Free the Books! Books for Everyone!


Wherein Our Heroine Contemplates Literary Pleasures.
Our Hero and I are readers of just about anything. If it sounds interesting, we will pick it up and give it a try. Occasionally, I will recommend a book to someone and they will say something like, "Isn't that for kids?" This used to puzzle me. Books is books, I say - if they have a series of words that I find interesting or appealing, why do I care who the intended audience is supposed to be? Recently, though, I read this comment on Making Light:

Not everyone will ever be too old for YAs, and not everyone who gets too old for them will ever get old enough for them again.


For some reason, this eloquence conveyed the concept which had eluded me. There is a certain unselfconsciousness granted to many children - their curiosity is allowable because they are young. At a "certain age," however, some seem to feel that they have crossed a line which cannot be crossed again. The things of childhood are forever gone. To those who have just crossed that line, there is no possibility of saying, "I'm going to read what I like." It is ironic - children often express the wish to be a grownup so they can do exactly as they please (being blissfully unaware of the constraints of jobs, mortgages, and other sundry responsibilities), but as adults they disallow themselves one of the things that is truly open to them. It is as if they are afraid that someone will come along and revoke their grownup's membership card if they taste of the delights of Philip Pullman, E.L. Konigsburg, Lemony Snicket, or even J.K. Rowling.

But if you cross that line, there is another line that can be crossed - at a certain age, you can choose once again to lose the self-consciousness that keeps you from trying something unhelpfully labeled "For Ages 12 and Up." You can read exactly what you please - you are a grownup, after all.
Posted: Tuesday - December 07, 2004 at 08:19 AM         | |

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