User:Mvwillan

The Four Doorways
The Four Doorways into a book is a theory of the appeal of reading proposed by Nancy Pearl, a well-known Librarian and author from Seattle, Washington who is know for her contributions to the practice of Readers' advisory.

Pearl suggests that the details of the plot of a book, who it is about and what genre it is from have very little to do with whether a reader enjoys the book. Instead, Pearl proposes that there are four doorways through which a reader can become engaged with a story:


 * 1) Story
 * 2) Character
 * 3) Setting
 * 4) Language

1. Story - The story or plot doorway describes books that draw readers in through engaging, exciting events in the story. What is happening in the story and how much the reader wants to know what happens next is what draws a reader in and keeps them turning pages. Many popular bestselling authors use this doorway as the widest in their writing.

Example: ''Snow Falling on Ceders’’ by David Guterson

2. Character - The character doorway describes books that draw readers in through the desire to understand and discover complex characters who are well enough developed by the author to seem real. Characters can be but are not always likable, and beloved characters are not an indication of the character doorway if they are one dimensional. Rather it is discovering the complexity and depth of the character which creates the appeal.

Example: ''The Cider House Rules’’ by John Irving

3. Setting - The setting doorway describes books that draw readers in to the rich detail of the setting. These books allow a reader t.o be transported to the place of the book.

Example: ''The Shipping News’’ by Annie E. Proulx

4. Language- The language doorway refers to works whose strength rests in the beauty, or ingenuity of the way words are used to tell the story. Many award winning authors use a wide language doorway. Often these authors are known for ‘literary contributions’ not best-selling works.

Example: The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

Books may have more than one doorway through which a reader may enter and readers may be drawn to more than one kind if doorway.