SLATE, on the embarrassment of Young Adult Fiction.

What a fascinating turn of events! Another writer has ventured forth with an article condemning the genre of Young Adult literature. This time it's Ruth Graham writing for SLATE, and she wants you to know that if you are over 18 and you read young adult literature, you ought to be ASHAMED of yourself!

I'm not going to write a response to the actual article, because it is full of false logic and reductive thinking with a healthy dose of arrogance. This writer has obviously read precious little of the current genre, and assumes adults who read young adult literature, like me for example, aren't reading anything else. (I'm well into Persuasion by Jane Austen for the second time, but never mind about me.)

I think the real reason for this article is a cynical observation by the editors of SLATE, or by Ruth Graham herself, that every time another condescending piece of "criticism" is posted from on high, pointing the judgmental finger of Culture at all us YA lovers wallowing in our narrative "simplicity," legions of incensed readers and writers of YA march to their website to register their rancor. And then SLATE makes more money.

They want the controversy. They want us to go to the article and defend our reading tastes, (which, by the way, need no defense.) So my suggestion is, don't do it.

Which is why the above hyperlink takes you directly to a picture of a rainbow, which is much more worth your while.