The age of literacy.

I was going to save this post for my "things that made me go 'hmm'" round-up on Saturday, but I decided I just couldn't wait. Plus, the column I'm going to comment on was published today, and as a journalist, I have this urge to be "timely." In this post, I will describe my reaction to "Adults Should Read Adult Books," a short piece by magazine columnist Joel Stein. This column is part of a larger debate about young adult fiction in the New York Times opinion pages, and — fortunately — Mr. Stein seemed to be the only panelist who held a condescending view of the YA genre.

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I tweeted a link to the article earlier today, and several of my Twitter followers shared my disgusted disbelief. Here are their responses (sorry for the screenshots; I've tried to embed the tweets but they always show up as just text):

Additionally, I checked the bitly listing for the article to see what people were saying. As you can see for yourself, the conversation was overwhelmingly negative toward Mr. Stein and/or in praise of the young adult fiction genre. When I realized I wasn't the only person who had strong feelings about Stein's point of view, I decided to devote more than a tweet to the subject. Hence, this blog post.

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At the foundation of my displeasure with Stein's column is my firm belief that "you shouldn't knock it 'til you've tried it." I'll admit; I am not a Twilight fan. I found the writing style immature, the character of Bella nauseating and the general hype around the franchise completely overrated. However, I still read the entire series. Why? Because who was I to even participate in discussions about the series without having firsthand knowledge of the subject? I'll tell you: I was no one. And besides, just because I dislike one young adult series doesn't mean I'll find them all equally as disappointing.

In the column, Mr. Stein outright admits: "I have no idea what 'The Hunger Games' is like. Maybe there are complicated shades of good and evil in each character.... Maybe it delves into issues of identity, self-justification and anomie that would make David Foster Wallace proud." Well, if you have no idea what it's like, then how can you say you don't want to read it? And for his information, the series does deal with plenty of worthy literary themes, and The Atlantic even recognizes its significance as a political allegory. But wait, I'm sure Mr. Stein has some asinine reason why The Atlantic isn't worth his time, either.

For Mr. Stein to universally, unequivocally declare that no young adult fiction novels are appropriate reading for any adult is a ridiculous claim. Has he ever picked up a Harry Potter book? Does he realize J.K. Rowling and other authors like her inspired an entire generation to read when they could have been playing video games or killing countless brain cells with reality television? Oh wait, I'm sorry. I forgot Mr. Stein said himself that he would rather have grown-up America "watch[ing] Pixar movies or play[ing] video games" than reading young adult fiction. Guess I played right into his hands there, huh?

Whew, my heart is starting to beat a little faster just typing this. I'm afraid I'll go into a far-too-long angry rant if I don't stop soon, so I'm going to wrap it up right now. I know there were a lot more points I wanted to make and insults I wanted to throw that I've thought of throughout the day as I sat at my desk stewing about this column, but I want to open it up to all of you.

Please comment and let me know your thoughts. If you disagree with me, I promise I won't gouge your eyes out, just try to frame your argument in a more intelligent way than Mr. Stein did. I'd love to start a conversation about this. And I promise his column is super short, so pop over and read it!

P.S. — I apologize for any typos, which are the result of my slightly shaking hands (shaking with rage, of course) and my sense of urgency to get this up as soon as possible.