Kid/Adult Lit

Over at Sully they're debating whether or not it's okay for adults to be reading young adult fiction, such as The Hunger Games, Twilight et al. While personally I turn my nose up at the idea of reading a book written for today's teenager, I still have very warm places in my heart for the books of my youth, and if one fell in my lap now sure, I'd probably flip through it. Would I get out of it things as meaningful as I would from, say, Crime and Punishment? Of course not; it's probably more a nostalgic romp than anything else. Although hell, there's still nothing kiddy about A Day No Pigs Would Die, for instance.

But as policy, while of course I'd rather have an adult reading Crime and Punishment than Twilight, I'd rather have them reading Twilight than watching The Real Housewives of The Hunger Games or some shit. As my Children's Lit professor at The Harvard on the Appomattox said about children, if they'll read a fucking cereal box let them read a cereal box. Reading crap is better than reading nothing, no matter what age.

I'll always love children's literature even if I won't read anything written after 1982, maybe due to growing up with a mother as a librarian. I remind you of this great website, which keeps up with both young adult lit of the past and the present.

HERE'S  a picture of my mother's library, along with me making fun of some retarded kid. (curtsy) YES, I know I am THE WORST PERSON IN THE WOOOOOOOOOORLD!!!!!


Also, if I don't get at least one laugh re: how much the kid on this  cover looks like Watty, I'm punching a squirrel in the face.