Dear People Who Are Doing What I Am About To Tell You To Stop Doing:
STOP APOLOGIZING FOR READING KIDS’ BOOKS. I don’t care if you don’t have kids. I don’t care if you have kids. It is okay to read books written for children and young adults. It is okay to enjoy them. It is okay for other adults to see you reading them. It is okay to tell other adults to shove it if they mock you for reading books written for children and young adults.
Just because you are now considered a grownup does not mean it has to be all Philip Roth and Jonathan Franzen. Kids can read Mark Twain and Charles Dickens and J.R.R. Tolkien and Ernest Hemingway and Sylvia Plath if they want to, and you can read Scott Westerfeld and Stephenie Meyer and Judy Blume and Lois Lowry and Chris Crutcher if you want to. The Harry Potter books are not the only “approved” kids’ books for adults. If you love Neil Gaiman, it’s okay to read THE GRAVEYARD BOOK. If you love Sherman Alexie, it’s okay to be excited that RADIOACTIVE LOVE SONG is almost here.
So whip THE HUNGER GAMES out of your bag at lunchtime and stop worrying about what other people think. It’s better than half the crap published for adults anyway. If you’re not ashamed to admit you’re watching DANCING WITH THE STARS, why should you be embarrassed to be seen reading THE DARK IS RISING?
Everyone: just get over it and read what you want to read and PLEASE STOP APOLOGIZING FOR READING QUALITY BOOKS JUST BECAUSE YOU FOUND THEM IN THE YOUNG ADULT SECTION.
April 2nd, 2009 - 10:34 pm
Hear, hear!
And what’s that you say? A new Sherman Alexie? You never tell me anything anymore.
*goes off to stand in line at Powell’s for RADIOACTIVE LOVE SONG*
April 3rd, 2009 - 1:16 am
*applause*
I agree completely!
April 3rd, 2009 - 6:39 am
Yes! Thank you!
Having never really stopped reading kids and YA books, I sometimes wonder what it’d be like to be so self conscious about being seen with anything labeled “for children” that you’d feel the need to apologize. I mean, it’s not like they take away your grown-up license if you wander through the wrong section of the bookstore!
April 3rd, 2009 - 7:14 am
Well let’s admit the truth…you should TOTALLY be ashamed of watching Dancing With The Stars.
And having just watched TWILIGHT on DVD (and never having read the book), I’m not sure I can recommend Stephenie Meyer, either.
But anytime there’s a Neil Gaiman or Sherman Alexie book, of whatever stripe, you should read it immediately. And although I outgrew Narnia and Prydain (as I recently learned on a return to the books), Tolkein will always be worthwhile, no matter the age.
April 3rd, 2009 - 11:04 am
MF darling: *I* am not watching DANCING WITH THE STARS. But…okay, yeah. However, fill in that blank with SURVIVOR or THE BACHELOR or anything else that people will stand around discussing without shame. (Even though they should have shame. Judge, judge. Glass house. Rock. Pot. Kettle.)
You are not the target audience for TWILIGHT.
And it’s okay to outgrow some of your childhood loves, but not to mock others for NOT outgrowing them. (Not that YOU do that, but that others do.) Narnia and Prydain still hold up for me, year after year.
Melody: I believe you yelled at me for the size of your to-be-read pile!
Janni and Deva: don’t you wish we could have a book club?
April 3rd, 2009 - 3:52 pm
Hear, hear! Myself, I fervently hope to never outgrow Narnia and Prydain. Especially Narnia.
April 3rd, 2009 - 3:52 pm
“STOP APOLOGIZING FOR READING KIDS’ BOOKS.” Agreed!
But please, keep apologizing for reading Twilight. There’s just no excuse.
April 3rd, 2009 - 4:02 pm
Nope, sorry, christiann – if we’re going to make a blanket statement, then it has to be a blanket statement. TWILIGHT has to get a pass, too (and I’m not just saying that as an adult who enjoyed reading it).
April 5th, 2009 - 8:30 pm
[...] April 6, 2009 Books, dolls, and wet kitties Posted by zeelandia under Uncategorized No Comments I love this article: Stop apologizing for reading kids books! [...]
April 8th, 2009 - 7:19 pm
Amen! I love kidlit and I’m proud of it.
April 27th, 2009 - 5:31 am
I remember when I first moved to New York and you could get out as many books from the library as you wanted (I grew up with a 10 book limit in LA) and I’d get out thirty children’s books at a time and the librarian would ask “Are you a teacher?” and I’d say, “NOPE! They are for ME!”
April 27th, 2009 - 5:32 am
Also, I love Dancing With the Stars!