They say that you should “never judge a book by it’s cover” and I completely, 100 percent believe that to be true. Unfortunately, the cover of a book is what will initially make you want to pick it up, read the synopsis, and eventually determine if you will spend the time to read the book or not.
When I was a teacher and I would begin to read aloud a book with a torn (or lost) cover, my students were never as excited to hear it as they would have been if the cover were beautifully artistic. I used this “teachable moment” thousands of time in my 14 year career trying to instill in my students that just because something isn’t beautiful on the outside doesn’t mean that it’s not beautiful on the inside (and yes…I hope that lesson carried over into real life with them and not just books…)
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Here are a few examples of amazing books with not so amazing covers:
I hate when books ambiguously use real life people on the covers. Always messes up my image of what I think they should look like as I read. I feel like I then have to conform my mental images with the ones on the cover…fail.
This book is AWESOME. This cover is…pretty…but says absolutely nothing about the beautiful book inside? So misleading…
AMAZING book with a strange faceless woman on the cover. How old is she supposed to be here??? Says nothing about the book inside. You can read my review of this amazing book HERE.
Here is an example of a book where the gorgeous cover doesn’t quite match up with the words inside:
I was bored. You can read my review HERE.
Sometimes a book can easily be judged by it’s cover when the cover isn’t great and neither is the story inside:
The story itself was just ok…unforgettable. The cover? Not so unforgettable. In the history of the entire world, I truly don’t believe an uglier cover exists. Holy hell.
This book had so much possibility! The topic is FASCINATING….the cover (and the writing) is boring.
I absolutely hated everything about this book. Including it’s ugly cover.
And HERE we have the perfect combination of beautiful covers which also just happen to contain beautiful stories inside:
Bottom Line:
Just like people…some books are prettier on the inside then they are on the outside but you have to read them to find out 🙂
Have you read any of these books? What did you think? Can you think of other books with beautiful (or not so beautiful) covers? Do you allow a book cover to determine if you want to read the book inside?
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Book Coffee Happy 
I totally judge them by the covers. I feel good when u read a good book with a great cover. Something about it appeals to me
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I don’t really give much thought to the cover as much as the synopsis. Sometimes a synopsis doesn’t grab me, but then I’ll try the story anyway and will be blown away. Other times there will be a good synopsis with a “meh” story. I am not giving examples as to not sway your opinion either way.
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I agree with Melissa. I usually go with the synopsis when deciding or if it’s an author that I like. I used to teach children as well. When it came to the Kindergartener’s pictures were as important as words. However, when I read chapter books to my second graders with no pictures, they were all about the storyline, and how I excited I was about the book. (I would change my voice for the different characters. I would also ask a question that they had to think about for every chapter.)
Great post! 🙂
Christina
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If I do not know anything about the book before hand or it wasn’t recommended to me, I do browse based on book covers. The more attractive ones get my attention the most. When I walk into a library or book store, there are so many books, I don’t have time to look at every book so I pick up the ones that appeal to me.
Side note – have you ever read Behind Closed Doors by Paris? I didn’t see it on your blog but as I was scrolling, could have missed it. I’m in the middle of it and it’s actually upsetting me a little bit which is weird because not much ever upsets me.
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I LOVED THAT BOOK!!!! I don’t think I’ve done a review on it yet but I really should…are you enjoying it more??? Loved!!!
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I did end up really liking the book overall – it just made me a bit uneasy, especially about the dog, Mollie. Do you remember that part? So sad. The husband was sadistic and twisted, and even though I’ve never been in a situation like that, it felt real to me. I guess that just shows the talent the author has to make me feel like it was real and I was a part of it.
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YES to all of that. The part about Mollie was horrific. I loved the writing, I agree that this author has some wonderful talent. Such a good book, I truly couldn’t put it down!
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