{"id":46,"date":"2013-06-21T11:44:00","date_gmt":"2013-06-21T11:44:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-09-28T04:26:37","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T04:26:37","slug":"can-you-judge-a-book-by-its-cover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/can-you-judge-a-book-by-its-cover\/","title":{"rendered":"Can You Judge a Book by Its Cover?"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

<\/a>Those who know me well, are resigned to my evangelical conversion to the e-reader. The convenience, accessibility of books and light-weight nature of the e-reader had me at “e”. But that being the case, I still appreciate the beauty of the physical book, which my cherished library can attest to.<\/span><\/div>

<\/div>
<\/span><\/div>
Perhaps what I miss most with e-books are the book covers; well, I miss some<\/i> covers. There have certainly been times when the cover of a book\u2014even a beloved novel\u2014has been so…wrong, it\u2019s quite off-putting. I don\u2019t know I have any in my collection quite<\/i> this disturbing, but here\u2019s a couple from an article on \u2018Flavorwire\u2019 highlighting twenty of the worst covers<\/a> for classical books. They\u2019re so appallingly inappropriate you can only laugh ’til you cry.<\/span><\/div>
<\/div> <\/span>

<\/div>
<\/a>The physical book, and covers in particular, can be problematic when \u201cselling\u201d a book to a child or teen.  <\/span>Many books<\/span>\u2014<\/span>particularly classics that had a dated look<\/span>\u2014<\/span>were summarily rejected on that basis by my son, even though he loved to read. A musty or peculiar smell was another factor for rejection. Sometimes I was lucky enough to find an alternative edition of the book and present it at a later date, but usually once the judgement had been made\u2014well, that was it. E-books circumvent this issue, as the cover art is rarely a consideration.<\/span><\/div>
<\/div>
<\/span><\/div>
<\/span><\/div>
And that\u2019s also the e-book shortfall when it comes to younger readers. The cover art is often that\u2014art\u2014and an engaging image, often a collation of story elements, imbeds itself in the memory along with the enjoyment of a  novel. Over recent years, I\u2019ve given a great deal of thought to the pros and cons of the e-reader verses the physical book from the perspective of children and young adults, a topic I\u2019ll explore another time as it’s something of a digression from the topic of book covers.  <\/span><\/div>

  Designing Book Covers<\/span><\/b><\/h3>

<\/a>While the laughably inappropriate covers above are certainly poor examples of cover art, there are some beautiful and fanciful covers now decorating bookstore shelves. When creating a design that’s engaging and attractive for the young adult market, a raft of considerations come into play. This interview with Tom Forget in the article, ‘The Secret Lives of YA Cover Designers’ <\/a>provides some interesting insights.<\/span><\/div>
When discussing this topic recently, Cereal Readers’ Kara Smith nominated the book, ‘Clockwork Princess’ from the Infernal Devices<\/a> series by Cassandra Clare as one of her recent favourites, while I find the ethereal covers for the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness<\/a> series by Michelle Paver, both primitive and strangely moving.

<\/a><\/div>Vintage book covers have their own unique appeal, often bundling our childhood memories into their bright illustrations\u2014<\/span><\/span>slipping us back in time as easily as those glossy jackets slide off the treasured hardbacks. A fond exploration of the tactile nature of vintage books and covers was recently the topic of a PaperPi blog<\/a>. PaperPi pays homage to all things paper, highlighting its remarkable beauty and versatility.

<\/a>


Book covers. What started as a simple musing has become a delta of topics, too multifaceted to explore in just one post. For my colleague, Kara, book covers are a special subject indeed, and now she\u2019s opened my eyes: there’s a lot more to talk about! So, expect to see another blog or two on book covers in the not-too-distant future. If you have a particular cover\u2014old or new\u2014that says something special to you, please comment.<\/span><\/div> <\/span><\/b>
<\/div>
Marielle Rebbechi<\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Those who know me well, are resigned to my evangelical conversion to the e-reader. The convenience, accessibility of books and light-weight nature of the e-reader had me at “e”. But…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1264,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,29,94,95,82,93,69,50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-covers","category-books-in-series","category-books-vs-e-books","category-e-books","category-kids-books","category-vintage-books","category-ya","category-young-adult"],"yoast_head":"\nCan You Judge a Book by Its Cover? - Cereal Readers Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/can-you-judge-a-book-by-its-cover\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Can You Judge a Book by Its Cover? - Cereal Readers Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Those who know me well, are resigned to my evangelical conversion to the e-reader. The convenience, accessibility of books and light-weight nature of the e-reader had me at “e”. But...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/can-you-judge-a-book-by-its-cover\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cereal Readers Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-06-21T11:44:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-28T04:26:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/clockwork-princess-cassandra-clare.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"422\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"648\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Marielle Rebbechi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Marielle Rebbechi\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cerealreaders.com\\\/blog\\\/can-you-judge-a-book-by-its-cover\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cerealreaders.com\\\/blog\\\/can-you-judge-a-book-by-its-cover\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Marielle Rebbechi\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cerealreaders.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ac11ba9b46d0967c740e02a820607614\"},\"headline\":\"Can You Judge a Book by Its Cover?\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-06-21T11:44:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-28T04:26:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cerealreaders.com\\\/blog\\\/can-you-judge-a-book-by-its-cover\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":597,\"commentCount\":1,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cerealreaders.com\\\/blog\\\/can-you-judge-a-book-by-its-cover\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cerealreaders.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2013\\\/06\\\/clockwork-princess-cassandra-clare.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"book covers\",\"books in series\",\"books vs e-books\",\"e-books\",\"kid's books\",\"vintage books\",\"YA\",\"young adult\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cerealreaders.com\\\/blog\\\/can-you-judge-a-book-by-its-cover\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cerealreaders.com\\\/blog\\\/can-you-judge-a-book-by-its-cover\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cerealreaders.com\\\/blog\\\/can-you-judge-a-book-by-its-cover\\\/\",\"name\":\"Can You Judge a Book by Its Cover? - Cereal Readers Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cerealreaders.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cerealreaders.com\\\/blog\\\/can-you-judge-a-book-by-its-cover\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cerealreaders.com\\\/blog\\\/can-you-judge-a-book-by-its-cover\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cerealreaders.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2013\\\/06\\\/clockwork-princess-cassandra-clare.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-06-21T11:44:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-28T04:26:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cerealreaders.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ac11ba9b46d0967c740e02a820607614\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cerealreaders.com\\\/blog\\\/can-you-judge-a-book-by-its-cover\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cerealreaders.com\\\/blog\\\/can-you-judge-a-book-by-its-cover\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cerealreaders.com\\\/blog\\\/can-you-judge-a-book-by-its-cover\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cerealreaders.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2013\\\/06\\\/clockwork-princess-cassandra-clare.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cerealreaders.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2013\\\/06\\\/clockwork-princess-cassandra-clare.jpg\",\"width\":422,\"height\":648},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cerealreaders.com\\\/blog\\\/can-you-judge-a-book-by-its-cover\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cerealreaders.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Can You Judge a Book by Its Cover?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cerealreaders.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cerealreaders.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Cereal Readers Blog\",\"description\":\"Series books that keep kids reading!\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cerealreaders.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cerealreaders.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ac11ba9b46d0967c740e02a820607614\",\"name\":\"Marielle Rebbechi\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cerealreaders.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/04\\\/003242357-Marielle-Option-1-bw-400px-150x150.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cerealreaders.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/04\\\/003242357-Marielle-Option-1-bw-400px-150x150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cerealreaders.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/04\\\/003242357-Marielle-Option-1-bw-400px-150x150.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Marielle Rebbechi\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cerealreaders.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/marielle-rebbechi\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Can You Judge a Book by Its Cover? - Cereal Readers Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/can-you-judge-a-book-by-its-cover\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Can You Judge a Book by Its Cover? - Cereal Readers Blog","og_description":"Those who know me well, are resigned to my evangelical conversion to the e-reader. The convenience, accessibility of books and light-weight nature of the e-reader had me at “e”. But...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/can-you-judge-a-book-by-its-cover\/","og_site_name":"Cereal Readers Blog","article_published_time":"2013-06-21T11:44:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-09-28T04:26:37+00:00","og_image":[{"width":422,"height":648,"url":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/clockwork-princess-cassandra-clare.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Marielle Rebbechi","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Marielle Rebbechi","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/can-you-judge-a-book-by-its-cover\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/can-you-judge-a-book-by-its-cover\/"},"author":{"name":"Marielle Rebbechi","@id":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ac11ba9b46d0967c740e02a820607614"},"headline":"Can You Judge a Book by Its Cover?","datePublished":"2013-06-21T11:44:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-28T04:26:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/can-you-judge-a-book-by-its-cover\/"},"wordCount":597,"commentCount":1,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/can-you-judge-a-book-by-its-cover\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/clockwork-princess-cassandra-clare.jpg","articleSection":["book covers","books in series","books vs e-books","e-books","kid's books","vintage books","YA","young adult"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/can-you-judge-a-book-by-its-cover\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/can-you-judge-a-book-by-its-cover\/","url":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/can-you-judge-a-book-by-its-cover\/","name":"Can You Judge a Book by Its Cover? - Cereal Readers Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/can-you-judge-a-book-by-its-cover\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/can-you-judge-a-book-by-its-cover\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/clockwork-princess-cassandra-clare.jpg","datePublished":"2013-06-21T11:44:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-28T04:26:37+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ac11ba9b46d0967c740e02a820607614"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/can-you-judge-a-book-by-its-cover\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/can-you-judge-a-book-by-its-cover\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/can-you-judge-a-book-by-its-cover\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/clockwork-princess-cassandra-clare.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/clockwork-princess-cassandra-clare.jpg","width":422,"height":648},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/can-you-judge-a-book-by-its-cover\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Can You Judge a Book by Its Cover?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/","name":"Cereal Readers Blog","description":"Series books that keep kids reading!","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ac11ba9b46d0967c740e02a820607614","name":"Marielle Rebbechi","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/003242357-Marielle-Option-1-bw-400px-150x150.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/003242357-Marielle-Option-1-bw-400px-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/003242357-Marielle-Option-1-bw-400px-150x150.jpg","caption":"Marielle Rebbechi"},"url":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/author\/marielle-rebbechi\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1267,"href":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46\/revisions\/1267"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cerealreaders.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}