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10 of my favourite book dedications

Book dedication: The Book Of Secrets (Ateban Cipher #1) by A.L. Tait - coming 12 September 2017.
Posted on June 20, 2017

Book dedication: The Book Of Secrets (Ateban Cipher #1) by A.L. Tait - coming 12 September 2017.If you received my newsletter last week, you’ll know that I shared a sneak peek of one of my very favourite pages of The Book Of Secrets (Ateban Cipher #1) – the dedication. That’s it, over on the left.

Why is this one of my favourite pages in the book? Simply because it’s one of my favourite pages in every book I read.

The book dedication is a place for an author to write a few words that speak volumes to one person, or to many people.

They’re often special messages for family members or friends, or they’re a place to make the book personal and special for an ‘ideal’ reader.

Sometimes they’re just for fun – or very funny.

Here are ten of my favourites.

“To Grandma, for being my first editor and giving me the best writing advice I’ve ever received: “Christopher, I think you should wait until you’re done with elementary school before worrying about being a failed writer.”
The Land Of Stories, Chris Colfer 

 

“To my wonderful readers: sorry about that last cliff-hanger. Well, no, not really. HAHAHAHA. But, seriously, I love you guys.”
– House Of Hades, Rick Riordan

 

“This is presented as a work of fiction and dedicated to nobody.”
Post Office, Charles Bukowski

 

“This book is for my parents, who tried.”
I was a child, Bruce Eric Kaplan

 

“To my wife Marganit and my children Ella Rose and Daniel Adam without whom this book would have been completed two years earlier.”
An Introduction to Algebraic Topology, Joseph J. Rotman

 

“For Colin Firth, You’re a really great guy but I’m married, so I think we should just be friends.”
Austenland, Shannon Hale

 

“My first stepfather used to say that what I didn’t know would fill a book. Well, here it is.”
This Boy’s Life, Tobias Wolff

 

“What can I say about a man who knows how I think and still sleeps next to me with the lights off?”
Dark Places, Gillian Flynn

 

“Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR.”
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain

 

and my absolute favourite…

 

“For the girls with messy hair and thirsty hearts.”
Tiger Lily, Jody Lynn Anderson

 

In the meantime, I am currently working on the dedication for The Book Of Answers (Ateban Cipher #2), which will come out in March 2018. I look forward to sharing that one with you when the time is right!

(Sign up for my newsletter here, so you’ll be among the first to see it – and all my news!)

Do you read book dedications? Do you have a favourite? Please share in the comments!

5 Comments

  1. Helena

    Thanks Allison! I always read the dedication, it’s so good when you find one like these. It feels a bit like a special joke or message between me and the author, because I bothered to look. Like a wink.

  2. Jessica

    Love all these. Especially the Gillian Flynn one and the dedication to the grandmother. I love reading pithy dedications and longer acknowledgments at the end. Makes me appreciate how many people are involved from incubation to publication.

  3. Sarah

    Ooh I love all of these! I always read the book dedications but cant say that I’ve ever come across any like these.

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