Bloomsbury have sent over some exciting news this morning. Award-winning artist Jonny Duddle has redesigned the covers of all seven books to reinvent the children’s hardback and paperback editions of Harry Potter. You can see a photo of the new Philosopher’s Stone cover in the gallery. According to the press release:

Along with the brand new artwork and an updated author biography, the editions will also be reset to create a child-friendly reading experience for a new generation of readers. The titles will also contain highlights from Pottermore, the digital platform for Harry Potter. All seven titles will be published on 1st September 2014.

Together with J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury selected Jonny to create front, back and spine artwork for each book. On the honor, Jonny said:

‘I’m hugely excited to work my way through the wonderful books. I couldn’t have asked for more enjoyable subject matter. It’s exciting, daunting and I feel the weight of responsibility, and I’m just hoping that my illustrations faithfully reflect the characters and world created by J.K.Rowling’

Jonny Duddle is best known for his award-winning picture books, including The Pirate Cruncher and The Pirates Next Door (winner of the Waterstones Children’s Prize and shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize). He has a background in the computer games industry and is highly skilled at character development. His work has appeared in Aardman films and Terry Pratchett novels.

Pottermore will publish the eBook editions of all seven books with the Jonny Duddle jackets at the same time. Bloomsbury has also collaborated with Pottermore to highlight how readers can discover more about the world of Harry Potter on Pottermore.com from J.K. Rowling. This information will feature in the back of the new children’s editions.

And, as we posted back in December, Jim Kay’s fully illustrated colour edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone will still be published by Bloomsbury (and Pottermore) in Autumn 2015. It will be available in hardback and eBook and the remaining six books will be published annually after that.

They also tease that even more exciting Harry Potter plans will be announced at the London Book Fair in April.