Is it okay to still read books meant for younger audiences as an adult?

[Fawkesfan1]

Originally Posted by Wizzzardree

Thanks for the tip, back I will have to check out this series for sure! What do you like about the series?

No prob and you're welcome . The humor, and the sarcasm at points. It kind of reminds me of Harry at times. Still sad but still nicely written.

@jordmundt: Yes he does, I really liked his Frankenstein series (not for young adults, but still a series I'd recommend). Yep from the looks of things.

[Wizzzardree]

Originally Posted by Fawkesfan1

No prob and you're welcome . The humor, and the sarcasm at points. It kind of reminds me of Harry at times. Still sad but still nicely written.

I agree, I enjoy the series for it's parallels to Potter but I also enjoy how it focuses more in the real world setting, but I do find it funny that every character that is historical seems to be immortal.

[Fawkesfan1]

Originally Posted by Wizzzardree

I agree, I enjoy the series for it's parallels to Potter but I also enjoy how it focuses more in the real world setting, but I do find it funny that every character that is historical seems to be immortal.

Me too. It's refreshing to read a series that has events that take place in a real world setting (regardless of whether it's in YA book and stuff). Yea that's pretty funny as well .

[APolaris]

I'd just like to take a moment to answer this question with my first post.

As a fellow adult (if 27 counts as one), I would absolutely agree that it's fine to read "younger" books as an adult and vice-versa, depending on one's individual personality. In a way, I think it's almost better to do so. Most modern "adult" literature, I find, is actually quite generic and very immature - for all of its adult references, it very rarely has a good reason for including them. I think the only modern, heavily adult-centric author I've read who's any good is Stephen King, and his best works (barring The Stand and It since they're special cases) are his less reputed ones, such as Bag of Bones, Hearts in Atlantis, Different Seasons (which was the basis for the films The Shawshank Redemption, Apt Pupil, and The Body/Stand By Me), and the Gunslinger saga. Most other modern adult lit is gratuitous, predictable, conformist, frequently manipulative **** that's forgotten how to tell a story, develop characters, question the way things are, or use memorable phrasology. I find even Joyce Carol Oates barely sufferable and I find, say, Sandra Hill, Danielle Steel, and especially James Patterson downright cringeworthy. In short, most modern adult lit is barely good for adult reading and utterly worthless for youth to read. Therefore, one is left with only two alternatives: read "older" adult literature or read youth-centered literature. When I grow tired of the former, I indulge in the latter.

C.S. Lewis' quote is very appropriate for Harry Potter in particular, and while it works for others, I consider HP the best template for analysis. Barring Harry and Ron, it excels in the department of character development. Its characters, despite having powers, are realistically, psychologically, and behaviorally human. They are rational and irrational. They have diverse interests, views, and replies to situations. They are moral, amoral, and relativist. They have very real reasons for behaving the way they do and don't fit some mold or symbolize some misguided "virtue" the author is trying to embody. Some of them probably deserve their own book series (Snape, young Dumbledore, Luna Lovegood come to mind). I know nobody who can read HP without encountering at least one character archetype they know in person. And quite frankly, there are scenes in the later books I wouldn't allow my very young children to read if I had any. If anything, I find HP (or at least, books 4 onward) to be better and more sophisticated reading than 90% of what's targeted to my age group these days, even if Rowling does overuse cliches and adverbs. Today's children's lit is hardly what I'd call children's lit, in short.

If the world wants me to read "adult" lit, maybe it should start producing good "adult" lit again.

[Tenshi]

The last time I checked there wasn't an age limit for books. Read kids books as long as you want, even if you're 99 years old. Do as you please.

I was listening to Enid Blyton and TKKG audiobooks not long ago and I turn 28.

[katie_scarlett]

Most of the books I enjoy reading are aimed at children or teens...I love HP obviously, but I also love the Twilight Saga, the Pretty Little Liars series, The Chronicles of Narnia, and A Series of Unfortunate Events.

The only "adult" books I've even read are Gone With the Wind and the Loves Comes Softly series. I also want to read the North and South Trilogy at some point, maybe after I finish Pretty Little Liars and my 4th reread of HP.

I don't see why it really matters what age the books are aimed at. If you enjoy them, it shouldn't matter how old you are. I have people ask me all the time "Aren't you a little too old to be reading that?" when they see me reading HP, to which I tell them, "No, I love these books and will probably still be reading them when I'm 90."

[magic_is_might]

Definitely. I love to reread 'The Series of Unfortunate Events' - I'm reading 'The 39 Clues' series and 'The Chronicles of Narnia'. All these are said to be aimed toward younger audiences, but I think if you find enjoyment out of them, then they are perfectly fine.

I still like to read through a 'Goosebumps' book, when I come across one

[MmeBergerac]

I've always wondered who and how decides which audience a book is meant for. Well, in the case of HP or Twilight, there's a quite clear primary target. However, I mean books that perhaps were written for a general public in the XIXth century and that now editorials and libraries label as 'teen' or 'young adult', or even 'children'. For instance, I'll never understand why Gulliver's Travels is in the youngsters section. I guess it's because of the giants and the Lilliputian, but honestly, I don't think a 14 years-old gets much hooked but the tons of social criticism and bitternes the book holds. It's almost impossible to find Twain's Yankee in King Arthur's Court out of collections meant for teens, though the satire behind the time-travelling is better understood by adults.

[gelowo93]

I actually had this argument with my mum the other day. I was complaining that I didn't have a book to read so I went to the library with her and most of the adult books are romances and mystery books that I'm just not into. I kept trying to drift back into the young adult section but she spotted me and said I need to start reading adult books, even though I'm 17 and technically still a young adult. So I said that there weren't any good fantasy adult books and my mum grassed me up to the librarian who showed me where all the sci-fi/fantasy adult books are In the end I got one but I don't like it much so I'm forcing myself to read it as quickly as I can

I say read whatever you like to read, and if you prefer and want to read books that are supposedly aimed at a younger audience then you can. It's a free world and it's not going to harm anyone if you read young adult books when you're an adult

[Fiachra]

We live in a *relatively* free world, so read what you want really. I personally only read YA when I'm forced to, because the ''adult'' Sci-Fi and Fantasy books seem to be better constructed. There's less commercial-lit there. But there's quite a bit of crossover - I mean you get adults reading Harry Potter, and His Dark Materials (I first discovered HDM in the adult fantasy section). You also get kids reading David Eddings, George R.R. Martin, not to mention J R.R. Tolkien.

I only get disturbed when I see adults reading Enid Blyton. There's a line, you know?

[HMN]

Originally Posted by gelowo93

I say read whatever you like to read, and if you prefer and want to read books that are supposedly aimed at a younger audience then you can. It's a free world and it's not going to harm anyone if you read young adult books when you're an adult

I totally agree. As a (yikes!) 39 year old, I will freely admit I love some YA books. They're very creative and engaging in a way that a lot of adult books aren't. Like my newest favorite The Hunger Games trilogy. There are so many themes in that book that will be read one way as a youngster, but a deeper way as an adult.

Then there are books like Life of Pi (an awesome read) that started in the adult section and then crossed over to the YA. Why? I have no idea. An excellent read no matter what age people think it is targeted to.

Other great YA reads I've read recently: Graceling, Elsewhere and Will Grayson Will Grayson.

[asdfasdf17]

Of course you should always read books that you like or are interesting. Plus, its never a bad thing to expand your literary knowledge (if you know what I mean).
I still read and reread a lot of my favorite elementary books. My friend is a teen but she almost only reads adult books which is cool.

[GodricHollow]

I had a reading age of 18 in year six (so that's about 10 years old). I did the logical thing and promptly explored the adult part of the library. My mother then pointed out that although I could read and understand material that adults could, I didn't have to read adult-oriented books (that sounded a lot better in my head...)

Point being, I've been reading youth and young adult fiction since I was 10. Will I stop? As long as there are authors out there that put material I like on the shelves, I doubt it. Heck, the vast majority of my staple books and series are youth or YA-oriented - Rick Riordan's works, Derek Landy's Skulduggery Pleasant, Chris Bradford's Young Samurai, the list goes on... I can (and indeed have, on more than a few occasions) go to my local Waterstones and spend ten minutes just spotting books and saying "ooh, I'll look into that" or "when's the next one of those coming out?"

In fact, I've just realised, the only author I regularly read that isn't Youth/YA based is Jim Butcher. Everything else I keep an eye out for and make a note of the release dates of is youth/YA. Although quite where the likes of Anthony Horowitz's Power of Five series comes in I'm not entirely sure, because that series is most definitely not 12A. Same for the latter Skulduggerys, actually...

[HermioneLandry]

Originally Posted by Clockworthy

Well, if adults read books that were clearly prompted to adults, what would they be reading; Some psychological 'thiller' in first person that is too confusing and annoying to understand, some pathetic romance, some dry-cut mystery? Maybe, if they're lucky, they'll come across a story from a different culture or country and have a ball.

The thing is, children and YA books are just more open to anything. They take the standard cloth and rip it up, and do their own thing. That's why some of them standout so much.

Agreed - plus sometimes I don't want to have to think too hard when reading for pleasure - and a book written for a younger audience fits this perfectly.

Read whatever gives you the greatest satisfaction and enjoyment, no matter the genre

[Goddess_Clio]

IMO "adult" fiction versus "young adult" fiction is largely a marketing construct. I've read a lot of so-called "adult" fiction that has nothing in it that would prohibit a younger reader from reading it (they don't have graphic sex scenes in it, they're not gory, they're not scary...) and I've read "young adult" stuff that I was completely shocked by (*cough* Twilight - and, in a much different way, Mr. Monster).

Personally, I made the leap to adult fiction when I was... about 12. It was a book that was about an NYC detective solving a case and even had a couple questionable scenes dealing with the characters either pre- or post-coitus, which for a 12 year old was quite something to read. For me the difference between the YA fiction I read (which was actually considered YA horror - The Fear Street books) and the adult fiction I read was that while life and death was certainly on the line in both the adult books dealt with the story in a more mature and often more complex way than the YA books did and that's what appealed to me, personally. In a lot of the YA books I've read, I feel like they are much more about black and white characterizations - either you're good and pure of heart or your bad and pure evil - and I tend to enjoy the grey characters the most.

As for it being okay for adults to read YA or children's books, yes, absolutley it's okay. Read whatever you want to read. It's the story is strong enough it will transcend the boundaries of what kind of story it is or who is meant to read it.

[FurryDice]

I think there's nothing wrong with reading YA books as an adult. It often seems like there's more originality and variety than in books aimed at teenagers than those aimed at adults. They're often (with some sparkly exceptions ) well-plotted, with memorable characters and engaging themes, and that's pretty much what I want in a book. Plus, I think that YA fiction is considerably better now than it was when I was a teenager.

I think the only thing to remember when reading YA fiction is that the main characters are teenagers, so there's no point complaining that they're acting like teenagers.

[swiftphoenix9]

There shouldn't be any shame in adults liking to read YA books. They're books just the same. Any marketing aside. It shouldn't make any difference. If someone gets some enjoyment out of it and they aren't in the marketing age bracket, then so be it. Let them have fun reading it .