diff --git a/IPython/nbformat/v3/rwbase.py b/IPython/nbformat/v3/rwbase.py
index 7566b33..fc9d4d4 100644
--- a/IPython/nbformat/v3/rwbase.py
+++ b/IPython/nbformat/v3/rwbase.py
@@ -19,7 +19,9 @@ Authors:
 from base64 import encodestring, decodestring
 import pprint
 
-from IPython.utils.py3compat import str_to_bytes
+from IPython.utils import py3compat
+
+str_to_bytes = py3compat.str_to_bytes
 
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Code
@@ -147,7 +149,10 @@ class NotebookReader(object):
 
     def read(self, fp, **kwargs):
         """Read a notebook from a file like object"""
-        return self.read(fp.read(), **kwargs)
+        nbs = fp.read()
+        if not py3compat.PY3 and not isinstance(nbs, unicode):
+            nbs = py3compat.str_to_unicode(nbs)
+        return self.reads(nbs, **kwargs)
 
 
 class NotebookWriter(object):
@@ -159,7 +164,11 @@ class NotebookWriter(object):
 
     def write(self, nb, fp, **kwargs):
         """Write a notebook to a file like object"""
-        return fp.write(self.writes(nb,**kwargs))
+        nbs = self.writes(nb,**kwargs)
+        if not py3compat.PY3 and not isinstance(nbs, unicode):
+            # this branch is likely only taken for JSON on Python 2
+            nbs = py3compat.str_to_unicode(nbs)
+        return fp.write(nbs)
 
 
 
diff --git a/IPython/nbformat/v3/tests/nbexamples.py b/IPython/nbformat/v3/tests/nbexamples.py
index e2a9350..625c573 100644
--- a/IPython/nbformat/v3/tests/nbexamples.py
+++ b/IPython/nbformat/v3/tests/nbexamples.py
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+
 import os
 from base64 import encodestring
 
@@ -49,7 +51,7 @@ ws.cells.append(new_code_cell(
 ))
 
 ws.cells.append(new_code_cell(
-    input='print a',
+    input=u'print "ünîcødé"',
     prompt_number=3,
     collapsed=False,
     outputs=[new_output(
@@ -91,7 +93,7 @@ nb0 = new_notebook(
     metadata=md
 )
 
-nb0_py = """# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+nb0_py = u"""# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 # <nbformat>%i</nbformat>
 
 # <htmlcell>
@@ -120,7 +122,7 @@ a = numpy.random.rand(100)
 
 # <codecell>
 
-print a
+print "ünîcødé"
 
 """ % nbformat