Books in which people read

  • A Few Fair Days; Jane Gardam
  • A Great Good Thing by Roderick Townley.  A novel told from the storybook characters' vantage point, who are only *on* when they have a Reader.
  • A la Recherche, Proust.
  • A Long Way from Verona; Jane Gardam
  • A PLACE TO CALL HOME, (Atheneum) Ana and her little sister read RUNAWAY BUNNY together as a way of comforting themselves in the face of their mother's disappearance.
  • A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Francie Nolan checks out two books from the library every Saturday and reads one on the fire escape outside of her apartment while eating peppermint wafers. Also, from the time she and her brother are infants until they are old enough to read to themselves, Francie's mother reads them a page from the Bible and one from Shakespeare every night.
  • All-of-a-Kind Family, by Sydney Taylor. Opening chapter about the sisters' weekly visit to the library, later chapter about their acquisition of several used books.
  • And Peakie Lived Happily Ever After, Lavinia Russ
  • Aunt Chip and the Great Triple Creek Dam Affair by Patricia Polacco
  • Awake and Dreaming, Kit Pearson's Governor-General Award winner, features a child who finds solace from an uncertain and unhappy existence in reading.
  • Baa, Baa Black Sheep
  • Bastables, E. Nesbit. include quite a few references to the books that they read, and their impact on them.
  • Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days by Stephen Manes (NY, Clarion, 1982)
  • Because of Winn Dixie, India reads _Gone With the Wind_ to her elderly friend.
  • Behind the Scenes at the Museum. Kate Atkinson
  • Betsy-Tacy books, e.g. "Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown" Maud Hart Lovelace
  • Book by Peter Catalanotto.
  • Book! Book! Book! by Deborah Bruss
  • BOUNCING ON THE BED (Orchard), toddler and his dad are seen reading together - "He reads the words. I turn the page."
  • Bridge to Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson. Jess reads one of Lloyd Alexander's books (title not mentioned), lent to him by Leslie.
  • Buckley, Grandmother and I--one scene (in both versions) shows the child sitting next to older sibling(s) as they read to her Hoban, Arthur's Prize Reader
  • BUD, NOT BUDDY, it is a librarian that pulls out the ATLAS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA to show Bud where his favorite librarian, Miss Hill, now resides. And then she pulls out STANDRD HIGHWAY MILEAGE GUIDE to show him directly where Chicago was from Flint.
  • Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman
  • Crossing Jordan, by Adrienne Fogelin. The girls read Jane Eyre together.
  • David Copperfield
  • Eating Between the Lines, Kevin Major, Doubleday Canada, 1991, uses reading as a gourmandizing experience for the hero.
  • Edward and the Pirates by David McPhail
  • Fire and Hemlock, Diana Wynne Jones, begins with the main character picking up a book and beginning to piece together events in her life that had been magically obscured from her memory. One of her memories is of receiving special books from an older friend the Christmas after her parents are divorced. Both writing and reading are very important escapes for her.
  • Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell. Melanie reads Dickens aloud to a group of women tensely awaiting word of their men out on a vigilante mission.
  • Half Magic, Edward Eager
  • Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King the main character is given a book by his neighbor (Lord of the Flies) and can't put it down. He also reads the newspaper to him everyday to earn money for a bicycle he wants.
  • HEIDI
  • How Green Was My Valley
  • How to Be a Real Person... in Just One Day by Sally Warner
  • Hunger of Memory, Richard Rodriguez, (literacy distances him from his family)
  • It All Started with Jane Eyre, Sheila Greenwald's has the protagonist reading JE and YA problem novels (and then deciding her family and friends have some of the same problems she's finding in fiction).
  • Jane Eyre
  • Jeremiah Learns to Read, Jo Ellen Bogart. is a picture book about an elderly man who is immensely capable in many ways, but is unable to read. The book details his learning to read and how it enriches his life.
  • Katie John and Heathcliff. Mary Calhoun: (impact on Katie of reading "Wuthering Heights")
  • Lark Rise to Candleford, Flora Thompson
  • LAST VOYAGE OF THE MISTY DAY (Atheneum), Denny hauls out all her childhood favorite Christmas books as a way of remembering good times with her father.
  • L'Enfant noir (English title is, variously, _The African Child_, _The Dark Child_ and probably others).  Camara Laye, There is a marvelous description of the oral performance of a _griot_, or paid orator.  I haven't read all of this text, but if memory serves it also has the child distanced from his family and culture by reading.  Someone on the list who does French literature might be able to speak to how often literacy narratives are part of the "souvenir d'enfance" (memories of childhood) genre.
  • LITTLE WOMEN
  • Lyddie by Katherine Paterson (Being read to and then learning to read _Oliver_ maintain Lyddie through her separation from her family and factory working  conditions.)
  • Madame Bovary
  • Maniac Magee
  • Matilda_ by Roald Dahl. The protagonist reads voraciously!
  • Memoirs of a Bookbat by Kathryn Lasky
  • Moffats books; Eleanor Estes e.g. the library episode in "Rufus M", and the one in "The Middle Moffat" where Jane resolves to read every book in the library in order
  • MOLE AND SHREW series (Random) Mole is a great reader. He is seen reading in MOLE AND SHREW ALL YEAR THROUGH and then again extensively in MOLE AND SHREW HAVE JOBS TO DO - in which Mole and Shrew go job hunting, trying out a number of jobs with humorous and disastrous results. Ultimately they come to the conclusion that they should do what they love, which for Mole is sharing his love of books as a bookseller.
  • Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave: Written by Himself.  Young Frederick surreptitiously teaches himself to read, and literacy eventually leads to his freedom.  The focus is on the reading act rather than specific works, though some are mentioned.
  • Nightjohn, Gary Paulsen, where slaves seek to learn to read at a time when this was forbidden.
  • Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen's,  is of course about a young woman's reading and its impact on her. The potentially misleading influence of bad novels also features in some less well-known books of about the same time; e.g. the story of "Angelina or l'Amie Inconnue" in Maria Edgeworth's "Moral Tales".
  • Peter's Room; Antonia Forest
  • POSSIBLES, Vaunda Micheaux Nelson, it is the protagonist, Sheppy who reads to her dying father poetry and it just happens to be Shel Silverstein's "Listen to the Mustn'ts" from WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS.
  • RAISING DRAGONS, Jerdine Nolen, the protagonist goes to the library to pick up MURDOCK'S ADVENTURE ATLAS OF THE KNOWN AND UNKNOWN.
  • Ramona, Age 8 by Beverly Clearly (Sustained Silence Reading or DEAR is Ramona's retreat from a pesky Willa Jean.)
  • Reading to Matthew, Jacqueline Vivelo, 1993, Roberts Rinehart Publishers (poignant book)
  • Seven Day Magic by Edward Eager - has a great scene of the five children going to the library and being pleased (or disappointed) by their selections.  And the magic all happens when they check out a book and start reading it - and they're in it!
  • Seven Days to a Brand-New Me, Ellen Conford, a girl reads a self-improvement book and a Harlequin-style romance
  • So You Want to be a Wizard by Diane Duane - great beginning scene in a library where the book "So YWTBAW" grabs Nita's hand - and starts her on a whole new path.
  • SOMEDAY (Orchard), Celie reads GONE WITH THE WIND as a way of escaping from her own troubles.
  • Swallows and Amazons, Arthur Ransome, all the children, but especially the sensitive protagonist Titty Walker, adore Robinson Crusoe.
  • Thank You Mr. Falker--Patricia Polacco
  • The Ballad of Lucy Whipple, by Karen Cushman. Lucy's few books are passed from hand to hand throughout the mining community in 19th century California.
  • The Bookstore Mouse by Peggy Christian
  • The Cricket Term
  • The Daring Game, Kit Pearson, the heroine decides to go to boarding school based on her reading of school stories—the reality does not live up to the fiction
  • THE FALCON (Atheneum), Luke is not seen reading, but does refer to and discuss his favorite book, CATCHER IN THE RYE many times.
  • The Fragile Flag.  Jane Langton
  • The Great Good Thing, Roderick Townley. published this year by Atheneum, a wonderfully imagined tale that posits what happens to a book's characters when the book is closed. The act of reading is a powerful one, and the central metaphor for the story.
  • The King of the Barbareens, Janet Hitchman: especially the episode where she reads "Jane Eyre", and the impact it has on her
  • THE LIBRARY by Sarah Stewart; pictures by David Small
  • The Library Card, Jerry Spinelli, 1997, Scholastic
  • The Most Beautiful Place in The World by Ann Cameron about a South American boy who wants to read and learns some by reading sections of the newspaper while waiting to shine shoes on the street.
  • The Mystery of the Plant That Ate Dirty Socks, Michael is reading The Curse of the Evil Ooze
  • The Never Ending Story
  • The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton. Ponyboy reads Gone with the Wind to Johnny in the church.
  • The Pagemaster (out of print)
  • THE PRIMROSE WAY (Harcourt), Rebecca smuggles her favorite books across the ocean to the New World even though her Puritan father frowns on women reading anything other than the Bible.
  • The Return of the Evil Ooze, which have plots that parody the Goosebumps series. He and his friends brag to one another about how many they have
  • The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare. Matt reads aloud to Attean from Robinson Crusoe to teach him to read.  Matt reads aloud until a section where a "savage" bows down to a white man and becomes his slave.  After that, Attean doesn't want to hear any more of the book because that event is not realistic in his eyes.
  • The Summer After the Funeral ; Jane Gardam
  • To Kill a Mockingbird, Jem is forced to read each day to a dying old woman who is trying to break her addiction to morphine.
  • Tomas and the Library Lady. Pat Mora and Raul Colon
  • Travel Far, Pay No Fare, Anne Lindbergh. about a magical summer reading program  where the children enter the books.
  • What Then, Raman? by Shirley Arora. Raman reads little paper books of Indian legends and dreams of owning a real book.
  • Wolf by Becky Bloom
  • Words by Heart---Ouida Sebastian


    • Picture books
     

  • I Hate to Read, Rita Marshall, 1992, Creative Editions
  • Least of All_ by Carol Purdy.  NY, M.K. McElderry, 1987
  • More than Anything Else_ by Marie Bradby  NY, Orchard Books, 1995  (Actually, while the main character is depicted on the cover holding a book, he does not actually read it in the course of the story--he seeks out someone who can teach him to read, so he can read the book eventually)
  • My Great Aunt Arizona by Gloria Houston, 1992, HarperCollins
  • Papa's Stories, Dolores Johnson, 1994, Macmillan
  • Possum Magic, Mem Fox, 1983, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
  • The Libarary by Sarah Stewart, 1995, Farrar Straus Giroux  (Even the cover shows the main character reading)
  • The Library Dragon, Carmen Agra Deedy, 1994, Peachtree Publishers LTD.
  • The Wednesday Surprise_ by Eve Bunting  NY, Clarion, 1989 is about a girl who secretly teaches her grandmother how to read.

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