Ruth Graham's Against YA Books

Age is Just a Number
Why can’t adults read YA books? Why are adults getting judge because, of the books they choose to read? Ruth Graham stated in her slate article “Against YA” that “Adults who read YA books should feel embarrassed.”(Graham) Ruth Graham gives some good information on why they shouldn’t but she lacked a lot of support behind her opinions. The type of book genres you read does not define you as an adult or teenager. Adults should be able to read whatever type of genre they feel the need to.
Different people have their own opinions on why they think Ruth Graham is wrong. When Ruth Graham Published her article “Against YA” in June of 2014 author Elisabeth Donnelly released an article following up Ruth’s’ as a condescending. In

Elisabeth’s article she gives Ruth credit by stating that her data about the people who buy young adult literature. Elisabeth agreed with her to this extent that “the manner in which YA has taken off as a genre means that a demographic of women aged 30 to 44 accounts for 28 percent of YA sales.”(Donnelly) Where Ruth and Elisabeth parted ways was with Ruth bashing certain books and calling them trashy. Elisabeth felt as if she hadn’t really read the books or giving them a chance. Elisabeth also stated in her article that “There are really good YA books out there.”(Donnelly) Elisabeth pushes Ruth to go and pick up a copy of “Meg Rosoff’s How I Live Now”. (Donnelly) Elisabeth proceeds on to defend adult YA readers by giving a reason why they read the certain genre. She stated that YA books endings are “wrapped up neatly”. Another awesome point that Elisabeth had was that Ruth did not know if the women only read YA books or if they actually read other genres on top of the YA books.
Overall Ruth Graham had some points that all the other people agreed with but some of her points was outrageous. With some of Ruth’s good information, she bashed books. She bashed books by calling them “trashy stuff” and that there is not “serious literature” in the books. Ruth proclaimed that YA books are for teens and not for adults, but the YA books are growing more detailed for the age ranges she considered the genre to fall in.
In “Darkness too Visible” the author Meghan Cox Gurdon touched on the points in her article that was published in June 2011. Meghan hit the facts by explaining a story about a parent that was looking for a book for their son. Meghan says that the parent thought “It was all vampires and suicide and self-mutilation, this dark, dark stuff”. Meghan went on to say that the YA adult literature she read was less detailed than what todays YA detail is. The YA literature she describes as todays is “Darker”. (Gurdon) What she means by darker is that the information in the books are not for the 12-17 year old category. Meghan’s article basically reflects that if our teens grow up reading about “kidnapping”, “incest” and etc. That they would be doing these things because that’s what they read about as a teen. Meghan thinks that the YA today is for kids and for adults. Another valid point that Meghan made was that if the teens were heavily reading the YA literature of today that it would be harder to raise them. You will be very lucky to find YA literature in today’s writing world that is written with less detail and that is actually appropriate for the teens of our generation. She even put out some titles of YA literature that she thinks is appropriate for the teens of our generation. The titles she put out were “Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi (2010)” for the young men and “Ophelia by Lisa Klein (2006)” for the young women. Today’s YA literature is actually wrote for adults and not teens. (Kelly)
In "No, You Do Not Have to be Ashamed of Reading Young Adult Fiction" Rosenberg touched on the fact of Ruth bashing the people who read YA books. Rosenberg fired back at Ruth with “Just 28 percent of Americans reported reading 11 or more books in 2013.” This statement meant that adults had to read YA literature or some other form closer to it. Rosenberg stated that those that read the YA literature are the “highly engaged readers.” Rosenberg also defends YA literature by saying that if Ruth would have known that YA literature was a category with many different sub-genres then she would think different or could have better reasons on why not to read them. The sub-genres of “historical fiction and romance and etc”. These are some of the best sellers in the book world cause that’s what catches the minds of people. Rosenberg believes that “plenty of material aimed at adults is aimed at hitting the pleasure centers of the brain and providing endings that satisfy our most childish sense of fairness.” This means that there is not the same ending in every YA book. The authors of YA books switch it up and make seem like some sort of reality. By Ruth trying to say “Adults should be embarrassed for reading YA books”(Graham) is not going to make them stop.
In Ruth’s “Against YA” she came with some great clauses but also she lacked very many. Rosenberg in "No, You Do Not Have to be Ashamed of Reading Young Adult Fiction" pointed out a few of them that caught her eye. Rosenberg thought that Ruth’s case would have been better supported “if her piece made a comprehensive case against readers who seek out a certain kind of easy enjoyment and moral satisfaction no matter where they find it.” Rosenberg’s meaning of this meant that adults read it because it’s easy or just because the readers really don’t have a meaning for reading the YA literature books. Something else that stood out to Rosenberg was that Ruth’s survey data from a research firm also suggested that “e-books make many readers more likely to read so-called guilty pleasures.” (Rosenberg) The guilty pleasures include the YA literature (teen fantasies). Rosenberg suggested that Ruth should considered that adults reading YA literature were maybe trying to get a better understanding of the mind of teenagers. Rosenberg also stated that the people reading YA literature might become “avid readers”. (Rosenberg) People cannot just give up on the “romance” and “happy endings” because someone wants them to feel embarrassed.
Ruth attacks YA literature in a horrible way.

Author Hillary Kelly in “In Praise of Reading Whatever the Hell You Want” defended YA literature not as a writer but as a strong reader of the literature. She stated that she would “keep rereading the Harry Potter books until she died”. That statement right lets us know that she is an adult who reads YA literature. She does not read it because it’s easy. She reads it because she has a connection with the books inside the YA genre. Hillary bashes Ruth for making the YA literate look “ridiculous”. Hillary also believes that Ruth does not really know what YA literature is about. Hillary attacks Ruth at her weak details within her essay. Hillary says “Graham claims that unlike adult books, YA books have “satisfying” endings.”(Kelly) In Hillary eyes Ruth does not list any books that talk about stuff that actually goes on in the world (real life events). Hillary believes that Ruth is just attacking adult YA readers at their academic level and not really looking to understand why the books are being read by the adults. Ruth sets all adults that read YA literature on the same pedestal and does not give them any separation or differences. Ruth is doing the minimum work of looking at people who read YA literature. If Ruth wants people to consider her argument she has to come with some better facts on why adults actually read YA literature. Hillary makes the statement that “she has to understand why they want to actually revisit there childhood literature”.

(Kelly)
Ruth Graham’s article is not accurate because she is judging people just because they read the YA literature books. Ruth is not actually reading the adults gestures or reactions after they read the YA literature books compared to their reactions when they read the adult literature. Adults now of days do not read adult literature because it does not really vibe with how they are feeling or the events in their life. A good valid point that Damien Walter made was that adult literature is not amongst the bestsellers all the time. Damian pulled up one of the only adult literature that was a bestseller in 2013. The book was called “The Goldfinch” by Donna Tartt it was a bestseller but it was actually wrote about his young adulthood. (Walter) Ruth needs to come with different aspects and views within her article to make it a little more agreeable.
Ruth Graham in her “Against YA” article said that YA literature is not “serious literature”. (Graham) What exactly is serious literature to Graham? Is not the selling of books and people’s enjoyment of reading the type of literature considered serious literature? If Graham considered all of these factors as serious literature then YA literature would be serious literature.
If she considers adult literature as serious literature. Serious literature in Walter eyes is about “a middle-aged person struggling with career collapse and sexual frustration.”(Walter) Who wants to repetitively read that type of literature book after book? Walter also went on to say “YA literature is the most serious literature”. (Walter) Not just because he reads it but because it’s books a brought by lots of people and people actually enjoy the type of stuff that is written in YA literature. Also YA books are always in the bestsellers category. Ruth Graham needs to produce some statistics to prove that YA literature is not “serious literature”.
Young or adult YA literature is awesome and you shouldn’t be judge for reading it. Adults should be able to read whatever you want. Don’t let a silly little article persuade you or make you want to stop reading the type of literature you love. Reading literature you love keeps you reading and reading. And remember reading expands the mind and keeps the mind fresh and ready to think.