5 Things To Teach Children About Judging Books (And People) By Their Covers
We’ve always been told to ‘never judge a book by it’s cover’. Covers can be elaborate, plain, some are so beautiful and some are completely unattractive to the readers eye. Some have very little color, but it’s what’s in the book that matters. Even the most attractive cover can be the worst read and the plainest of covers can be one of the most intense books you’ve ever picked up. Choosing to read a book based on it’s cover or turning it away because of it, can cause you to miss out on something really wonderful, or you could wish you would have never read it at all because you based it on the cover. But here’s the thing: turns out books and people are not so different…
5 Things To Teach Children About Judging Books (And People) By Their Covers
People are the same. Some are judged by whether they are too skinny, too fat, pretty or unattractive to the persons eye and people will judge on whether they want to get to know them based on what they see, but it’s what’s on the inside that matters. The most beautiful of people can have the ugliest of character and the most unattractive can be the most beautiful and pleasurable to know.
1. The author will spend their time pouring their feelings into their work and it may be wonderful to some and others may despise it. The same goes for people. They will pour their life’s lessons into the person they internally and mentally become and some people will think they are wonderful and others may not like them at all. Personal preference.
2. Books have chapters, just like our lives. Where one ends another begins leading us from what happened before and what will become. Each chapter teaches us more about the book the same as it does a person. The hardships, the joys, the scenes of where the story takes place, lessons learned. Chapters in a book, just as in life, vary in length. Sometimes the author makes their point and paints a picture in a few pages, where people may face a situation that may take longer before they can move onto their next life’s chapter.
3. Books have titles and unfortunately so do people. I read a book not to long ago that after I read it, I asked myself, “What did the title have to do with the book? It was completely confusing. I thought at some point the title would have been explained but the book itself went a completely different direction and had nothing to do with the title. I believe this happens with people far too often. Except instead of using the word ‘titles’, ‘labels’ would be more appropriate, however I fail to see the difference in some circumstances. While books require a title, people should not be given a label and yet, they are. For people, labels definitely have a a way of detracting people from wanting to give them the chance to get them to know them especially if the label is a negative one. Whether it be a positive or negative label, it can be just as confusing and inaccurate as those given to some books. Possibly even completely untrue and most certainly unfair. Book titles can definitely turn a person away from any interest in reading it, but that is why there is so much put into them…to attract the reader.
4. We can get a snippet of what the book is about and know whether it may be something we’d be interested in reading…again, personal preference. With people we can determine based on some of their likes and dislikes whether we’d have anything in common, but we have to take the time, get past the cover and the title long enough to read the synopsis. We can do the same with people if only we would take the time to get enough information to see what, if anything, we have in common.
5. Not all books are good and not all people are either, but how about we put the famous saying, “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover” to use towards people as well and leave the titles/labels for the books.
