The Guardian: Stop dissing teen books! (& why we agree)

The UK newspaper The Guardian has a really excellent (!) article today about the on-going culture of dissing teen fiction, and why this notion is absolutely ridiculous.

Let the record state that we agree 100%. Call it what you want: teen fiction, Young Adult literature … it’s all good in our eyes. And despite what some snobby naysayers may think, a lot of it is really good, really quality literature. It’s challenging and engaging, and extremely well-written. Some of the best literature on the market these days comes from the YA shelves.

And what’s more important, as noted in The Guardian‘s article, is that ANY reading is GOOD reading — and we should be doing everything possible to promote reading to teens. That means you can’t limit what types of books you want them to read:

I wonder how many children are put off reading altogether because the canonical and the “worthwhile” are trumpeted as the only books worth the time it takes to read them. As the recent (non-exhaustive) G2 list of the best children’s books ever suggests, reading should, by all means, be educational and challenging, but it should be pleasurable too.

And to that I say, AMEN!

For the comments: Time to sound off. Check out the full article from The Guardian and tell us your thoughts on the subject.