Do Adult YA Readers Need to Grow Up?
Roger Sutton, editor-in-chief of The Horn Book, sparked an interesting discussion on his blog today with some casually derisive remarks about grown-ups who prefer to read children's books and YA novels:
As annoying as adults who dismiss children's books as unworthy of attention can be, I also feel my jaw clench when a fellow adult tells me that he or she prefers children's books to adult books because they have better writing or values or stories. This is just sentimental ignorance. ... Adults whose taste in recreational reading ends with the YA novel need to grow up.
Some fans of his Read Roger blog (with its "rants and raves" on children's books) were not too happy when he turned his barbs on them. Many of the commenters gave surprisingly specific reasons for liking YA better, like this one:
Ouch! I feel indicted. I do prefer to read children's literature, mainly due to narrative structure. I like fairly linear plots and neatly resolved endings, which puts me off a lot of adult literary fiction (with the exception of some South American authors). So I read a lot of Dickens and children's lit.
Commenters identified Scott Westerfeld and Stephenie Meyer among the YA authors who write the kind of stories they like to read, grown-up or not. --Heidi
Alcibiades on March 05, 2008 at 06:44 PM
The brave new world must promote permanent adolescence. Its survival depends on it.
Beth Fehlbaum on March 05, 2008 at 06:50 PM
Thanks for the heads-up about this article. As a YA fiction author AND fan, I am quite interested in this topic. The book I wrote, Courage in Patience, is a story of recovery from sexual abuse-- which is unfortunately an experience many people share. The protagonist is a teenager; the story includes many teenage characters-- but early reviews indicate an wide appeal to a diverse audience. The problems in the book are universal; I suspect that for fans of YA fiction and ANY fiction, if the author tells a good story, that's what's most important.
Beth Fehlbaum, author
Courage in Patience, a story of hope for those who have endured abuse
courageinpatience(dot)blogspot(dot)com
Les on March 05, 2008 at 07:37 PM
Who does Roger Sutton think he is telling people they need to grow up? Maybe he needs to become less stuffy so he can understand that literature preferences are like opinions. Opinions vary just like literary preferences vary. I don't have to like adult fiction and I definitely don't have to grow up just because someone else thinks I should. Poor Roger, I pity your closed mindedness. They joy of being young at heart shouldn't be hampered just because someone else is "too old" and thinks everyone else should be too.
on March 05, 2008 at 08:36 PM
Given the alarming number of American adults who according to surveys do not read even a SINGLE book per year, this seems an astonishingly foolish approach for Roger Sutton to take.
I gather that what he was TRYING to do was encourage adult readers to avoid getting into the rut of reading ONLY children's books (or graphic novels or romance novels or mysteries or SF etc.), undoubtedly good advice, but better without the insult, particularly since his arguments are so easy to pick apart. Responses on his own blog pointed out that the claims of children's books being better written or having better stories are at least arguable because of the more active editorial process, and does ANYONE dispute the prospect that one will generally find better values in children's fiction than adult fiction at least on average?
FredTownWard on March 05, 2008 at 08:37 PM
Given the alarming number of American adults who according to surveys do not read even a SINGLE book per year, this seems an astonishingly foolish approach for Roger Sutton to take.
I gather that what he was TRYING to do was encourage adult readers to avoid getting into the rut of reading ONLY children's books (or graphic novels or romance novels or mysteries or SF etc.), undoubtedly good advice, but better without the insult, particularly since his arguments are so easy to pick apart. Responses on his own blog pointed out that the claims of children's books being better written or having better stories are at least arguable because of the more active editorial process, and does ANYONE dispute the prospect that one will generally find better values in children's fiction than adult fiction at least on average?
MLO on March 06, 2008 at 07:40 AM
"undoubtedly good advice"
Um... nope, not good advice. Most readers read to escape from the daily grind. I know what I like and I know what I don't like. Why should I waste my precious time and money on things that I don't enjoy? For instance, with the exception of westerns that have either science fiction (Firefly - the TV Show) or fantasy (Haunted Mesa) elements, I don't like westerns. Why on earth would I waste my hard-earned dollars on a traditonial Zane Grey novel other than to give as a gift?
Jack Baker on March 06, 2008 at 08:28 AM
I think the intention was to try and get people to expand their horizons and perhaps read something out of their comfort zone. I agree that it could have been presented in a less insulting manner, but the idea is that adults should challenge themselves.
Jayme-Lyn on March 06, 2008 at 08:59 AM
in high school i was pretty sure i was never going to grow out of YA books--- i enjoyed them a lot and found adult fiction, for lack of a better word, dull. but as i entered my senior year of high school and moved on to college, i've discovered many genres of adult fiction that i enjoy, but i still read ya books from time to time. both have something to offer, so why only read what is said to be your "age"?
FredTownWard on March 06, 2008 at 11:06 AM
MLO, I call it "undoubtedly good advice" because IMHO it IS a good idea to try different genres from time to time. I know what I like, and I know what I don't like, too, but I try to keep an open mind and try something new OCCASIONALLY, if a review or a recommendation or SOMETHING catches my attention. In this way I occasionally find something NEW that I also like.
I for one am not suggesting there is anything wrong with sticking mostly to what you KNOW you like, just try to avoid locking the blinders down completely. Frankly, it sounds to me like you ARE keeping an open mind towards Westerns for example since you are willing to try them if there are SF or fantasy elements present. As for Zane Grey, if you haven't tried one yet, you might want to check out a short one some time just to satisfy any curiosity you might have. Maybe a Zane Grey fan could point you to a story containing SF or fantasy elements, if any such exist.