DNF is a complete sentence.

Did anyone ever have that parent who made them go to football/piano/dance/mathlete practice every single time even though they told them they absolutely hated soccer/volleyball/theater/chess and never wanted to do it anyway?

Did anyone ever have that parent who made them go to playdates with the kid who was really mean/annoying/ignored them the whole time?

Did anyone ever have the parent who made them finish their peas even though peas are absolutely the vegetable trash of the world?

If any (or all) of these resonated with you, then ask yourself if you’re doing the reading equivalent to your child.

In the adult world, we say things like “No is a complete sentence” and “No answer is an answer.” I would like to posit that not finishing is a completely valid response to a book.

In fact, enough people believe in quitting a book they don’t like that DNF (did not finish) has become a verb. We use it as much as TBR (to be read), HEA (happily ever after), FMC/MMC (female main character/male main character), POV (point of view), and ARC (advance reader copy).

In a world where one-star reviews are often ridiculous rather than informative, DNF tends to lead more toward actual conversation than automatic dismissal. People want to know WHY someone disliked a book enough not to finish it. It’s like it’s human nature to need to know how a story ends, so DNF is incongruous with our basic instincts.

Whether it’s an individual book or a series that someone chooses to DNF, I know that something had to be awful to make them quit. Think about the number of Fourth Wing readers who have threatened to DNF if Rebecca touches a hair on Ridoc’s head. Or the number of readers who have read over 1,000 pages of ACOTAR can’t get past book 3 in the series.

I personally DNFed a horror book after getting through 80% of it! People are shocked when they hear that, but the author introduced something that was so fundamentally against my core values that I couldn’t move forward. My blood pressure rose, my heart was beating… I was so absolutely disgusted that I didn’t care how it ended and wanted to burn the vile thing.

THAT’S A RESPONSE! I had to read to get there! I had to take in what I was reading to feel that strongly!

If your kid is so bored, disgusted, or annoyed with the main character that they don’t want to know what happens, it means they’ve read enough to no longer care.

Let them DNF. Let them tell their friends. Let them share at book club what was so awful that they couldn’t waste their precious time finishing the story. And then let them find one that they could read over and over and over again until the pages are soft and the binding breaks.

*Side note, we didn’t DNF any of the books in the picture! ;)