one email saying they thought she looked like she was 12, which is funny, because the model was in her 30s!)