Slate Article: "Against YA: Adults Should Be Embarrassed to Read Children's Books"

[Anonymous]

Slate just published an article titled: Against YA: Adults Should be Embarrassed to Read Children's Books.
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2014/06/against_ya_adults_should_be_embarrassed_to_read_children_s_books.html

What do you think about this? I personally believe that people should be able to read whatever they want and shouldn't feel embarrassed about it at all! Yes, YA (young adult) is really aimed towards the teenage audience. But why does it matter if someone who is middle aged reads "The Fault In Our Stars" and loves it? There are many books that I enjoy from all different genres. But my all time favorite is "The Giver," and I reread it from time to time. It's a young adult book and I'm not embarrassed. What do other people think? Should adults feel embarrassed about reading young adult books?

[Anonymous]

Depends on the book. But having dipped into some that were highly recommended, I think most of them are dreck. Of course, the same is true of most adult books these days.

[Anonymous]

I think it is more of an issue (strong word) when you've got a 35 year old reading Twilight and instead of reading something more substantial. I'm not against a fun "beach book" but it should be in place of other works.

[Anonymous]

I can't read any YA, but I have friends who do. I have no problem with that.

As for the Slate article -- click-bait.

[Anonymous]

Pretentious BS.

Most of the people I know who, like me, read the occasional YA book also read plenty of "adult", high-level literature and non-fiction. We read these books because we want to know what our kids are reading, or we're curious about the source material for the latest movie hit of the moment, or just, you know, keeping up with pop culture. I can't get into all of them. Some of them I have no interest in reading at all (Twilight), some of them don't interest me enough to keep reading (Harry Potter series), others I enjoy well enough (Hunger Games trilogy, Fault in Our Stars).

It's moronic to to be so judgmental about it.

[Anonymous]

It's a ridiculous premise. I read adult books when I was a kid, I read YA books now that I'm 40. Good books are good books... and it's perfectly okay to read something escapist and not-so-good sometimes too.

[Anonymous]

There is some wonderful "young adult" literature, and I don't see why I shouldn't read a good book just because the publisher's marketing department decided to slap one label on it rather than another. Is some of it crap? Sure, but so is a lot of adult fiction.

[Anonymous]

Really, this is worth writing about? And really, an adult should be embarrassed to read a novel that's the quality of The Book Thief? Please.

[Anonymous]

I am in my 40s. I read everything my ES, MS and HS kids read. I also read technical books, non-fiction, fiction books.
I read periodicals and academic journals and gossip magazines too. I even read romance novels.

I like to read and I like to be well informed. Maybe it is because I have a couple of Masters degrees, but I never feel embarrassed by my reading choices or apologetic about any reading material that I hold.

[Anonymous]

"Most of the people I know who, like me, read the occasional YA book also read plenty of "adult", high-level literature and non-fiction."

This is me! I must share a funny yet embarrassing story. I am older(ish). I'll admit, I read the first Twilight book and was hooked. This was before I got my Kindle. I skulked into Politics and Prose and was desperately searching for the second book (cannot even remember the title now). I KNEW it was a best seller and was so anxious for it, searching, searching, searching, searching, ALL OVER THE MAIN FLOOR!!! Finally, I gave up and asked for help. The young hipster who helped me I am sure was rolling his eyes inside but was VERY professional when he said "ma'am, The Twilight Series is located downstairs in the young adult section!" I turned 1,000 shades of scarlet and scooted downstairs to collect my bounty and loved every minute of it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am in my 40s. I read everything my ES, MS and HS kids read. I also read technical books, non-fiction, fiction books.
I read periodicals and academic journals and gossip magazines too. I even read romance novels.

I like to read and I like to be well informed. Maybe it is because I have a couple of Masters degrees, but I never feel embarrassed by my reading choices or apologetic about any reading material that I hold.

What does that have to do with having a "couple of master's degrees"?