Book Jacket Predictions

Our teachers and parents always told us not to judge a book by its cover--usually before having us read a very boring book. While this idea is a good maxim to live by in general, my experience tends to be that publishers spend more on fancy covers for books they know are going to sell (the interesting ones).



That gave me an idea for a fun classroom activity. Bring up (or print out, depending on your resources or level. Print outs will be helpful for additional reads at home and for providing word glosses, but the online version may feel more interactive to students in class.) Amazon.com or your e-bookstore of choice. On Amazon, under each genre tab customers see the covers of six or so of the latest books. These new releases also frequently have the "look inside" feature that allows you to read the first few pages.

Together, teachers can use these features to have students predict what they think will happen in the book. First, show them the cover. For a larger class, I would prefer to have them work in groups and discuss the picture, so each group will come up with their own interpretation. There, they will have to discuss clues that cue them in on whether the book is fiction or nonfiction, and what sort of world they have to play with. Then they can write down their results. When the class is regathered, students can take turns reading from the excerpt provided. Testing their comprehension of it is the fun part!

Have the students write what they think will happen. The scholastic part, of course, will be a summary of their version with supporting clues from the text, but I think the fun part is asking them to include a climactic scene or a turning point in the story. With their own creativity at work in it, students will probably put more work into their summary, too!

The American Harry Potter covers would be great for this exercise because students would already be familiar with the characters and dimensions of the world. Unfortunately, these books have become so popular that they are probably also familiar with the plot! Similar series that are less popular, however, include Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Gregor the Overlander, and Artemis Fowl.

I think young adult fantasy and science fiction would probably yield the most varied results, the most interesting covers, and the most appropriate reading level. After all, what could be a better follow up activity than to read the book and compare the results?

Or in the case of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, students can make these predictions... make a few more based on the movie trailer... read the novel... compare it to traditional Greek myths... and then maybe even compare the book to the movie when it comes out! Or while you're getting into it, you could just take them on a vacation to Greece! (Can I join your class?)