The Rights of the Reader by Daniel Pennac

Well, what can I say?  This is an oddity of a book.  It's been translated from the original French – which would normally put me right off.  But this time the translation seems wonderful.

The book is by a French novelist and it muses about why it is that children begin by adoring stories but end up treating reading as a chore at school.

He ends up developing 10 rights of any reader.  To understand them and decide whether you agree with him you really need to read the book. It is about 170 pages long with very short chapters and illustrations so it's a pretty easy read.

Here are his 10 rights of the reader:

1      The right not to read

2      The right to skip

3      The right not to finish a book

4      The right to read it again

5      The right to read anything

6      The right to mistake a book for real life

7      The right to read anywhere

8      The right to dip in

9      The right to read out loud

10   The right to be quiet