Why I Still Read Children's Books

It makes me a little bit sad to realize that there are many adults out there who feel that, just because they no longer fall into the target audience for children's books, those books are now off-limits, to either be ignored completely or read in shame where no one can see. Adults feel that they must buy special "adult editions" of beloved children's series, like Harry Potter, which are identical in content but have different, less "childish" covers, so that they might read their stories out in public without feeling judged. Why, I ask you, why? I read all of my books without shame, no matter how much older than the target audience I happen to be, and I thought I might share my reasons for doing that with you, both to explain myself and to, maybe, encourage a fellow adult reader to pick up that children's series that just sounds so awesome.

Reason 1: Not everything has to be complex and intellectually stimulating.

I think this is a big sticking point when it comes to adults who want to read children's books. They're afraid that, if they pick up Potter instead of Pride and Prejudice, their friends will think that it's because they're incapable of understanding anything more complex than a children's story. If this is true--which I hope it isn't, but given the fact that I've met a couple of book snobs over the course of my relatively short life, I feel it might be--let me just make the case that not everything has to be intellectually challenging all the time. Lots of people read simply for entertainment and escape, the way most people watch television or surf the Web in their spare time, and there are plenty of perfectly intellectually capable people who don't feel the need to impress everybody with how intelligent they are by only reading 800-page, deeply philosophical tomes. It isn't that they wouldn't be able to understand those tomes if they did choose to read them, but that they just want something easy and fun to read. For example, I'm a university student and I do quite well in school. A graduate of the liberal arts, I've studied philosophy, poetry, and the classics, and I understood them perfectly well. Still, after attending four lectures and slogging my way through 320 pages of a psychology textbook, I really don't feel like snuggling up with Gravity's Rainbow, and I'm fine with that. Everybody needs a break sometimes.

Reason 2: A good story is a good story, and a bad story is a bad story, no matter who its target audience is.

I've read many a children's book that impressed me far more than some adult books with its characters, plot, world-building, and more. For example, Lois Lowry's The Giver, which will always be one of my favourites, remains one of the best dystopian stories I've read, because I found it so disturbingly realistic and because the imagery was so vivid and beautiful. I've read The Handmaid's Tale; I've read When She Woke, and I've yet to come across an adult dystopia that moves and disturbs me as much as Lowry's world of Sameness did. At the same time, I've read many an adult book that just didn't impress me whatsoever, to the point where I remember vague parts of the plots but can't even recall the titles or characters' names. Good writers and bad writers are good writers and bad writers regardless of who they're writing for, and it's silly to miss out on a perfectly good author because he/she writes children's stories.

Reason 3: If it's going to get an adult to read when he/she hasn't before, I'm all for it.

Being able to read is very important to me, and I can't imagine what it must feel like to be 20, 30, or 40 years old and still struggle with the written word. Reading is so necessary in our everyday lives, and yet a frightening percentage of the population in any given country doesn't have good reading skills. If an adult who's struggled to read all his/her life and who has avoided books because of it finds a children's book that is accessible, interesting, and will get him/her reading for pleasure, I'm all for it.

Furthermore, if it's going to get a parent reading and setting a good example for his/her children, so much the better.

Reason 4: Reasonable, responsible parents are awesome.

Your young son comes home from the library raving about a new children's series that he's picked up and can't wait to read, but, from the look of the cover and the sound of the description on the back, you're not sure if it's the best thing for him to be reading. Maybe you feel he's too young for the subject matter. Maybe you feel that he thinks he can handle it but that it will really be too scary for him. What do you do?

a) Let him read it, hoping that your unease about it was unfounded.
b) Flat-out forbid him from reading it.
c) Explain why you're unsure about letting him read it and promise to take a look at it and make a decision soon.

If you picked option c, you're an awesome parent. I'm very much against censorship and "forbidding" kids from reading certain books based on their content, but, at the same time, I understand that parents know their children best and will probably be able to gauge when something is too scary or too mature for a child's particular level of development. Some kids can easily handle subject matter far above their "age level;" others can't, and a parent can't really know what's in a story unless he/she actually reads it. If you're the kind of parent who, instead of simply taking a book away, will be reasonable and give it a chance by reading it yourself and making an informed decision afterwards, hats off to you. Plus, if you do have to decide to withhold that particular story for a little while, you'll have a reasonable explanation to give to your child, who, hopefully, will be able to understand that you're not just taking his new book away to be mean, and will feel less tempted to read it anyway out of spite.

Reason 5: People who don't take themselves too seriously are awesome.

This last point circles back around to the first one. Whenever I think about adults who won't read children's books just because they are adults, I'm reminded of The Little Prince and the fellow who constantly insists, "I'm a serious man! I'm a serious man!" It makes me sad to think that some adults just lose every bit of their sense of wonder. They look at a children's story and scoff, "Pshaw! That's so stupid! Dragons and wizards and fairies... those things aren't even real!"

One question: so?

I don't know about you, but I would much rather sit on a forest floor and imagine fairies peeking out from between the leaves, see a mountain in the distance and imagine the yellow-eyed dragon lying curled up somewhere I can't see, look up at the clouds and imagine a beautiful hot air balloon carrying people dressed in top hats and monocles, than look at all of these things and see only trees, rocks, and clouds, and then make faces and grumble because I'm getting dirt on my clothes. Life can be dull enough without our making it duller by refusing to imagine even a little bit of magic just because it's "not real," and adults who understand this and can still look at the world through some semblance of the eyes of a child are awesome. It's sad, but true, that we can't keep the innocence and wonder of childhood forever, but there's no need to actively push it away just because the Earth's gone around the Sun a certain number of times since you were born. When it comes to reading, age really is just a number.