Saturday 7 May 2016

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

4 comments:

  1. 'Love the rights! I am very curious about this one and am adding to my reading list! -Marci @ Stone Cottage Adventures

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  2. Well, I agree with most rights, though there are some I just don't do like skipping or not finishing it; if I start and decide to go on, I must finish, no matter how little I like it.

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  3. Hi Carole,

    Sounds like a great book. I'm not too keen on most French literature even though I love the French language, so I might give this a go.

    Have a good weekend,
    Marianne from
    Let's Read

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