This week the intermediate classes previewed a set of books that will be a part of the PAC-sponsored Scholastic Book Fair next week (February 6 and 7 in the Blair Library). I wrote the phrase "Don't Judge a Book by its Cover" on a chart and asked each class to tell me if they had heard the expression before and what they thought it meant. Many students responded very literally, explaining that just because a cover of a book doesn't look very interesting, the story inside could be really good! Many other students realized that this expression had a more symbolic meaning and shared their ideas around not judging others by their appearance, their haircut or the clothes they are wearing - that the true judgement of a person is based on what is inside. Such big and important thinking!
I put a collection of books out on the tables and we talked about book covers - what information the cover can tell us. The title, the author for sure but also the intended audience can be suggested by the artwork on the cover. We talked a little about the marketing aspect of the publishing industry as well. The students literally judged the books by their covers first...
and then dug deeper by reading the book summaries on the back of the book and opening up the books and reading inside to find out what the book was really like.
There was lots of great discussion about choosing books and hopefully this is a bit of a life lesson for our students. I told them that as an adult, when I am in a bookstore or library, I still open up a book and just starting reading the first few pages to see if it is a "just right" book for me!
~Ms Novakowski
