With regard to the campaign from the Council of Ministers, Reading is Food for the Mind: Spread the Word!: ahem... are we really sure that phantom white linen-clad readers fluttering around the garden of the Finzi Contini are going to convert non-readers into book lovers? Or that it’s enough to recite a tired cliché in the form of a clunky ad slogan? Where’s the passion? Couldn’t they have done it differently?
Yes, they could have. They could have said that reading, a normal act conducted by normal people in normal places, is a way of escaping reality and opening doors to fantastic worlds. Or that readers are a community who share stories that generate other stories. Or that people who read express themselves better than those who don’t, with words that move the heart and mind.
They could have put up a solid website about reading (here’s an American one and an English one). Or staged a contest that encourages adults to read to children (if you know how to tell a joke in a pub, you know how to read a book to a child, as this delightful winning video demonstrates). Or tried to help kids invent stories, as this brand new Penguin website does. Or just set a good example.
They could have re-read Pennac’s The Reader's Bill of Rights or even had a browse through aNobii. But they didn’t. Which leads one to suspect that the people behind this campaign aren’t much different, in terms of familiarity with books, from this young lady.
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