Pennac Views
Heralded by several French critics as one of the most creative comic storytellers of his generation, writer Daniel Pennac is a celebrity in his native France, where his novels about the Malausseegrave;ne family have enjoyed both popular success and critical acclaim due to their imaginative plots and themes. In addition to the seven books in the Malaussiegrave;ne saga, most of which have been translated into English by London's Harvill Press, Pennac has authored a number of books for children. Of these, both Dog and Eye of the Wolf are available to American readers in translation.
Pennac was born in Morocco in 1944. Since his father was in the military, the Pennac family traveled frequently, and by the time he was a young adult Daniel had lived in Europe, Southeast Asia, and Africa. As an adult he worked as a woodcutter, as well as a cab driver in Paris, before settling down to teach literature as a secondary school teacher in Nice, France. His first book for children, Le grand rex, was published in 1980, and he has continued to author books for younger readers while also beginning his Malausseegrave;ne saga in 1985.
By turns humorous and poignant, Pennac's Dog finds a young stray excited about finally finding a stable home with a human family. However, his initial happiness turns to sadness when his new human, a girl named Plum, fails to give Dog the love and attention he needs. As a Kirkus Reviews writer noted, Pennac's simple, elegant dog's-eye-view uncurls into a dark-edged musing on the problems that come when humans mistreat animals; in this case a saddened Dog returns to the streets and ends up in the local pound before Plum realizes her loss and comes to save him. In an emotion-filled story that belatedly, but ultimately, has a happy ending, Pennac's canine narrator offers a realistic perspective and his dog's-nose view of the world is cleverly conceived, noted Jennifer Mattson in a Booklist review.
In addition to his novels for both adults and children, Pennac, a former French high school teacher, has also penned a book containing his reflections on reading. In addition to becoming a best seller in France, this work has been translated for English readers as both Reads like a Novel and Better than Life. In this work, Pennac discusses how a child first gains a love of reading, then looks at how that love is lost and how it can be reacquired. He views the media as a prime deterrent to reading and argues that both parents and the educational system fail to instill young people with a love for books because of their focus on dissecting literary classics in an academic setting rather simply reading for enjoyment. As a countermeasure, Pennac presents what he calls a reader's bill of rights, including the right to not read, the right to skip pages, the right to not finish a book, the right to reread, the right to read no matter what and anywhere, and the right to read aloud.
Pennac Images
