diff --git a/crates/mdbook-core/src/book.rs b/crates/mdbook-core/src/book.rs
index 424c19c4be..e542c8e375 100644
--- a/crates/mdbook-core/src/book.rs
+++ b/crates/mdbook-core/src/book.rs
@@ -11,9 +11,9 @@ mod tests;
 
 /// A tree structure representing a book.
 ///
-/// For the moment a book is just a collection of [`BookItems`] which are
-/// accessible by either iterating (immutably) over the book with [`iter()`], or
-/// recursively applying a closure to each section to mutate the chapters, using
+/// A book is just a collection of [`BookItems`] which are accessible by
+/// either iterating (immutably) over the book with [`iter()`], or recursively
+/// applying a closure to each item to mutate the chapters, using
 /// [`for_each_mut()`].
 ///
 /// [`iter()`]: #method.iter
@@ -21,8 +21,8 @@ mod tests;
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, Default, PartialEq, Serialize, Deserialize)]
 #[non_exhaustive]
 pub struct Book {
-    /// The sections in this book.
-    pub sections: Vec<BookItem>,
+    /// The items in this book.
+    pub items: Vec<BookItem>,
 }
 
 impl Book {
@@ -33,13 +33,13 @@ impl Book {
 
     /// Creates a new book with the given items.
     pub fn new_with_items(items: Vec<BookItem>) -> Book {
-        Book { sections: items }
+        Book { items }
     }
 
     /// Get a depth-first iterator over the items in the book.
     pub fn iter(&self) -> BookItems<'_> {
         BookItems {
-            items: self.sections.iter().collect(),
+            items: self.items.iter().collect(),
         }
     }
 
@@ -55,12 +55,12 @@ impl Book {
     where
         F: FnMut(&mut BookItem),
     {
-        for_each_mut(&mut func, &mut self.sections);
+        for_each_mut(&mut func, &mut self.items);
     }
 
     /// Append a `BookItem` to the `Book`.
     pub fn push_item<I: Into<BookItem>>(&mut self, item: I) -> &mut Self {
-        self.sections.push(item.into());
+        self.items.push(item.into());
         self
     }
 }
diff --git a/crates/mdbook-core/src/book/tests.rs b/crates/mdbook-core/src/book/tests.rs
index c49dac80d8..54cb005bbd 100644
--- a/crates/mdbook-core/src/book/tests.rs
+++ b/crates/mdbook-core/src/book/tests.rs
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ fn book_iter_iterates_over_sequential_items() {
     ];
     let book = Book::new_with_items(items);
 
-    let should_be: Vec<_> = book.sections.iter().collect();
+    let should_be: Vec<_> = book.items.iter().collect();
 
     let got: Vec<_> = book.iter().collect();
 
diff --git a/crates/mdbook-driver/src/load.rs b/crates/mdbook-driver/src/load.rs
index 2c97069636..401f08fcc9 100644
--- a/crates/mdbook-driver/src/load.rs
+++ b/crates/mdbook-driver/src/load.rs
@@ -284,8 +284,8 @@ And here is some \
             PathBuf::from("chapter_1.md"),
             vec![],
         );
-        let sections = vec![BookItem::Chapter(chapter)];
-        let should_be = Book::new_with_items(sections);
+        let items = vec![BookItem::Chapter(chapter)];
+        let should_be = Book::new_with_items(items);
 
         let got = load_book_from_disk(&summary, temp.path()).unwrap();
 
diff --git a/crates/mdbook-html/src/html_handlebars/search.rs b/crates/mdbook-html/src/html_handlebars/search.rs
index 1a235208f6..a424f80132 100644
--- a/crates/mdbook-html/src/html_handlebars/search.rs
+++ b/crates/mdbook-html/src/html_handlebars/search.rs
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ pub(super) fn create_files(
         .add_field_with_tokenizer("breadcrumbs", Box::new(&tokenize))
         .build();
 
-    let mut doc_urls = Vec::with_capacity(book.sections.len());
+    let mut doc_urls = Vec::with_capacity(book.items.len());
 
     let chapter_configs = sort_search_config(&search_config.chapter);
     validate_chapter_config(&chapter_configs, book)?;
diff --git a/crates/mdbook-summary/src/lib.rs b/crates/mdbook-summary/src/lib.rs
index 24a4bc61e1..2039a63e9b 100644
--- a/crates/mdbook-summary/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/mdbook-summary/src/lib.rs
@@ -601,9 +601,9 @@ impl<'a> SummaryParser<'a> {
     }
 }
 
-fn update_section_numbers(sections: &mut [SummaryItem], level: usize, by: u32) {
-    for section in sections {
-        if let SummaryItem::Link(ref mut link) = *section {
+fn update_section_numbers(items: &mut [SummaryItem], level: usize, by: u32) {
+    for item in items {
+        if let SummaryItem::Link(ref mut link) = *item {
             if let Some(ref mut number) = link.number {
                 number[level] += by;
             }
diff --git a/examples/nop-preprocessor.rs b/examples/nop-preprocessor.rs
index 488271dc90..7327dcfb1a 100644
--- a/examples/nop-preprocessor.rs
+++ b/examples/nop-preprocessor.rs
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ mod nop_lib {
                     "mdbook_version": "0.4.21"
                 },
                 {
-                    "sections": [
+                    "items": [
                         {
                             "Chapter": {
                                 "name": "Chapter 1",
diff --git a/guide/src/for_developers/preprocessors.md b/guide/src/for_developers/preprocessors.md
index 1ffc708ed1..48c27fa373 100644
--- a/guide/src/for_developers/preprocessors.md
+++ b/guide/src/for_developers/preprocessors.md
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
     # load both the context and the book representations from stdin
     context, book = json.load(sys.stdin)
     # and now, we can just modify the content of the first chapter
-    book['sections'][0]['Chapter']['content'] = '# Hello'
+    book['items'][0]['Chapter']['content'] = '# Hello'
     # we are done with the book's modification, we can just print it to stdout, 
     print(json.dumps(book))
 ```
diff --git a/tests/testsuite/config.rs b/tests/testsuite/config.rs
index 59d962b4b1..df0a3013b1 100644
--- a/tests/testsuite/config.rs
+++ b/tests/testsuite/config.rs
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ fn preprocessor_cfg_from_env() {
             let mut s = String::new();
             std::io::stdin().read_to_string(&mut s).unwrap();
             std::fs::write("out.txt", s).unwrap();
-            println!("{{\"sections\": []}}");
+            println!("{{\"items\": []}}");
         }
         "#,
     )
diff --git a/tests/testsuite/preprocessor.rs b/tests/testsuite/preprocessor.rs
index de3e5efe38..dab2f88d33 100644
--- a/tests/testsuite/preprocessor.rs
+++ b/tests/testsuite/preprocessor.rs
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ fn relative_command_path() {
             let mut s = String::new();
             std::io::stdin().read_to_string(&mut s).unwrap();
             std::fs::write("preprocessor-ran", "test").unwrap();
-            println!("{{\"sections\": []}}");
+            println!("{{\"items\": []}}");
         }
         "#,
     )
diff --git a/tests/testsuite/renderer.rs b/tests/testsuite/renderer.rs
index 456fcd7e56..b8070c5c9d 100644
--- a/tests/testsuite/renderer.rs
+++ b/tests/testsuite/renderer.rs
@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@ fn backends_receive_render_context_via_stdin() {
         str![[r##"
 {
   "book": {
-    "sections": [
+    "items": [
       {
         "Chapter": {
           "content": "# Chapter 1\n",
diff --git a/tests/testsuite/search.rs b/tests/testsuite/search.rs
index c0f8fb2ebd..937133f37f 100644
--- a/tests/testsuite/search.rs
+++ b/tests/testsuite/search.rs
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ fn with_no_source_path() {
     let test = BookTest::from_dir("search/reasonable_search_index");
     let mut book = test.load_book();
     let chapter = Chapter::new("Sample chapter", String::new(), "sample.html", vec![]);
-    book.book.sections.push(BookItem::Chapter(chapter));
+    book.book.items.push(BookItem::Chapter(chapter));
     book.build().unwrap();
 }