Independent Study: Glow In The Dark Books!

As you can see above, this book actually glows in the dark! The Creature Department was written by Robert Paul Weston and illustrated by Zack Lydon, who also created the cover. It is a story for young children and the monster theme lends itself well to a glow in the dark appearance. I can imagine that young children will be very gripped by a cover that glows in the dark. I know that when my brother and I were young, we loved anything that glowed in the dark. Our walls were covered in glow in the dark stars for many years. However, I would be worried that the child readers would want to spend more time looking at the book with the light off... rather than actually reading it! It is a very novel idea, however, and if it was to be seen in a bookshop, with a sticker explaining that this book glows in the dark, I imagine a lot of people would purchase it just to see if this is true.

This is another fun idea that I have never seen done before and it just proves what can be done with the physical copy. More and more recently books are being published that revel in the physicality of the book and make the most of it. There is so much more than be done here that cannot be done on an ebook.

Sylvia Bagaglio, an avid reader, says in her review of the book: “Before I had even opened the book, the cover art drew me in—especially the little bubble which read, “This book GLOWS in the DARK!” I squealed like a pre-teen at a Bieber concert, ran to show the cover to my husband, ran to hold the book up to a light bulb for 15 seconds, and finished by running into my dark bedroom to see the silhouettes of the creatures (and the title of the book) glowing as promised!”

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Further research showed that this is not the first time a book has glowed in the dark! A simple and elegant cover for Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore (designed by Rodrigo Corral at Farrar, Straus and Giroux) also glows in the dark. The author wrote, "When this book sits on shelves and in store windows: It will glow. When it rests at night on your bedroom floor, or reclines on your tray table during a transatlantic flight with the shades all pulled down and the passengers all dozing: It will glow. And when it’s late and you’re reading in bed because maybe—just maybe?—you can’t put it down: It will glow!"

This idea works well with this book because it is about a book shop that is open for 24 hours; it never sleeps. The cover gives the same impression of always being awake with the glow in the dark aspect. This is also a book intended for adults, yet the glow in the dark trick still works!

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Crush, seen in my previous two blog posts, has also worked with illustrator Marta Cerda to produce a cover complete with glow in the dark ink. This one, Zac and the Dream Pirates by Ross MacKenzie, is also aimed at children. What's so great about this cover is that when you turn the lights off - even more detail appears on the book cover, as though you are discovering more clues leading to pirate treasure! The design is also flawless: delicate, intricate detail, which makes up a bigger, bolder image.