Week 13 Prompt

 I was the girl growing up who played softball her whole life but sat in the outfield shamelessly applying stick-on nails and touching up my lip gloss instead of engaging in the game. So, I am no stranger to "guilty pleasures" and have lost any reservations about "liking what I like". When I first heard someone criticizing adults for reading YA novels or graphic novels I was actually shocked. Out of all the things to criticize, reading anything, despite the topic or style, seems strange to me. Since being in library school, I have even heard some future librarians discussing worthy versus unworthy literature in libraries.  I do not believe in the hierarchy of literature necessarily. I also believe that the adults who read exclusively graphic novels or children's books would not suddenly begin to read classic literature if it was the only thing available, instead they would likely just not be reading. Librarians need to steer away from self-censorship. The idea of promoting worthy literature and not promoting unworthy genres is a form of self-censorship. People can and should have varying ideas of what makes good literature and what is worth reading. It is the librarians job to help the people find their own idea of a good book.

Some ways librarians can promote graphic novels, YA books, and children's books to adults is by putting them on display, making book lists, and forming programs and book clubs centered around these genres. A good example is the book club I observed for this class, the Forever Young Adult Book Club.