Hat - Meet Ring.

I guess there was a flap in the ys blog world recently about this post by a Mr. Roger Sutton of the Horn Book, where he says that adults who read nothing but children's literature may be missing out.

Well, I guess it was a lively discussion, for polite and civilized values of the word lively, but I for one was relieved to hear a professional in the field say that.
I subscribe to YALSA-BK, and there are occasionally sanctimonious types on that list who say things to the effect of "I read only young adult books, young adult books are so fabulous, how can I evangelize adults to realize what they're missing out on when they fail to read young adult books, of course I understand that folks do grow up but it makes me so *sad* to see some teenager bypass the young adult section and go to the adult section."

Meanwhile, I read plenty of young adult books.  A minimum of three or more a month, which isn't bad for someone who doesn't do any professional reviewing or anything.  And I read young adult books that I'm reading just because I want to be able to talk about them to young adults. (I work half time as a 0-18 youth services person, so I also read a lot of Juvenile and picture books - I don't have the professional option of reading only Young Adult books, and thus I let myself read only what intrigues me, interests me, or is recommended to me by young people.)

But my most successful reference interviews with young adults have often centered around my encyclopedic knowledge of vampire novels (Sherrilyn Kenyon, MaryJanice Davidson, Keri Arthur, Kim Harrison, Robin McKinley's Sunshine, Laurell K. Hamilton - if it has vampires and a girl kicking butt, I've probably at least skimmed it) geek-classic SF novels (Douglas Adams, Neal Stephenson, William Gibson et al), or graphic novels (lots of DC's Vertigo line, Alan Moore stuff, Warren Ellis's excellent work etc).   I read "A Child Called It" because so many teens love it - someday I may be forced to read "A Million Little Pieces" for the same reason.

I personally think that youth services professionals who read only children's and young adult novels, or only fiction and non-fiction aimed at young adults, are doing their clientele a disservice.  Margaret Edwards saw the young adult librarian as someone who helped teens navigate the divide between children's literature and adult literature.  It's wonderful that young adult literature has developed as a genre - there are some great books being written and published for teens, without a doubt.  And there are adult books that have a strong appeal for young adults - that's why we have special awards to highlight those books.

But as a kid, I would have had a much poorer experience of the world of books had I read only books intended explicitly for a young audience.  I would have gotten to read Tanith Lee's Black Unicorn but not the Flat Earth books.  I would have gotten the Hobbit but not the Lord of the Rings.  Many of Isaac Asimov's short stories but probably not The Gods Themselves.  Heinlein's The Rolling Stones but not the future history short stories.  No "Modest Proposal" from Jonathan Swift.  No "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" from Byron, no "Romance of the Rose" from Guillaume de Lorris.  T. H. White's "The Sword in the Stone", perhaps, and definitely "Mistress Masham's Repose" but not the rest of "The Once and Future King".

Ok, the list could go on a long time, but the point is - my mental life would have been narrower, more restricted, less rich and strange.  And that would have kind of sucked.