This meme was started by Books by Proxy, whose fabulous idea was to compare UK and US book covers and decide which is we prefer. This meme is currently being nurtured by Lynn’s Book Blog and the theme this week to feature on any of our covers is a door. I’ve selected A Wind in the Door – Book 2 of The Quintet series by Madelaine L’Engle.
This Polish edition was produced by MAG in May 2018. The dark cover immediately stands out and I really like the depiction of the planets around the edge. While that image of the eyes and wings in the middle of the round door or window – I’m not sure which – is sufficiently odd and disturbing to stop me in my tracks. While the way the title and author fonts are incorporated into the main cover design is really slick and attractive.
This offering, published by Dell Laurel-Leaf in March 1976. It’s this creepy, shocking design that has been the inspiration for many of the subsequent covers and looking at it, I can see why. It’s well ahead of its time and hasn’t dated anything like as much as many 1970s covers I’ve seen. The green-tinged trees immediately evoke a sense of menace and when you add that freakish doorway with that many-winged, multi-eyed creature, it certainly make you take a closer look.
Published in May 2007 by Square Fish, this attractive cover is far less disturbing. At least at first glance… until you look at that flock flying in the sky and realise that the some of them aren’t necessarily all birds… Other than that, the landscape is beautiful, which lovely autumnal colours. If I have a grizzle it’s that the title and author fonts featured on the door are really boring, which is a shame.
This Commemorative Edition, published by Dell in 1997, is far darker. I like the way the author’s name runs along the side of the book, making a feature of her fame without impinging on the cover design. Those disturbing eyes feature again, along with a pair of wings emerging from what looks like a fire. The problem that I have with this one is there is nothing that ties all the images together in any kind of coherence, so I can’t make sense of it – a shame because it’s so nearly a good design.
This cover, published in 1973, by St. Martins Press is my favourite. I love the detail and oddness, which is also very beautiful. I am not quite sure what exactly is going on, but I definitely want to find out, whereas those eyes – while certainly getting my attention – repel rather than attract me, as I think they look horrific and I don’t do horror. There is certainly a wide range of covers for you to choose this week – so which is your favourite?
Brainfluff 
The Polish edition is definitely my favorite, but honestly I love all of these! Great choice for this theme😁
Thank you, Tammy:). Yes, there isn’t one I absolutely dislike amongst this group…
I like the second one. Thinking it has a nostalgic science fiction feel.
You’re right, Laura:). Thank you for swinging by and making a choice – and have a wonderful weekend.
Yep, The Polish one definitely gets my vote this week. Well done for finding such an unusual choice – in terms of covers I mean.
Lynn 😀
Yes… they are rather weird, aren’t they?
I like the Commemorative Edition, published by Dell in 1997 the best!
Thank you for taking the time to give your opinion:). It is certainly a cover that makes you stop and pick it up, doesn’t it?
I like the Polish cover but agree the Dell Laurel-Leaf is timeless.
Thank you Kimberly – they are remarkable covers, aren’t they?
My favorite is the first one. It really shouldn’t be, since it creeps me out. But something about it also fascinates me and draws me in, I can’t stop looking at it!
I know what you mean! They are certainly rather creepy, aren’t they?
Oh, the Polish one is so striking, bizarre though the eye-wings are, that I think it has to get my vote, though the last one really is fascinating too. I just pulled A Wrinkle in Time off the shelf for a reread- these covers are a good nudge to keep going with the series. Thanks 🙂
It certainly is, isn’t it? A Wrinkle in Time is a real classic – I haven’t read this one, but I must admit the covers do leave me very intrigued…
I think I have, but it’s been a looong time, and many books between 🙂
The eye theme is used often in these covers, and – weirdly disquieting as it is – it makes for an interesting image, so my vote would go to the first two covers in your selection…
Yes – I am a bit torn. I am definitely going to have to get hold of this book and soon… Thank you for swinging by, Maddalena:)
I have to agree with most everyone else. That Polish cover is very well done.
Yes, it is, isn’t it?
I agree with your choice. That was the one that immediately caught my eye.
Thank you for taking the time to comment, Carla:). I am always fascinated to see what folks choose as their favourite.
The last one is my favorite as well. It’s just beautiful!
Oh yay! I’d begun to think I was the only one who had fallen in love with the beautiful detail in this cover – thank you for swinging by and making your choice:)
Somehow I’ve only read A Wrinkle in Time and completely missed until about 5 years ago or so that this was a series! This one is on my TBR and I’m hoping to get to it soon. I like them all and they all definitely have a creepy element! I think the last one is my favorite too though the 1976 with all the green is a close second.
I hadn’t appreciated it was a series either – and then I came across this. I’m hoping to read it sometime, soon…
I’m not commenting in sequence here, I know, but I LOVE to comment on your cover posts, which I greatly enjoy reading! So I doubled back to this one!
Your favorite cover this week is mine, as well. That’s because I know this style very well. It’s a design by the GREAT cover illustrators/designers Leo and Diane Dillon! They were a husband and wife team (sadly, Leo has passed on) who produced WONDERFUL covers in the 60s and 70s. I know they created covers for the entire Time Quartet series, as I have featured some of them in my blog’s cover meme, “Shelf Candy Saturday”. So, of course, I LOVE their design for “The Wind In The Door”!!
The covers by MAG, Dell Laurel-Leaf, and Dell, all have the same basic image of eyes and wings turning and turning (although the Dell cover is a bit different). I find the first two covers disturbing because of this, although I do like the other design elements.
Btw, this motif of the eyes and wings reminds me of a vision the prophet Ezekiel, had, in the Bible. This vision is in Chapter 1 of the Book of Ezekiel. Although not quite the same, it has the same eeriness as the images on the covers above. Some scholars have speculated that what Ezekiel actually saw was aliens and flying saucers! How about that? Fascinating, as Mr. Spock would say! Lol.
Thanks for sharing all of these covers, Sarah!! HUGS!! ❤ ❤ ❤ 🙂 🙂 🙂
Thank you for taking the time to tell me all the background to the designs of the covers. I am always so impressed with your knowledge! Have a lovely week – I’m taking a bit of a break, but will be back as usual this time next week:)xxx
They’re all good. I’d select any of them for the cover design along, but I would have already picked any of them anyway because they all say, MADELINE ENGLE !
Quite right, too:))
That first one almost has a steampunk-ish flavor to it, I think–not bad, but I do like the offputting second cover more, with this strange cluster of wings just…there. So bizarre!
Yes! I was thinking of your book when I first saw those wings and eyes…:).
😉
I might be biased, but I think the Polish one is my favorite (though MAG in general does really good covers… one reason I regret not living in Poland anymore – I can’t get their print books). At the same time, I can see how this cover was inspired by the 1976 one, and when I apply the “time” filter, the 1976’s cover is also very good and eye catching.
The rest of them… none really grabs me.