“Good evening. My name is Nathan G.”
“Hi, Nathan.”
“I suppose it started for me the same place it started for a lot of people. I had seen other people doing it and thought, what could the harm be? They can do it and they still seem relatively OK. So I picked up Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. From there I was hooked.”
What you have just read is a fictional account of my first meeting of YAA, also known as Young Adults Anonymous. This is a fictional organization so don’t try to look it up. (There might be an organization called YAA, but the one that I am talking about is the one in my head that is pronounced “Yay.” It’s not an enthusiastic “Yay,” but more of a semi-sarcastic one. The type of “Yay” you would give when someone says that dinner tonight is Brussels sprouts. “Yay, it’s food, technically.”) My confession, though, is true.
An Old(ish) Man and the Young Adult Genre
I entered the young adult genre with Harry Potter. I think that most adults who read YA did the same. The stories are well crafted and don’t feel like they are geared for children, for the most part. I could carry those books on an airplane and chances are there was someone else on that plane that was also reading it. And that someone was likely to be outside the age range. The first sign that I might have a problem was when I was at a Kroger at midnight on the release of the final book, literally quivering with anticipation in my Dumbledore robes. (I had mistakenly thought that there would be other people dressed up there as well. There was not. There was not even anyone at that location for an event, so here I was a middle aged man shuffling through the aisles at Kroger picking up Metamucil and Harry Potter.) After I finished reading the books for a third time, I began searching for the next ‘fix.’
Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
“Hey, have you heard of Percy Jackson?” “Uhm…no. What’s that?” “Well, he is a kid that is the son of Poseidon but he does not know it but it is in modern times but with ancient Greek gods. It’s like Harry Potter.” Technically, it is like Harry Potter in that they are both in the Young Adult genre. I read them all. From there, it was on the Panem and the tales of Katniss and Peeta. Still I wanted more.
I tried other authors and series along the way. They left me feeling empty and wanting more. I wanted that feeling that I got when I first entered the world of the Young Adult genre. Someone recommended Divergent. I can see it’s appeal, but I did not care for it at all. For a moment, I thought I was free of the YA monkey on my back.
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
I was free until recently. My 12 year-old daughter wanted to read The Fault in Our Stars. Being a semi-good parent (I mean, she can watch Die Hard but only the edited television version) I told her that I would have to read it first. To be honest, I had no intention of actually reading it, it did not sound like my type of story…
I did read it.
I cried.
I had relapsed and it was glorious.
Ashamed, I looked for solace in my book case. I had to remind myself that I was an adult and should focus on more weighty subject matter. I picked up my copy of Angela’s Ashes and, as the ghostly music of The Pogues began entering into my soul, I put it back down. A very good book but extremely depressing. Next I went back the fantasy world of George R.R. Martin and was suddenly even more sad when EVERYONE DIED. In a last fit of desperation, I picked up another R.R., this time a J.R.R. as in Tolkien. Ah…nothing childish about the world of Hobbits and Ents and…Elves…wait a second…
That’s when it hit me…The Hobbit was written for Young Adults. It is in that Young Adult genre just from a different age. It doesn’t matter who it was written for as long as you like it.
There’s no need to be ashamed of being an adult who reads Young Adult books.
Unless one of those books is Twilight, then you have a serious problem and should seek help.
Immediately.
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