A front cover is a composite discourse that results from multiple editorial choices. It must reflect the identity of the publishing house of which it is the showcase, as well as that of the collection which opens reading tracks. It must also attract readers and give them an idea of the content of the book. This article examines the editorialization of some suburban narratives representative of urban literature of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The analysis of French publications shows the importance of a realistic point of view, with coverage that can be considered as a fixed image of a scenario (often taken from a film that has seen the success of the book). It also tends to personalize the book, with close-up representations of a narrator/character. Translated editions tend on their part to widen the field of view by contextualizing the historical or spatial environment of the narrative or, on the contrary, erase it. The staged, enigmatic motif becomes a symbol open to multiple interpretations. The book, therefore, is outside the scope of “banlieue” literature. These two trends, emblematic of different editorial choices, are correlated with the identity of the publishing house and the readership of the collection.