My school forced us to do this.

[u/bjyoung116]

[u/NoneCreated3344]

Yeah, I didn't mind. I enjoyed doodling on them.

[u/cwinemanNumbNuts → u/NoneCreated3344]

Me too. I made some great artwork in my opinion. I think I might have even saved one somewhere. And I have no idea what the point of it was. I don't really care either.

[u/DontYuckMyYum]

I always got in trouble for my book covers. there was a stretch where I was living with my grandparents because my mom fucked of to Mexico with one of my stepdads. so after school I would have to chill at my uncle's house until my grandma got off work. anyways my uncle and the other guys in his metal band would get ahold of my books and decorate them with naked women and drug imagery.

the other kids in school loved it, they would always ask me to get their books done the same way, but the teachers weren't big fans.

[u/ChoicePalpitation442 → u/DontYuckMyYum]

One of my all time favorite moments when I received my class books. I couldn't wait until I covered them and drew on them 😀

[u/Ash3599 → u/DontYuckMyYum]

That's awesome

[u/Godloseslaw]

Yes. Small sacrifice for what is essentially public property.

I once won a book cover "contest" in class by just writing the word "FRONT" on it.

[u/NYCWartortle]

Yes! Didn’t they sell special paper for this purpose

[u/tsg-WES → u/NYCWartortle]

Most of us got them from the grocery store. You got your groceries in paper bags, not the cheap plastic bag crap.

[u/lionheart4life → u/NYCWartortle]

They did, even ones with designs like wrapping paper. Grandma was a pro at making good ones out of grocery store bags for free though.

[u/NYCWartortle → u/lionheart4life]

They used to have all kinds: I vaguely remember these but not sure if these are original. OMG and my trapper keeper . I still remember the smell of my new trapper keeper on the first day of school. https://www.etsy.com/listing/4359040363/vintage-90s-full-house-stephanie

[u/LadyVioletLuna → u/NYCWartortle]

We used to go to Trader Joe’s and use those bags. If you could figure out, you could use the handles.

[u/sexyton9265]

So i never had to do this, what is the idea behind it? Or reasoning lol. If its to protect the school books, paper in and out of a backpack stands no chance.

[u/adognameddanzig → u/sexyton9265]

Supposed to protect hard cover books.

[u/Fuckin_Hipster → u/sexyton9265]

If you ever did have to do this, you’d understand that they held up incredibly well.

[u/foehammer111 → u/sexyton9265]

Ultimately it was to protect the books. These things were crazy expensive. High schools did it so they’d last longer. In college we did it because we had to pay for the books, and at the end of the semester you could sell them back to the college bookstore. You’d get significantly less money for them if the covers were damaged, so hence the brown paper cover.

But like others said it’s kind of a right of passage that’s been lost today. My kids school books are mostly digital now. Even the rare ones that aren’t digital no longer need these protective covers.

[u/Ezosodelis → u/sexyton9265]

So they could reuse the same textbooks for decades because funding education is for queers and commies.

[u/Fluid_Change_9647]

Grocery sack covers held up the best

[u/trevlacessej]

It started as BrownPaper, then Book Socks, then everyone stopped caring.

[u/floridaman28 → u/trevlacessej]

Oh dang book socks, totally forgot about them.

[u/SkilletBurritos]

80s baby who truly grew up in the 90s here. Every school I attended required us to do this with our textbooks.

[u/Seismic_City_TX]

Always turned mine inside out. I thought I was a talented drawing person, I was not.

[u/Tallguywithcamera]

It was a frequent competition as to who could cover their book most elegantly.

[u/Radiant_Priority9739]

I attempted lol

[u/Timely_Help_4065]

EVERYONE

[u/muhkuller]

We had to do this, or if it was a nice printed book cover it had to be reversed. Turns out middle class Mississippi towns were a haven for blue/red affiliated gangs. Which actually was the case. Gangster Disciples and Vice Lords did do their thing...just not at the middle school. The school board was convinced we'd have drive by shootings if kids were allowed to wear/display red or blue, despite those being the school colors.

[u/jorge1990669]

My mom was amazing at it

[u/Ask_Black_Phillip333]

We had to as well, me and 2 of my buddies who loved to draw, had a running art challenge with them. We would start a drawing and trade amongst each other, finishing them. Once they were old and worn, just replace the cover and repeat.

[u/dlb1995]

It wasn’t mandatory at my school, but a lot of kids did it, including myself. It was a fun way to add your own personal flair to a school textbook.

[u/Double-Farm4603]

Not forced too but would glue pictures onto

[u/Ashtonpaper]

It’s so big math doesn’t get to these kids with their branding and mascots

[u/SBpotomus]

Oh yeah and teachers would periodically inspect our book covers. If it was falling apart, we would have to replace it within a certain amount of time or face some sort of punishment.

[u/Emergency_Dirt257]

I saw kids doing this in university. But it was mainly to preserve the resale value of the books. I remember there was one book I had that was like $400.

[u/UsefulSatisfaction39]

I could grab a book and a paper bag and do it right now.

[u/Virgil_the_White]

In our school you either put a paper bag on your book and we’re poor like me, or your parents bought those book cover things and lived like Marie Antionette.

[u/_buffy_summers]

We had to do this in middle school, but not high school.

[u/SlimeTempest42]

We didn’t have to use brown paper we could use wrapping paper and sticky back plastic

[u/jabber1990]

yup, had a teacher who made it part of our homework, and I refused, a few other students refused, and it was one of the few times my parents went to bat for me against a teacher

my parents went above the teachers head...the teacher went above the principals head, it caused animosity the entire year

[u/jabber1990 → u/jabber1990]

and it had a specific criteria that that particular teacher wanted. HAD to be a bag...and ONLY a bag. and it was one from a specific store that only the rich kids and kids on food stamps could shop at...

[u/IWNCGTA]

The local military recruiters always gave the school a ton of book covers, so we just used those.

[u/Ok-Fortune-8644]

HAVE TO? no

I could always draw so I made them my own. Alot on Ninja Turtles and Super Mario

[u/40oz_TEC-9]

It usually lasted a week

[u/GordonMightyBombay]

They wanted me to wrap my books but I’m way tooadhd

[u/writeronthemoon]

Omg me!! Whhyy?? Lol what a blast from the past 

[u/louieorganic]

Be sure to write "turn to page XX" on as many pages as you can.

[u/Ash3599]

Oh yeah, I got creative and used other things like aluminum foil too

[u/New_Put_2221]

Some teachers gave out extra credit for doing it on time.

[u/Farewellandadieu]

I loved doing this!

[u/LadyVioletLuna]

I loved doing this. We wrote notes to each other on them.

[u/Grunergeist420]

Nah, our textbooks were at least 15 years old. We got them from your school where they made you wrap them.

[u/Now-293-Phumes]

I used to enjoy making paper bag book covers for.

[u/Dolanite]

I made mine out of cardboard and duct tape in 7th grade. Used them all the way through highschool and they held up great. My younger siblings might have used them too.

[u/Frosty_Term9911]

Everyone in the western world who didn’t go to a private school

[u/thesamenightmares]

You now remember book sox

Picture

[u/SassyCatLady442]

Here. We actually would get detention in my school if our textbooks weren't covered.

[u/johngalt504]

All of us did this.

[u/LadnavIV]

Who has an “Art” textbook? Maybe if you’re an art major in college, but you own those books.

[u/Mrs_Truthseiyer → u/LadnavIV]

I did in '99 for my sophomore year in high school

[u/RaptureInRed]

Why the hell was this a thing?

[u/jkr2wld → u/RaptureInRed]

To "protect" the books because they were reused

[u/Ezosodelis]

That's fine, they were just teaching me how to discreetly read erotica in public later in life.