"I totally appreciate the virtue of getting him to see beyond the cover, but on the other hand could you just change the cover? What's he attracted to in a cover? Iridescence? A dragon? A cool dude? He could make a new cover! A collage, even a collage from other books. He could make a dozen all-purpose covers, ready to be stuck on to whatever book you'd like to give him next."
"When I was a kid my mum and I used to make exercise book covers together, colourful crayon and watercolour, that got contact-papered on to my homework books. That way school work wasn't so unbelievably tedious. Among a slew of other belongings left carelessly at the bottom of the school bag to accrue crumbs and creases, the homework books always looked kind of special to me. They didn't seem standard issue or severe. They looked like me, like the care other people invested in me."
A child who dismisses books because of cover art can be helped by altering the visible cover so the story gets a fair chance. Practical approaches include having the child design new covers, make collages, create multiple swap-on covers, or wrap books in brown paper and design a cover after sampling the content. Decorative options like coloured foil or bold effects satisfy visual attraction while redirecting attention to narrative. Granting creative control and rituals around cover-making can make books feel personal and special, reducing instant rejection and encouraging reading.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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