Community Chat

[Terrywu]

Lived in Chicago all my life and always had to cover books.  Used brown paper bags, no Scotch tape. I remember perfectly folding but wonder if I could do it now.  Thanks for the memory.

[sunshine45]

i used brown paper bags, special book paper wrappers that i think they sold at the school store, and even regular old wrapping paper for some pizzazz. some kids used to use the sunday comics to wrap their books. by the time i was in my last three years of high school, we had to purchase our books, so i never covered them.

[gardenman]

---

@proudlyfromNJ wrote:

---

@Sooner wrote:

Never covered a school book or saw anyone do it.  Ever. 

---

@Sooner  Ours had to be covered to keep them in the best condition as possible as they would be handed down to the next incoming class. You also could not turn down the pages, tear them or write on them.

---

The same here. You were required to inspect your books when you got them and notify the teacher if there was anything wrong. (Torn pages, missing pages, writing in the book, heavy wear, etc.) If you found anything you had to report it and the issue would be noted. The books were then inspected again by the staff at the end of the school year and if there was heavy wear, writing, bent, torn, or missing pages, or any issue at all, you would be expected to pay for replacing the book. Many of the books we used dated back to the fifties (this was in the seventies) so they held onto them forever. You had to be very careful how you handled the books or you'd get billed for the damage. Book covers helped to keep the books safe. 

[Sooner]

Where I lived, the teachers were more worried about finding some kids a pair of shoes or a jacket.  And it's still that way in a lot of places in the rural areas of this country.

[faeriemoon]

Books aways covered.  Either with brown paper bags or with actual book covers.  The brown paper bags always worked better because they weren't skimpy, and you could get the book far into the sleeve so your book cover  wouldn't slip off.

[ROMARY]

When I said butcher paper, I meant that we could purchase a long sheet from the grocery store.  Maybe 5 cents or so for a long sheet. 

It was on a large roll with a long blade cutter,  and the grocery man just ripped off a sheet for us.

Well, that's what I remember.  Who knows.  

We lived in a medium city, and the teachers were very particular re: returning our books in almost excellent condition. 

No highlighted sentences and no page corner ear folds, etc. 

[beckyb1012]

Always had to cover them until high school then we were considered old enough to be responsible, or not. 

The school always provided the brown covers with local businesses advertised and different info. about our campus on the covers.  We could replace anytime through out the school year when they became to messy.

[Drythe]

---

@Sooner wrote:

Where I lived, the teachers were more worried about finding some kids a pair of shoes or a jacket.  And it's still that way in a lot of places in the rural areas of this country.

---

@Sooner 

I live in the rural south.

We still have to find shoes, jackets, AND bookcovers.  😀

[bikerbabe]

We covered with brown paper bags but it certainly wasn’t required. It was “uncool” if you didn’t.

And then you’d draw all over while you were bored 😑 in class. 💤

Everyone had backpacks because lockers were gross and got broken into. No one used the lockers

1980s.

[Spurt]

---

@Flatbush wrote:

---

@Spurt wrote:

I live in South Texas----

Butterkrust Bakery provided a few school book covers but those quickly ran out so the majority used brown paper bags to cover our school books.............

---

@Spurt Oh my, perfectly done!

---

@Flatbush 

Just to clarify these are not my actual books, the photo is just how the paper bag covers were supposed to look.....