Some data and analysis of a project I designed, ran, analyzed, and presented within a practicum course at the University of Virginia.
There is a commonly held belief that children are most attracted to appealing covers when choosing fictional books. For example, a study in Turkey found that teachers strongly believed that interesting covers led to children choosing the book (Kotaman & Tekin, 2017). In this study, we investigated whether children prefer books with fancy covers or interesting story content. Forty 3- to 12-year-olds (M = 79.06 months, SD = 24.78 months; 18 female) were presented three different pairs of books. One book had an elaborate cover and a short, vague description, whereas the other book had a bland cover with a detailed description. Researchers read the descriptions, checked children’s comprehension, and then instructed children to pick which book they liked better and why. Parents were asked their opinions on how children choose their books, and their responses were categorized into three themes: Cover/Pictures, Content/Topic/Subject, and Other Ways. Surprisingly, children did not select books with fancy covers significantly more often than chance (M = 1.64 out of 3, SD = 0.84), t(38) = 1.05, p = .302, Cohen’s d = 0.17. Looking at parents’ responses, the Cover/Pictures category had the highest count (23), followed closely by Content/Topic/Subject (21) and then OtheWays (12). Overall, children did not prefer fancy covers to interesting content, and parents’ responses similarly showed a lack of emphasis on covers versus content. Further research on what specific book cover features interest children may reveal more about their fiction preferences. Key words: Fiction, children, book covers, book content