Bologna.
1. I’m a firm believer that unless a person has a legitimate
impediment, EVERYONE can enjoy reading IF he or she discovers WHAT he or she
enjoys.
The beauty of reading is that
each reader experiences the words and scenarios uniquely. Certainly, the writer’s intent (regardless of
reading level) is part of the experience, but the reader’s own collective
experiences tint understanding and perceptions.
As such, reading a story when younger WILL be a different experience
from reading the story as an adult with additional life experiences.
NO ONE should say you can only read a book
once or ONLY at a specific age.
2. The “Young Adult” category is NOT solely based on
readability level OR intended audience. Often, a story is categorized as YA
solely because the main characters are not adults. Y’all DO realize that Huck Finn and Tom
Sawyer would be (and often are) categorized as YA, right? Would anyone REALLY say, “Oh, sorry. You’re
an adult now. You really shouldn’t read
Mark Twain.”
Do most readers or writers even know what a story’s Flesch-Kincaid readability level is? I doubt it, and I doubt most readers or writers
care. I’ve read many examples of YA and
Adult fiction across the readability spectrum. It is NOT necessarily vocabulary
or literary complexity that determine a great story. It’s the reading experience that matters.
Ashamed of what I, or what anyone else, may read based on its
category?
Bologna.
