Circus Mirandus: Paperback Cover-age
August 9th, 2016 by Nancy
About a year ago, Karen and I reviewed Cassie Beasley’s debut book, Circus Mirandus, which — spoiler alert! — both of us recommended to all readers. I also clamored for a sequel or a movie adaptation, neither of which have been announced… yet. But while I wait, the paperback edition of the book hits shelves on August 16th!
As with many books, the cover design was updated for the paperback edition — check it out:
And now compare the hardcover and paperback side-by-side:


My thoughts:
- Wow, there’s a lot of stuff going on on the new cover.
- A lot of stuff.
- The hardcover is so minimalist and straightforward: Hey, this is a book about a circus.
- The hardcover is also very distinctive — I could spot it easily on a shelf.
- The paperback gives away more details of the story: All the main characters, including Chintzy the parrot, are present!
- And I like the addition of a tagline: “Magic so wondrous, you have to believe it to see it.”
- The styling of the title looks very old-timey circus-y, and I love it.
- There was a die cut on the hardcover: A portion of the cover is cut out so the image on the next page is visible. This made the hardcover intriguing, but printing a die cut is expensive, so it’s understandable the paperback does not have a die cut.
- While the new cover is exciting, it does look a lot like other fantasy novels to me:
Which cover do you like more? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!
— Nancy
Nancy loves studying book covers as much as she loves examining plots! Just don’t ask her to draw any.