Can You Judge a Book by Its Cover?

We have all heard the saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover," but is that true?

A cover can tell you so much about a book and is often what gets readers interested: it can signal the genre, tone, time period and plot of a book. Paired with the book title, the cover can sometimes give you all you need to know.

For example, what comes to mind when you picture a thriller cover? A thriller might have a dark forest, a house at night or maybe a mysterious figure. When it comes to graphic novels, the art is half the appeal! The art contributes to the story, and books like The Arrival by Shaun Tan and Robot Dream by Sara Varon rely entirely on their illustrations to tell the story and feature no dialogue at all.

Choosing a book just because of an eye-catching cover can also be fun. Most books I read are recommendations or new releases from my favorite authors. Picking up books based off their covers leads me to authors, genres and topics I would not normally read. While not all books’ contents are as good as their covers, even the misses can be enriching.

The cover calls to you for a reason! If the summary is as captivating as the cover, why not give it a try?

Here are a few examples of books I picked up for the beautiful and eye-catching covers.

Books With Eye-Catching Covers