1. Parts of a Book

2. Most books have at least five of these parts. Spine Cover Author Illustrator Title Title Page Table of Contents Index Glossary Bibliography

3. The Spine  The spine of a book is the part that you see when the book is on the shelf. The call numbers are on the spine.  The spine of a book helps hold your book together and keep it strong just like the spine in your body does!

4. The Cover  The cover is the outside of a book. There is usually a front cover, a back cover, and the part in between them called the spine.  The cover of a book will include the title of the book.

5. The Author  The author is the person who wrote the book.  This information will be on the title page and usually on the cover.

6. The Illustrator  The illustrator is the person who draws the pictures in the book or on the cover.

7. Title or Title Page  The title of the book is usually on the cover.  You can also see the title on the “title page” of the book, usually right inside the cover.

8. Table of Contents The table of contents will list the chapters or sections and tell you what on page they start.

9. The Index The index of a book will list all of the major topics – in alphabetical order – and tell you on what pages the information starts and stops. This will help you to quickly decide if a book has enough information about your topic so you don’t have to read the entire book to find one special topic.

10. The Glossary TTTThe glossary is a little dictionary in the back of the book that defines words you might not understand.

11. Bibliography  The bibliography of a book lists all of the people who wrote books or articles that gave the author ideas and help when he wrote his book.  It is a fair way to give credit to others who did work before the author. example:  Ricciuti, Edward R. What on Earth is a Capybara? Woodbridge, CT: Blackbirch, 1995.

12. Refresher Questions…  What part of the book holds the book together?  Spine

13.  Who is the person who wrote the book?  Author 

14.  Who is the person who drew the pictures?  Illustrator

15.  What is the company that makes the book called?  Publisher

16.  What protects the pages in the book?  Cover

17.  What is the page that tells you the name of the book, author, illustrator and publisher?  Title Page 

18. Let’s look a little closer at the title page…

20. Why is it important to know where the parts of a book are?

21. Now let’s line up quietly and get ready to check out books!