QuoteProject
If kids like a picture book, they're going to read it at least 50 times. Read anything that often, and even minor imperfections start to feel like gravel in the bed.
Mark Haddon
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Repeated exposure to a book can reveal its flaws, but it also signifies deep engagement and enjoyment.

Mark Haddon highlights how children's love for a picture book often leads them to read it multiple times. This repetition allows them to notice even the smallest imperfections, emphasizing both their dedication to the story and how their familiarity transforms their reading experience into something nuanced and complex, akin to noticing the gravel in a comfortable bed.

Themes

BooksChildrenReadingEngagementEducation

In practice

Example use cases

During a school assembly, a teacher can use this quote to illustrate the impact of reading habits.

More from Mark Haddon

Writing for children is bloody difficult; books for children are as complex as their adult counterparts, and they should therefore be accorded the same respect.
Mark HaddonRead
As to the number of novels I've abandoned... I shudder to think. I have thrown away five completed novels, and that's a gruesome enough figure. But not necessarily a waste of effort.
Mark HaddonRead
At twenty life was like wrestling an octopus. Every moment mattered. At thirty it was a walk in the country. Most of the time your mind was somewhere else. By the time you got to seventy, it was probably like watching snooker on the telly.
Mark HaddonRead
And Father said, "Christopher, do you understand that I love you?" And I said "Yes," because loving someone is helping them when they get into trouble, and looking after them, and telling them the truth, and Father looks after me when I get into trouble, like coming to the police station, and he looks after me by cooking meals for me, and he always tells me the truth, which means that he loves me.
Mark HaddonRead
From a good book, I want to be taken to the very edge. I want a glimpse into that outer darkness.
Mark HaddonRead
And I know I can do this because I went to London on my own, and because I solved the mystery…and I was brave and I wrote a book and that means I can do anything.
Mark HaddonRead

Similar quotes

Everybody should be interested in access to primary and secondary education for everybody.
Paul FarmerRead
All wish to possess knowledge, but few, comparatively speaking, are willing to pay the price.
JuvenalRead
We may not be able to prepare the future for our children, but we can at least prepare our children for the future.
Franklin D. RooseveltRead
Instructors should not only be skilful in those sciences which they teach, but have skill in the method of teaching, and patience in the practice.
Isaac WattsRead
Really, the values under which my generation was raised in the '50s were immigrant values even though we weren't immigrants. The greatest thing you could be was a college-educated Negro.
Henry Louis GatesRead
And let no one suppose that I claim that just living can be taught for, in a word, I hold that there does not exist an art of the kind which can implant sobriety and justice into depraved natures. Nevertheless, I do think that the study of political discourse can help more than any other thing to stimulate and form such qualities of character
IsocratesRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.