Visuals in Schools

This is a presentation I would have liked to be a part of! Of course the visuals I see in schools as a librarian may not be what others think of first. I think of the display cases full of student work, from any subject. I think of signs telling you about fundraisers and up coming activities. I think of shelf labels and Dewey Decimal numbers! But mostly, I think of book covers!Cover art is an interest of mine. Because the old saying "you can't judge a book by it's cover" is wrong. You can, and will judge a book by it's cover. I've even seen a little research about this very topic. As books are published in each generation the covers change, and there are some very specific trends that have been found. I don't know much about those trends, and I can't remember where I saw that article but I have definite opinions about book covers! If you want a young adult, or a child to read a book it has to look appealing. I'm sorry but it's the truth. The books above and below this paragraph are the same book with different covers. Doomed Queen Anne is about Anne Boleyn and was written with a young adult audience in mind. The first cover seemed to be too juvenile for the young adult readers for which the book was written. The new cover appears to be more sophisticated.

I read a lot of young adult and children's literature. There are some good books kids won't touch. It's got to be appealing! I know one librarian, who does a Brown Bag Book Grab. She takes some classic older books from her library, good books that she can't afford to buy new copies of. She book talks each one and the students "bid" on a book that sounds good to them. The challenge is to take it home, open up the bag and read the book. They are NOT to open the bag until they are home and to read at least the first chapter. For some kids it works, others don't really get into it. But it's a great way to deal with judging books by their covers.


No matter if it's a young adult, children's, or adult novel I'm always looking at book covers. Currently I am looking at a lot of science fiction book covers during my Master's research. I am looking at current trends in young adult science fiction. So far I have read Peeps, Taken, and Candor (in that order) for my research. Can you tell which cover I like the best? The look of the book has been a consideration as I read. I take one that I like the look of, then one that doesn't "look" as good. That way I am not reading all the "good" books first. I ended up liking the book Taken a lot more than I thought I would, but I sandwiched it between Peeps and Candor for a reason...


PS
Here's an AWESOME trailer for The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. The trailer is actually narrated by the author as well. This book won the Newbery Medal in 2009.


PPS
Read the book Candor by Pam Bachorz and then check out this website! Ever want to know what makes a "good book?" When you HATE the ending, but still LOVE the book...that is a GOOD BOOK.