OotP Covers

[Anne]

No: HPFGUIDX 54033

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Devika" <devika at s...> wrote:
>> 
> Harry looks so much older!  I know that he's 15 now, but I wasn't 
> expecting such a change.  Wow.  Actually, I just realized that 
Harry 
> looks more like the way I picture James when he was in school.
> After seeing this cover, I finally realized why I've been feeling a 
> little anxious about OoP.  I'm not worried that OoP will be 
a "dud," 
> as we were discussing a while back.  However, I worry that somehow 
> Harry will have changed and grown so much that I won't recognize 
> him.  Does that make any sense?  

YESSS!! Great insight. That's kind of what I thought too when I saw 
the covers today on Bloomsbury's website. And it made sense to me for 
Harry to suddenly look a lot older. Harry has been "small for his 
age" for the first 4 years we've known him. Perhaps, suddenly, as 
he's about to turn 15 he is starting to "shoot up". (Minor movie 
contamination here: Just look at how much Daniel Radcliffe changed 
between the beginning of shooting COS and the movie premiere -- and 
he's not even 14 yet.) Anyway we all know teenagers can have growth 
spurts that make them almost unrecognizable to people who haven't 
seen them in a long time. My theory is that Harry is finally starting 
to experience *his* growth spurt, so he's in finally in that gangly 
all-arms-and-legs phase that boys seem to go through. I'm betting he 
will always be on the lean  or slender side, but will "fill out" some 
by the time he reaches 7th year.
 

>  Still, though, I think that I've 
> gotten used to seeing Harry as a child, and the OoP cover really 
> drove home the point that he's quickly growing up.  I suppose 
that's 
> hardly a surprise after what happened to him in GoF.
>

I think it's combination of everything he's gone through during the 
past 4 years, plus his body finally catching up with him :-)

Anne U
(big fan of the US kids' cover of OoP)