Wednesday, May 21, 2014

The Curious Lives of Teenagers: Judging a Book by its Cover


Last year I surveyed my subjects (sophomore students) about what they like to see in a cover, and after shopping for new books for the library with them this year, they had a lot to say about things they liked and didn't like. This year they gave input again. The list of their thoughts includes gender (B/G) as well as how many books they've read for fun in the past 12 months. Enjoy!


  • G. 6 books. My favorite color is blue and the book in my bag is blue. Coincidence? I think not.
  • B. 1 book. Something that looks sci-fi & intense.
  • G. Semi-reader. Bright colors with some sort of photo.
  • B. 6 books. Cool pics or dark cover.
  • G. 100 books. No movie adaptation covers. NO models on the covers. Any color font. Symbolic covers J.
  • B. 5 books. I look at the title more than the pictures.
  • G. 10 books. Relaxed vibe, light blues.
  • G. 2 books. An interesting title with a font that matches the cover pic that shows emotion and intensity.
  • G. Kinda reader. Bright vibrant colors & a nice print.
  • G. 5 books. I usually pick up books that have a simple cover with smaller font and are not colorful.
  • G. 40 books. I’ll read anything on the table at B&N and not much else.
  • G. 7 books. Black and white if it’s non-fiction, bright colors for fantasy, miscellaneous creatures, catchy title. Cheesy (not good): bullying books (there’s too many), diaries.
  • B. 6 books. Just a picture of nachos.
  • B. Non-reader. Shiny with big font on cover. Very shiny. Very very shiny.
  • G. 15 books. Bright or pastel colors (but not together), paintings or artistic photos. I don’t like books with people’s faces close up as the cover.
  • G. Vintage. Yassss.
  • A very interesting picture that makes me want to learn more about what’s going on
  • The ocean
  • Books trying to look like Twilight or other popular books are just cheesy.
  • When the whole cover is split by the spine and when you open it it’s the whole picture is usually cliché.

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