Don't Judge that Book!

By: Michele, Children's Librarian

You have probably heard the saying "Don't Judge a book by it's cover" but do covers count when children and teens are choosing what to read? Yes! According to the following study.

250 self-selected participants in sixth, seventh, or eighth grade were in the study. Fiction served as the focus of the study because, as librarian Ed Sullivan recognizes, “…Good cover art applies most to works of fiction, where serendipity plays a more significant role in readers’ choices. Readers who browse for recreational reading in nonfiction are likely to do so in a particular subject.”

Since Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers (selected by a committee of the Young Adult Library Services Association) is the only national list to consider cover art as a criterion, the study includes the fiction books for middle school from the 2005 Quick Picks list.
Over the course of a week, participants reported to the school library to complete the short online questionnaire.

Using a list of nine factors, students checked how they “usually,” “sometimes”, or “rarely” select fiction books from the school library. They responded to the potential appeal of the covers from the fiction Quick Picks.

For the students in this study, covers impacted their selection of fiction books more than any other factor. The nine factors that most impacted student selection, in order from greatest to least, were: cover; title; reading the cover’s flap copy, summary, and/or other text; genre; recommendation from a friend; recommendation from a librarian; series; length; author.

The five covers that received the highest votes:

Shooter Walter Dean Myers 60.6 percent

The Boy Who Couldn't Die William Sleator 59.4 percent

Can't Get There From Here Todd Strasser 57.8 percent

The Last Chance Texaco Brent Hartinger 55 percent

TTYL Lauren Myracle 52.5 percent