Junior/Intermediate Canadian "... the fraught history of reading and writing. Spanning... centuries... touches on... topics including duplicitously bilingual colonial treaties... development of Braille... secret... efforts by Afghani girls to learn to read during the Taliban era... admirably global approach... chapters on Japan, Korea, and New Zealand... as well as on Europe and the U.S. ... thorough approach carries over to the index and bibliography, making the book a useful and accessible historical resource, amply illustrated with colour images. Each short chapter provides some fine biography or history... the 13th-century sacking of Baghdad, and the development of the Gutenberg Bible... standouts. (... the history of reading provides... forays into an impressive range of... topics.) Despite... nimble prose and attention to detail... (this) lacks... dynamism... may be due in part to its attempt to bring together such disparate experiences and periods... insistent repetition of (the book's) theme-the power of the written word-casts a faintly pedantic air... while failing to provide coherence to the volume as a whole. Dipping into this book... may be more rewarding..." - Quill & Quire, May/06.