ShmoopTube

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[Dino and Coop singing]

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You've probably heard the expression "Don't judge a book by its cover." [Woman in a library]

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All it means is…don't jump to conclusions! [Boy jumps off a cliff]

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Like this guy…sure he may look intimidating, but once he finishes chatting about how much [Angry looking old man]

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he loves to snuggle his kitten, Mrs. Fluffington, well…you might have a whole new opinion [Old man smiling]

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on him.

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So you shouldn't make assumptions when meeting new people…but…what about when you're [Coop pointing at a blackboard]

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meeting new books?

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Well, turns out, people aren't books!

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Yup, we were surprised, too. [Boy and a book separated by a not equal sign]

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But we can make all sorts of good predictions about a book, just based on its cover. [Book with an apple on the cover]

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When we make a prediction, we're making a guess! [Dino pointing at a blackboard]

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So if we make a prediction about a book, we're probably guessing what it'll be about.

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And you might ask: why not just read the book? [Woman in a library with her hands up]

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After all, that's a sure-fire way to answer that question…

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The thing is, we're not trying to make 100% accurate predictions about what happens in [Boy in a lab coat holding the Apples book while it is on fire]

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the book, or trying to figure out the entire plot without reading it.

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We're just doing the sort of thing most readers do before reading a book...y'know, trying [Boy looking at the book in a library]

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to get a general idea of what the book's about.

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And it'd be nice to know whether or not a book lines to with your interests and tastes.

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If you love comedies with silly characters, you're probably not going to want to crack [Boy thinking of someone falling over]

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open a book about filing your taxes…

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Unless it's like…a clown filing his taxes. [A clown sat a desk holding paperwork]

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But even then…snoozetown, USA.

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One of the most helpful parts of a book for making predictions is the synopsis. [Coop pointing at a blackboard]

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If you flip open to the book's jacket, it'll usually give a quick summary of what happens

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in the book…

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…and it won't spoil the ending. [The book is opened to reveal the synopsis]

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Unlike our "friend" who spoiled the ending of The Hunger Games… [Boy looks annoyed]

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We're not still angry, or anything…but we are volunteering them as tribute.

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Anyway.

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A synopsis will not only tell us who the main characters are, but also give us some idea

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of the book's genre…

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… whether it be a Western…

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…or a detective story.

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Hopefully it's not both.

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Horses can really mess up a crime scene. [Horses trotting around a crime scene]

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We can also use the author's bio to make our predictions.

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Although an author's bio won't necessarily give us the author's entire life story –because [A book titled 'The Author's Life Story' appears]

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yeesh, that'd be one long bio…

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…they do shed at least some light on who the author was, and when they were writing.

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So, for instance, a writer who lived in the 1700s would be really unlikely to have many [1700s writer saying a man on the moon is nonsense]

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sci-fi elements in their story.

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Unless they were a secret time traveler… [Doctor Who's Tardis]

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Hey, you never know what secrets Shakespeare had hidden in those puffy sleeves. [Shakespeare next to the Tardis]

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The better you get at analyzing book covers, the easier it'll be to make solid

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predictions about a text.

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So we guess the expression should be changed to "Don't judge a book by its cover…unless

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you want to make predictions about the contents of an actual book." [Woman in the library with her hands on her hips]

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…Rolls right off the tongue…

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