TOW #18 - Book Cover

Clive Barker, perhaps best known for his works of horror and gore, is also the surprising author of a number of children and young adult books. One such young adult book is a surreal fantasy with themes of adventure and the conflict between good and evil. The book's cover, like its author, is a surprise. While most covers are not designed by the authors of their books, each of the nine paintings on this cover, in addition to the hundreds inside the book, were hand painted by Clive Barker. Even the title graphic, "Abarat" was designed by Barker. Both the paintings and the title are meant to entice readers and hint at the book's content.
There is a lot to digest in the paintings on the cover of this text. Nine paintings make up the small art gallery that is the front jacket. Four of the paintings show strange locations, a skeletal lighthouse and a crystal island for example, and the other five of the paintings show main characters of the text, a woman wrestling with a white dragon and an amphibian with a bouquet of skulls for example. Much like a visual blurb, the paintings help the reader to understand a few central points of the novel, without spoiling its telling. The tactic is effective, as all it takes is for one of the images to intrigue a potential reader.
There is seemingly less to digest in the title graphic. However, closer inspection reveals that the image of the title graphic is an ambigram. Rotating the image 180 degrees reveals an identical image. It is a small and subtle tactic, which is significantly less effective than the paintings. This is due mostly to the unlikelihood of anyone actually noticing this. Yet, a potential reader who does notice this would almost certainly be drawn to read on about the kind of creative mind that would produce such a strangle title graphic.
A surprising book cover jackets a surprising book with a surprising author. Despite the conventional wisdom against judging a book by its cover, perhaps in this situation the paintings and the title graphic give an accurate if cryptic look into what the book holds. All in all the cover of this book is highly effective in its attempts to entice readers with just enough information regarding the content of the book.