My son, Andrew, is seven, but he is a very good little reader. I may have mentioned before that in my despair at the amount of effort he was investing in reading about Pokemon, I put him on to Narnia. Since that time, I asked on this site and others for books I should encourage him to read. A number of people mentioned the books about Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Andrew read The Lightning Thief and then The Sea of Monsters.
Naturally, Andrew began talking about the books and so I decided to read them just to make sure they were okay and to be able to carry on a conversation with him about this new world of imagination. The Lightning Thief held my attention so well I found myself looking forward to lunchtime at work just so I could sit down with the book. I am now working on The Sea of Monsters.
I have been thinking about how much I have enjoyed these books. Consider the number of adults who read things like Percy Jackson or Harry Potter or Twilight. Why do so many adults like to read young adult fiction? I think I have the answer. I think we like to read it because it has limits. Young adult fiction has be judicious in the amount of sex and violence it contains. The descriptions can’t be quite as graphic or gratuitous. That means in order for a story to be successful, it really has to be good. A story has to have merit instead of relying on titillation of one kind or the other to succeed.
January 22nd, 2010 | 5:54 pm | #1
Hunter,
You and your son might also enjoy the Dark is Rising series, by Susan Cooper. I read them as a tween, but my daughter recently picked them up (she’s almost nine, but a voracious reader), and loved them. They’re set in England and Wales, seventh son of the seventh son theme, prophetic poems, a quest, etc. Great stuff. I’m reading them again now. :) And you’re spot on with your assessment. I don’t have to worry about whether the next page is going to have me cringing in embarrassment or nausea….
January 22nd, 2010 | 8:26 pm | #2
I think that for the very reasons you mention adults like to read children’s literature are some of the very reasons I have begun to appreciate classical literature (especially nineteenth century literature) as an adult. So much of the richness of these works was lost on me when I read them when I was younger. Many of the themes are more mature than the themes of children’s literature (i.e. the theme of adultery in Anna Karenina or madness in Jane Eyre), but where there are disgraceful characters in such works, there are also redemptive characters and models of hope in these works. Not every character is one-dimensional, nor are the flaws of characters held up as models, which I find occurs in so much modern fiction today. I still read modern fiction when I don’t want to think as much, but I have really begun to prefer reading the classics for what I think they can offer me.
January 22nd, 2010 | 9:03 pm | #3
I think Alison’s on to something- it’s entirely possible that adults like young adult fiction because it’s often simply good. (I mean, not Twilight, but some of it is certainly is.) And, given how far so much of “regular” fiction has gone off the rails, it’s not really surprising that people follow quality wherever it goes…
January 23rd, 2010 | 5:09 pm | #4
As Coyle said, I read the Harry Potter series in my 30s because it was simply good storytelling. Rowling is a magisterial writer in at least two respects: (a) constructing a very interesting world that I simply wanted to learn more about and (b) constructing a tale with mystery, plot twists, and unexpected developments, such that I wanted to read on so I’d know how it would end. She got better at this as the series developed. There are other things she’s good at too, but those things above any other reason motivated me to keep reading.
January 24th, 2010 | 8:21 am | #5
I wanted to add an author to your son’s reading list: ND Wilson. His book Leepike Ridge is fantastic, and his 100 Cupboards series is gripping.
I would warn you, though, that his books are more intense than the other stuff recommended so far. You might want to read ahead by a full book to make sure you gentle son is ready for the mild macabre in those books.
Wilson, btw, is the son of Doug Wilson, so he’s a fine Christian young man.
January 25th, 2010 | 11:39 am | #6
The Giver by Lois Lowry
January 26th, 2010 | 1:57 pm | #7
I’ve been through Madeline L’Engle’s “A Wrinkle in Time” series once as a kid, once in my early college years, and I need spend another reading through it this year.
Not nearly as long as the Harry Potter books of our time, but still some amazing stuff. There are layers in it you just don’t grasp as a kid that you “get” later on in life.
January 31st, 2010 | 10:14 pm | #8
Try Garth Nix’s books. He writes very well and I think his stories are far better than JK Rowling’s. The plot is often very tight and interesting enough for both adults and young adults to enjoy. I’d recommend the Keys to the Kingdom series for younger readers and the Abhorsen series for older ones. For Keys to the Kingdom, start with Mister Monday. For Abhorsen, start with Sabriel.
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