As an avid reader of young adult books, I feel that they can be read by teen and adult alike. Now I
am not that into graphic novels but that is just because I tend to read what is
written and forget to look at the picture as I go. I still feel that they are a
good choice for adults to read and if it gets them reading I think we should be
encouraging them not discouraging. One thing I like about the young adult books
is that you can choose a fantasy book and not have to worry about there being an
explicit sex scene in the book. I fill
like most adult books that I pick up that are fantasy tend to have very
explicit sex scenes and that is not something that I care to read all the time
so it is nice when I can pick up a good fantasy book that is a young adult and not has to worry about this. Some of the books that have broken through to
all different ages have been The Hunger Games series, Twilight, and Divergent
series to name a few. These are some of the books that I see adults and teens
both reading. In the article “What Girl Want” Caitlin talks about how “Twilight”
was one of the books that got her back to
reading. Like I said as long as people are reading does it really matter what
they are reading if they enjoy it. We shouldn’t judge someone who comes to the
library as an adult and asks for either a
young adult book or a graphic novel, we should be helping them find what they
are looking for. Just because I am not the biggest fan of graphic novels doesn’t
mean I don’t feel that it is a worth form of reading for others.
Flanagan, Caitlin. “What Girls Want.” The Atlantic, Dec. 2008, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/12/what-girls-want/307161/.
Accessed 3 April 2018.
Laura, I made the mistake of believing for a really long time that graphic novels/manga/anime were basically for people who couldn't read anything else--or, as I used to call them, "stupid books for stupid people." #_# It wasn't until I actually began to work in a library and see the way in which these types of fiction would encourage reading that I changed my mind. Like you, I'm just not a fan--despite being taught in college how to 'read' a picture, I just can't get into it. But these are, contrary to my earlier opinion, not "stupid books for stupid people"--they are a completely legitimate form of fiction that bring joy and encouragement to readers. Reading your prompt reminded me of just how stupid I was myself when I was younger; I wish I'd had you to talk to when I was being so stuck up, lol! You'd have set me straight. :) (In the nicest way possible, because another thing I love about your response is that you never insult anybody; you're so nice, but so firm at the same time).
ReplyDeleteYou make a good point about the potentially "more clean" experience of YA for readers. I imagine there are some Game of Thrones viewers out there who might have gotten the wrong idea about Fantasy as a genre ... = )
ReplyDeleteExcellent points about YA being cleaner and graphic novels being more than picture books for dumb people. Owning your initial bias is great, we've all been there! Minor deduction for brevity, but your response itself is great.
ReplyDelete