Daniel Pennac

Drawing on his experiences as a child, parent, and teacher, the author presents an impassioned defense of reading for pleasure.

The Rights of the Reader

Kritika Narula

It had been so long since I fell in love with a book. I tried everything: reading the most obscure books, reading the ones topping the bestsellers charts, recommendations from friends, old favorite reads. Nothing worked. For a while I thought that reading Harry Potter had ruined me for other books. Nothing could match the magic. And then, when I least expected, this book came along while I was searching for a textbook. I finished reading it within the 4 hours of having met. It told me that "The Right not to read" is, in fact, the first right of the reader. And turning the last page of the book, I knew, this was officially my first love affair at the new college I began studying at.

Melissa Palmer

A look at reading...and how it shapes us.

This witty, refreshing treatise from a celebrated author and seasoned teacher is a passionate defense of reading — just for the joy of it. First published in 1992 and even more relevant now, Daniel Pennac's quirky ode to reading has sold more than a million copies in his native France. Drawing on his experiences as a child, a parent, and an inner-city teacher in Paris, the author reflects on the power of story and reminds us of our right to read anything, anywhere, anytime, so long as we are enjoying ourselves. In a new translation with a foreword and illustrations by Quentin Blake, here is a guide to reading unlike any other: fresh, sympathetic, and never didactic, it is a work of literature in its own right.

rumbledethumps

Though the book is titled "Rights of the Reader" he spends the first three-quarters of the book discussing how (and how not) to develop a love of reading in children so they become lifelong readers.

But, there is a method to what he is doing. He builds the story by discussing  childhood reading as it progresses through the life of a child, and ends with what every reader should have the right to do, including the right to not read at all.

Though it might perhaps be mis-titled, it was an interesting exploration of what we do wrong when we try to instill a love of reading in children, and offers examples of what we can do right. And it is all done with a singular style and point of view.

The Rights of the Reader

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