Polite Paradise

I avoided the Harry Potter books for years because the German cover art looks so boring and ugly. Eventually I found some English copies at a book store, which looked much more intriguing, so I started reading them and was positively surprised.
I later orgered one of the new books early and it came with a bookmark that had the German art style on it - with a picture that looked like a vomitting snake (I still have no idea what that was supposed to refer to, or who thought that was a good idea). I can't imagine how local children get into these books when they look like that.

German covers are something else.

Anne Bishop had a series called Black Jewels which I loved and visited her website often. The day she posted the German covers there was quite a reaction. Oh My. I don't know who that horrible B-movie she-devil creature was on the cover but it sure wasn't the nice little girl from the book.