The honest answer: anyone who reads better with bigger text. You don't need a diagnosis. You don't need permission. If large print makes reading easier, more enjoyable, or just less exhausting — it's for you.
Library forums are full of the same question, asked in slightly different ways:
Let's put this to rest. Librarians are clear on this: large print books are for everyone. Not "everyone with a note from their eye doctor." Everyone.
Libraries stock large print because people borrow it. The more people borrow, the more libraries order. You're not taking books from someone who needs them — you're increasing demand, which means libraries buy more.
The stereotype is a grandmother in the library's quiet corner. The reality is far more diverse.
The original audience, and still the largest. Macular degeneration, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, cataracts — conditions that make standard 10–12pt text difficult or impossible. Large print (16–18pt) can extend someone's reading life by years.
Dense text is kryptonite for ADHD brains. More white space, fewer words per page, and faster page turns create the sense of progress that keeps attention locked in. Many people with ADHD discover large print by accident and wonder why nobody told them sooner.
Larger text reduces visual crowding — the core processing challenge in dyslexia. Wider spacing between letters, words, and lines means each word gets the visual room the brain needs to decode it. This isn't about seeing the text. It's about processing it.
You stare at screens all day. By evening, your eyes are done. Standard print feels like an endurance test. Large print feels like relief. You don't need a condition — you need a break.
This is the audience publishers barely acknowledge: people whose eyes are fine in clinical terms but tired in practical terms. That's millions of people.
Small, densely packed text can trigger headaches and make migraines worse. Larger text with more spacing reduces the eye strain that leads to these episodes. Some people read large print exclusively during migraine-prone periods.
Conditions that cause fatigue affect reading endurance. When your energy is limited, the effort of parsing small text eats into the energy you have for actually absorbing the story. Larger text reduces that baseline effort.
Some people just like it better. Reading in bed? Large print is easier in dim light. Reading at the beach? More legible in bright sun. Reading on the couch? Less squinting, more relaxing.
There's no medical justification required. If it's more comfortable, that's reason enough.
Research from the School Library Journal found that large print books improved reading confidence across all students — not just those with identified reading challenges. For reluctant readers especially, the reduced text density makes each page feel less intimidating.
Here's a bonus: large print editions at the library often have shorter wait lists than the regular edition of the same book.
New bestseller with a 4-month wait? Check if the large print edition is available. It often is — or at least has a much shorter queue. Same book, same story, easier on your eyes, and you get it faster.
This works at every Canadian public library that uses a hold system (which is most of them).
Large print sections in libraries and bookstores are usually labelled and shelved in ways that signal "this is for old people with bad eyes." The covers are often different — plainer, more clinical. The selection skews toward mysteries, romance, and gentle fiction.
That signalling keeps everyone else away. A 30-year-old with ADHD isn't going to browse a section that feels like it was designed for their grandmother, even if the books inside would genuinely help them read more.
This is slowly changing. E-readers help — nobody can see your font size. Libraries are increasingly making large print part of the main collection rather than a separate ghetto. But there's a long way to go.
If the stigma of the large print section bothers you — or if you want more control over exactly how big and how spaced your text is — an e-reader solves both problems.
Every ebook is a large print book if you make the font big enough. Nobody sees your settings. Nobody judges your font size. You read the same bestseller as everyone else, just formatted for your brain and eyes.
In Canada, Kobo is the better e-reader choice because it lets you borrow library ebooks for free — something Kindle can't do here. See our Kobo vs Kindle comparison for accessible reading.
For a complete guide: where to buy large print books in Canada.
You don't owe anyone an explanation for your font size preferences. You don't need to "deserve" the large print section. Reading is supposed to be enjoyable. If bigger text makes it more enjoyable, that's the beginning and end of the conversation.
Large print books are for you. Yes, you specifically. Whoever you are, whatever your reason.