History Main / BookAndSwitch

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12023037/7/Hitting-the-tomes Hitting the Tomes]]'' Harry hides ''Literature/AnimalFarm'' inside the fifth-year Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook.
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11996609/6/Wear-Me-Like-A-Locket-Around-Your-Throat Wear Me Like a Locket Around Your Throat]]'' Cassius hides a ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' comic inside a book on chess.
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12977731/18/Whispers-in-the-Lake Whispers in the Lake]]'' many Hogwarts students hide the ''Quibbler'' issue where Harry reveals Voldemort's return inside their DADA textbooks.
* In ''[[http://www.potionsandsnitches.org/fanfiction/viewstory.php?sid=3584&textsize=0&chapter=4 Phoenix Burning]]'' Ron hides a Quidditch magazine inside one of his textbooks.
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7832676/8/Petunia-s-Boys Petunia's Boys]]'' Ron hides a Quidditch magazine inside a book on Charms.

* In ''Cat Ballou'', the title character hides a [[DimeNovel dime novel]] behind a poetry book by Tennyson while taking the train home from finishing school.

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_critic_shame.png]]
[-[[caption-width-right:250:Image by [[http://www.dylanmeconis.com/ Dylan Meconis]].]]-]

* ''WebVideo/ReallyFreakinClever'': In the opening to "64 Things WRONG With ''VideoGame/MajorasMask'': Part 3", Josh pretends to read a textbook until he accidentally drops it and reveals he's actually reading a ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' comic.

At least, they ''would'' think this except they aren't idiots. Inevitably the switch is discovered and the character executing it is embarrassed. And we all learn a valuable lesson - this character wants people to think he's smart, but he's really either a geek or an idiot. Usually the former for sympathetic ones, the latter for non-sympathetic ones.

* ''Theatre/TheOddCouple''- during a rehearsal for "Scrooge", one of the characters (Speed) is hiding porn underneath his script and is sort of not paying attention to the rehearsal. He is suddenly asked to read for the part of Scrooge. But he thinks they want him to read the porn. He balks, saying he would be embarrassed. He's coaxed into reading and begins reciting a passage from the porn, to which a very surprised Felix says, "Charles Dickens never wrote that".

* In ''Manga/KareKano'' Yukino is seen hiding a comedy book under a serious cover. Arima scolds her for putting up a front.

* [[SmugSnake Percy Wetmore]], of ''Film/TheGreenMile'', reads a Tijuana Bible (a pornographic comic from the 30's and 40's featuring icons of the day, essentially the pre-internet version of RuleThirtyFour) behind a copy of the regulations for the mental hospital he wants to transfer to. This scene is in the book, where he's explicitly reading a {{Popeye}} Tijuana Bible.

* In the miniseries "Midsummer's Nightmare" that led up to Creator/GrantMorrison's ''[[Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica JLA]]'' run, Wally West, having lost his memory of being the Flash, was teaching high school and catches one of his students doing this.

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* One of the ''WebVideo/ImAMarvelAndImADC'' videos has this (2:45 in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nY5jVtn6eGA here]]).
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* ''Film/EightMM''. This is how PrivateEye Tom Welles realises Max California might be useful. Max is reading porn while working in an adult bookstore, but Welles notes he's underlining passages and calls him on it. Max is actually reading Truman Capote's ''In Cold Blood''.

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12023037/7/Hitting-the-tomes Hitting the Tomes]]'' Harry hides ''Literature/AnimalFarm'' behind the fifth-year Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook.

* [[SmugSnake Percy Wetmore]], of ''Film/TheGreenMile'', reading a Tijuana Bible (a pornographic comic from the 30's and 40's, featuring icons of the day, essentially the pre-internet version of RuleThirtyFour) behind a copy of the regulations for the mental hospital he wanted to transfer to. This scene is in the book, where he's explicitly reading a {{Popeye}} Tijuana Bible.

* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' does this on quite a few Sunday editions; Calvin always hides a comic book inside his textbook.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' has Stan Marsh, who's on a Food Network Frenzy, hide a cookbook under a Playboy magazine.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' episode, "Suspended", after Arnold gets suspended for two days for trying to convince Principal Wartz to lift Harold's suspension, Arnold and Harold go to the library to do some research on an appeal. Only Arnold does actual research since Harold is revealed to be reading comic books under the books he is looking through.

Somebody is reading something, but doesn't want anyone else to know what it is. It could be rather inappropriate for clique rank, like a jock reading a girly magazine. It could be inappropriate to read anywhere outside a bedroom, like a magazine with naked women in it. Heck, maybe it's just a comic book, and for the sake of impressing people, it's prudent to pretend to read [[SmallReferencePools (insert well-known intelligent-sounding book here)]] instead... or maybe they're supposed to be paying attention in school and just don't want to. Sometimes, for children particularly, the problem is that people with authority to stop the character will assert that the book is hard, whether for reading level or subject matter, for the character.

* Inverted on a Magazine/{{MAD}} cover. Alfred E. Neuman appears to be reading ''Mad'', but behind it you can see he's really enjoying Shakespeare.

* ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'' episode ''Shoeless Al'' has Bud hiding a Big-Uns in a large textbook, its pointed out by a lawyer who is staying with the family in order to catch Al lying in his frivolous lawsuit.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' episode, "Suspended", after Arnold gets suspended for two days for trying to convince Principal Wartz to lift Harold's suspension, Arnold and Harold go to the library to do some research on an appeal. Only Arnold does actual research, since Harold is revealed to be reading comic books under the books he is looking through.