Thirty years of teaching pupils with emotional and learning difficulties convinced French author Daniel Pennac that children can only learn and flourish if they are respected as individuals. On a wider scale, he believes that no individual, animal or human, can flourish unless their needs, characters and personal stories are accepted and respected.

His own stories, in both his literary thrillers for adults - published in the UK by Harvill - and in his children’s books, are full of the influence of what he calls this “practical guide for living”.

Among UK teachers, Pennac is best known for Reads Like a Novel (English edition currently out of print), which enshrined the rights of the young reader (including the right not to read; the right to jump pages; the right to read anything they wished). “It was the first day of the school year, after I’d been teaching about 12 years, and I was introducing myself to a new class as their new French teacher when this hand went up. ‘Please sir’, said a boy, ‘are we going to have to read this year?’. There was real anxiety in his eyes. I became so angry with a system that made children feel enforced to read without showing them any respect for who they were.”

Throughout Pennac’s career teaching French literature, he gave his pupils time to talk about the books they found and read for themselves.

This week his children’s book Dog appears on two award shortlists - the Askews Torchlight award (for which nine to 12-year-old readers will vote online) and the Marsh Award for Children’s Literature in Translation. Dog was published in France 20 years ago, but an English translation by Sarah Adams has only just been published by Walker Books (pound;4.99). An insightful and heart-warming tale of a stray dog’s attachment to its new owner (a spoilt, headstrong girl called Plum), it enshrines the key Pennac values of care and generosity, which in this story are found in many unexpected quarters.

In a rare UK appearance, Pennac will take part in the French Institute’s Youth Festival later this month, launching the UK edition of another children’s novel, Eye of the Wolf (also published by Walker pound;4.99). In this haunting story an exiled boy from Africa - driven to a cold, unfamiliar Paris by climate change - encounters a wolf that has been captured in Alaska and placed in a zoo. Boy and wolf relay their heart-rending stories in silent eye-to-eye communication.

Both stories are drawn from Pennac’s own experiences as a keen observer of the pupils he has taught in Belleville, the multi-cultural 21st arrondissement where he still lives. It is a neighbourhood full of exiles, like the boy from Africa. An animal lover since childhood, when he collected stray cats and dogs, he found the wolf on one of his many visits to the zoo in the Jardin des Plantes. “This wolf had been incarcerated with a she-wolf who had recently died and he was just walking up and down, up and down without stopping, in terrible grieving. I wanted to write about that grief.”

He believes that patience and generosity are the hallmarks of a good teacher. His novels are full of characters that have both these qualities: or who are lacking in them. Their wit and pace will no doubt endear these exciting stories to young British readers as they have to French children. The only pity is that it has taken 20 years for them to cross the Channel.

* The Youth Festival is an annual event for six to 18-year-olds, celebrating French and UK children’s authors and illustrators. It is being held at the French Institute, Queensberry Place, London, SW8, from November 21 to 23. For programme and school bookings Tel: 020 7073 1350

Quentin Blake, the leading Francophile of the UK childen’s books world and formerly the UK Children’s Laureate, will be made Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres during the festival.

Children have until November 29 to vote for the next Children’s Laureate, by completing an entry form available from branches of Waterstone’s or by visiting www.childrenslaureate.org

SHORTLIST: Askews Torchlight CHILDREN’S BOOK award

This award for compelling fiction for nine to 12-year-olds will go to the book that tops a pupils’ poll at the end of spring term 2003. Full details on www.askews.co.uk.

The Summer of Riley By Eva Bunting Collins Children’s Books, pound;5.95 A heartwarming tale of an 11-year-old boy coping with death, loss and family breakup, while fighting to keep his dog.

Molly Moon’s Incredible Book of Hypnotism

By Georgia Byng. Macmillan Children’s Books, pound;3.99

A stunningly visual story that plays on children’s wish-fulfilment dreams of deposing evil grown-ups. Strong portrayal of libraries and librarians: building relationships, opening up other worlds and empowering readers.

Demon’s Crossing

By Louise Cooper. Hodder Children’s Books, pound;3.99.

Exciting supernatural page-turner which builds up tension well, with another strong role for a dog.

The Thief Lord

By Cornelia Funke. Chicken House, pound;5.99.

A riproaring adventure with the smells, sights and sounds of Venice brought as vividly to life as the mixed bag of ragamuffin characters.

Coraline

By Neil Gaiman. Bloomsbury Children’s Books, pound;5.99.

Alice with attitude in a dark, creepy, graphically described Wonderland. A gripping and moving tale which restores child readers to a safe normality.

Traitor

By Pete Johnson. Doubleday, pound;3.99.

A contemporary spin on the money-with-menaces theme in a story of text-message bullying. Believable boy characters, slow-build tension and a recognisable school setting.

The Straw Girl

By Jackie Kay. Macmillan Children’s Books, pound;10.99.

An immediately involving and intriguing story skilfully told with a touch of magic realism. It embraces important themes: loss, loyalty, bereavement, bullying and identity.

Green Fingers

By Paul May. Corgi, pound;3.99.

An original, poignant and funny reworking of the Secret Garden story in which Kate’s problems (parental separation, new home, reading difficulties) are partly addressed through her passion for growing things.

Dog

By Daniel Pennac. Walker, pound;4.99.

The third canine-friendly book on the list. Immediately engaging and packed with tension, suspense and pathos; much more than a story about a dog adopted and abandoned by a spoilt little girl. Attention to detail and imagery helps readers enter the doggy mindset.

Mighty Fizz Chilla

By Philip Ridley. Puffin, pound;3.99

The tale of Milo, an angry young man, has a complex storyline, cliffhanger chapter endings and an unguessable twist.

SHORTLIST: Marsh Award for Children’s Literature in Translation

Where were you Robert?

By Hans Magnus Enzenberger. Translated from German by Anthea Bell. Puffin, pound;6.99.

An international bestseller about a boy who can slip between worlds by entering paintings.

Bambert’s Book of Missing Stories

By Reinhardt Jung. Translated from German by Anthea Bell. Egmont Books, pound;3.99.

A storyteller who can’t leave his room sends his haunting tales into the world; when they come back, they’ve changed.

The Shamer’s Daughter

By Lene Kaaberbol. Translated from Danish by the author. Hodder pound;3.99.

The Shamer, who brings the guilty to justice by looking into their eyes, is not popular. Dina inherits the gift, and its troubles.

Brothers

By Ted van Lieshout. Translated from Dutch by Lance Salway. Collins Flamingo, pound;4.99

When a 14-year-old boy dies, his brother carries on keeping his diary, in the course of which both boys realise that they are gay.

Dog

By Daniel Pennac. Translated from French by Sarah Adams. Walker Books. pound;4.99.

(See above, and interview, left.)