10.26.2010

Last night after the kid passed out I managed to stay up long enough to finish the final book in the Hunger Games trilogy.


I definitely highly recommend the whole series. It was easily one of the best I've read in a long time. Please do your best to completely ignore the "young adult" categorization of these books.

I'm not sure why publishers insist on categorizing/marketing novels in this way. Especially since it would seem to me that Harry Potter completely blew away the need to define target audiences based on age. Actually, I'd say that Roald Dahl and basically any other decent "children's" author does this: a good story can capture minds in a way that defies the notion that books for kids need to be "dumbed-down".

When books are sold this way perhaps it helps tap into an audience that until only very recently was ignored by almost anyone other than the authors of stuff like the Babysitters Club and Sweet Valley High (I've always felt especially sorry for teen boys as they've been routinely shortchanged). But it also has the impact of potentially alienating a large group of readers who've already survived puberty and the horrors of high school and don't wish to be seen consuming "juvenile" literature. I know it's a waste of time to be self-conscious about what you enjoy reading but it does seem pretty standard that people routinely judge each other (and each other's intelligence) harshly based on the literature they consume. It would be so nice to just be able to focus on the pleasure of reading and less on whether what we read has some ill-defined "adult" intellectual value.

That being said, I was happy I could just order this series online and not have to repeat the debacle in which I skulked my way through the teen section of Chapters at 9pm on a Saturday night to buy a hardcover copy of New Moon because I needed to get my shameful teen-vampire-romance fix before the shakes from the withdrawal symptoms became uncontrollable.

Even I occasionally attempt to achieve the appearance of possessing a semblance of maturity in public.
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4 comments:

  1. Fantastic Mr. Fox (a Roald Dahl book) is one of my very favourites, and something that I read (for the first time!) with my son back when he was in grade 4 and long before all the movie hype. I agree that a good children's author can captivate the mind, and have rediscovered many children's books (and now 'young adult') reading to and with my kids. My ten year old girl has been reading the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants series (marketed to 'young adults') and it's a good fun story about friendship!

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  2. I could wax on and on about my love for Roald Dahl. I think the opening chapters of Matilda contain some of my favourite writing ever. He does this part about the type of things he'd write on report cards if he could. Pure genius. Generally, I always found there was a decent selection of books for girls in that tween-early teen group. I was a voracious reader at that age so I guess publishers know they have a good market. There just didn't seem to be as much good stuff for boys.

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  3. Sid - I totally missed the point about what you were saying about the boys getting the raw deal. You are totally right! My son is 13, and we have a heck of a time finding books that keep him interested and engaged. We have reverted to modernized Hardy Boys books (which aren't too too bad), but after that, it's really slim pickings!

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  4. I'd say that despite the fact that the main character is a girl, this series might appeal to teen boys as well. There's two strong male principle characters and the basis of the series is very gender-neutral. Otherwise, older boys seem to get stuck with fantasy/sci-fi and not much else. To me it's a real niche that someone should be trying to fill.

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