Never Too Old

Hello beautiful people of Earth. I hope you are enjoying an amazing weekend with friends, family or even your own awesome company. I want to start out today by saying thank you for checking out my blog or following me from my previous one .

Today’s topic is something near and dear to my heart. It’s the ridiculous assumption that adults shouldn’t read young adult novels. That it’s some how beneath us. And  If you think I don’t notice the raised eyebrows when I tell you what books I like to read think again, because I do. There are so many times when I tell myself “that’s enough Ruth. You’re too old for this now. You need to grow up.” But then I go to a book store or the library and my feet take me right to the young adult section without even checking with my brain first. Besides, now that I’m writing my own YA book I need to read more of them for research at the very least.

This did  get me thinking though. We don’t stop playing board games becuase they were made for children. Plenty of adults see Disney movies and go to Disney Land. I can say I’m proudly in that category as well. I’m not saying that people don’t grow out of certain things but just because you have doesn’t mean everyone else has too and vise versa. I just think insisting there is a certain age limit on a whole genre of books is slightly ridiculous and untrue. I will be the first to admit that there are some YA books that are simply written and ask nothing of the readers, but there are others that ask us to think, to discover, to imagine. Right now I am reading the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas and I am blown away by her writing and the world she has created within the series. The character are all above the age of eighteen and adult themes are spread throughout yet this is classified as a young adult novel.

Last night I had the opportunity to watch some beloved characters come to life in the form of  Miss Peregrine’s Home for the Peculiar Children. Seeing the character’s come to life on the big screen brought back the love and wonder of reading the book. And you know what? The majority of people sitting in that dark theater were not young children or even teenagers. They were fellow adults enjoying a movie of a book they loved.

Young Adult does not mean juvenile. Take the  Redwall books by Brian Jacques.These books are written in the view points of animals, which is not common. Adult animals that dealt with very dark and  adult things and yet the books were written for children. I ate those books up like an enticing bowl of dark chocolate when I was younger because they challenged me and broadened my understanding of the world. If I were to read them now for the first time I still feel like I would walk away with the same experience. Look at the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins or the Legend books by Marie Lu. These books discussed  living under an oppressive government and going against society.  That doesn’t sound childish to me. And if we must we can look at “cough” Twilight “cough.” I know for a fact that teenage girls were not the only one’s fangirling it up in the theaters okay. But that’s nothing to be ashamed of. If young adult books have taught us anything it’s that it’s okay to challenge the norms and it’s okay to be different. I believe you are never too old to enjoy a good book, whether it is written for children or adults.  I don’t know about you, but today I plan to settle down in my mermaid tail blanket with a cup of coffee in one hand and a young adult book in the other. And you know what I am not shamed of that.

So what do you think? Do you think young adult books are strictly for young adults or do you think they are for all readers? Let me know in the comments below. Have a great rest of your weekend guys. Here’s something to get you through the week.