You can't judge a book by its cover, but many of us do.
As this blog winds down to a close for my Tween Literature class, I want to make some plans for the future to give me reason to continue blogging here. This place has become a nice archive for me to stash things (reflections, book reviews, websites) I find handy in terms of my work at the library. I want to try and read more obscure books that maybe do not get the same amount of light as certain best sellers. Yes, I loved Diary of a Wimpy Kid and know that I need to keep reading popular novels to stay current with what my patrons are reading, but what about when they have read all that they can read from the popular series and want more? This is where the Ugly Book Contest comes into play.
In her book Naked Reading Teri S. Lesesne brings up this idea she got from a fellow teacher and librarian in Texas. The librarian looks for books that have truly awful covers (we've all seen the ones), and puts these books on display for students to choose, read and redecorate in order to make the books' outsides as fabulous as their insides.
At the public library, we don't have quite the captive audience to redecorate all the bad book covers, but when I'm giving book talks to patrons I do have enough of their attention to make a case for a book with a bad cover. If I can find a good hook for a book with a strong plot there may be a chance that a patron just may take it home to give it a try. I have noticed with book talks in general that patrons tend to be first captivated by the cover but always make their final choice based on the most interesting sounding plot line. So, in the end, what's on the inside does count.
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