Learning About the Parts of a Book

Books are incredible things. They tell stories of superheroes and faraway lands, magical fairies and wicked witches, dragons, princesses, pirates, and more. They teach us about history, the land we live on, the animal kingdom, the foods we should eat, and more.

But what exactly makes up a book? If you’re teaching parts of a book, you’ve landed in the right place. Let’s have a bit of fun as we dissect these very special objects.

On the front of a book

You might have heard the saying ‘don’t judge a book by its cover,’ but we can learn a lot about a book by the information up front.

Here, you’ll find the title of the book. This is often shown in big letters. You will also probably see a name or two. One will be the author of the book, and the other could be a secondary author or the illustrator.

Inside the book

Let’s open up the book. You’ll see the title and the name of the author again, plus a whole bunch of little writing – but don’t be intimidated. This usually shows the publisher, and the year the book was released.

Then, some books have a table of contents that outlines what you’ll find in the book and where.

Now it’s time to read

As you start to read a book, you’ll notice big words at the top of certain pages. These are chapter titles, and they help you to understand what this section of the book is about.

The smaller words below the chapter title are called text. Most of a book is made up of text. This is where you’ll learn or uncover the story.

Text is sometimes accompanied by images, graphs, charts, and other visual elements that add further information or bring characters and settings to life.

The back cover and spine

Books have spines too! This is the side of the book, and usually includes the name of the book and the author.

The back cover may offer a blurb about the book, reviews, or a little more information about the writer.

Learn about the parts of a book

Click here to watch our pirate-y video that teaches the parts of a book.