Soapboxes! It's not like there's anyone here listening, anyway.
I thought this was interesting - I see this a lot, actually, where men (not all men, just some of them, and the number keeps growing) will say something asinine and then when it's obvious they've done so, refuse to recognize they've made themselves look like a giant douchebag. Meaning they're just too good to take a step back and apologize. Most of the indictments of YA/kid literature have been men that I've seen the last few months. Maybe I'm reading too much into this.
How do we feel about grownups who read children's books as if they weren't? That is, people who peruse the Horn Book like another person reads the Times Book Review, looking for a new book to read? 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.
I'm reminded of the ruckus in SLJ some years back when a library school professor wrote that l.s. students like to take children's literature classes because the reading is so easy, "like eating popcorn." You can imagine the heated response, but I think she had a point. While noting the exceptions of James Patterson on the one hand and William Mayne on the other, children's books tend to be easier and thus potentially "fun" for adults in a way they tend not to be for children, an incongruence librarians need to remember, not dissolve. Whatever whoever chooses to read is their business, of course, but adults whose taste in recreational reading ends with the YA novel need to grow up. [source]
I recommend the entire post for context. All emphasis was added by me.
Is a diet of YA/kidlit unhealthy? Does it mean that people like me, who read in those genres 95% of the time are fooling themselves into a second childhood? On the other hand, is it just the same as someone who only chooses to read fantasy? Does those people need to "get back to reality"?
Thoughts on yaoi?!
How do we feel about grownups who read children's books as if they weren't? That is, people who peruse the Horn Book like another person reads the Times Book Review, looking for a new book to read? 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.
I'm reminded of the ruckus in SLJ some years back when a library school professor wrote that l.s. students like to take children's literature classes because the reading is so easy, "like eating popcorn." You can imagine the heated response, but I think she had a point. While noting the exceptions of James Patterson on the one hand and William Mayne on the other, children's books tend to be easier and thus potentially "fun" for adults in a way they tend not to be for children, an incongruence librarians need to remember, not dissolve. Whatever whoever chooses to read is their business, of course, but adults whose taste in recreational reading ends with the YA novel need to grow up. [source]
I recommend the entire post for context. All emphasis was added by me.
Is a diet of YA/kidlit unhealthy? Does it mean that people like me, who read in those genres 95% of the time are fooling themselves into a second childhood? On the other hand, is it just the same as someone who only chooses to read fantasy? Does those people need to "get back to reality"?
Thoughts on yaoi?!