Sun-Shiny

As the cliché goes: You can’t judge a book by its cover. But actually, you—we—can. And we do. And we should.

Several years ago I picked up a book about Pocahontas (I wanted to know more about her as a person) from the adult section of the library. But after I had brought it home and read only a few chapters, I threw it down in disgust with a feeling of betrayal. Ough! I didn’t want to read the kind of heaving-romance stuff that was in that book. I told my older sister about it and she said she’d known what the book would be like . . . from the cover.

In that case the picture of the half-dressed girl gave away what the interior would be like to everyone but my naive self. Book publishers are not dumb: they carefully choose cover picture, presentation, font, and even size to attract the audience they are looking for.

My sister (not the same one, I have three sisters, so sometimes the term is ambiguous) likes to read LDS romance novels. Despite our amusement at the fact, this is a growing genre with a distinctive look; cover pictures are rare, but optional, and the font is an elaborate cursive with lots of flourishes. Key title words include “eternity,” “love,” and “forever.” They have a specific style, and when you pick up one of those books you pretty much know that you are going to get a coming-of-age/world realization, self-discovery, indecision-and-then-resolution filled novel.

If you have ever grown up with girls, you are probably familiar with Baby-sitter Club books—distinctive by the pink and white checkered background. I never really read those—I preferred Nancy Drew—but after about two, you know how the Baby-sitter world is going to progress.

I, as an unfortunate J result of many years of public education, can spot a textbook a mile and many classrooms away. Textbooks simply radiate an unmistakable aura; the blockness, even the color, and the historical pictures all contribute to the very identity of a textbook. After one glance, a person familiar with textbooks could give you a very clear idea of the set-up: chapters, units, maps, short biographies of people, etc.

Lying around my house are a couple hundred children’s books. These books have bright, primary colors, animated pictures and un-complicated titles that go along with the basic stories and three-syllable-or-less words.

There is one book know throughout the world, immediately identifiable by its simple cover, and yet famous in every land and taught in every tongue: the Bible. In fact, the scripture presentation of every faith is very alike. Qur’an, Torah, Bagavhad Gita, Book of Mormon—all have, in almost every case, a very simple appearance.

We can make first judgments about a book by its cover, and it is important that we do so. We need to be able to make a decision based on presentation—we do not have the ability or time or patience to read every book we see to discover if its contents are what we are looking for. We rely on our sight, and in this case we have a high accuracy rate for being on the dot.