"What are they reading?" they asked. They probably assumed my kids were voracious readers since their mother was a big enough geek to go to a dinner event focused on a writer.
"Uh..." I said. "I don't know." I was slightly appalled at my own answer. I should have a vague idea of what my kids are reading. I don't need to monitor or censor what they read, but I should be a clued in parent who has an interest in what my kids like. Why don't I know what my kids are reading?
They both have e-readers, the Boy a Kindle and Claire Adele a Nook. Claire Adele's Nook has a peacock blue cover that is now kind of ratty. The Boy's Kindle has a basic black cover. These covers give me no indication of what's inside. I seriously doubt they are reading Fifty Shades of Gray, but when they left their paper books around the house, I could tell what they were reading. My kids still have analog books. I am usually involved in the acquisition of them, too, whether I pay for a book they picked out at a bookstore or I take them to the library.
Fortunately, the two carried the weight of the conversation, and gave me several recommendations, both for me and my kids.* I could contribute to the conversation of what my kids were reading, but I was aware there was a major gap in my knowledge. I didn't feel quiet like a fraud, but almost.
The other thing I found slightly distressing is that there is a whole genre of Young Adult. I am not saying this is a bad thing, just different from when I grew up. I remember visiting the Schaumburg Library when I was a kid. It has a large children's section, which I outgrew when I was eleven or twelve. After that, I went upstairs to the main part of the library to get books to read. I went straight from children's books to regular books--there was no special section for kids between the ages of 10 and 16. I felt like a right of passage to get books upstairs instead of in the basement. It was wonderful to wander in the tall stacks. The children's section was bright and colorful, with arts and crafts on display. The main floor was serious. It was just about books.
I've read some of the YA books my kids have read. I've loved some (Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell is lovely) and been bored to tears by others (I won't name names.) The YA books are filled with loud crisis, like poverty and abuse (Eleanor & Park), cancer (The Fault in Our Stars), disfigurement (Wonder), or are dystopian fantasy (The Hunger Games). They bring kids to the brink of disaster and back.
I still love Bernadette and her quiet crisis. She was lost, both literally and figuratively. I won't spoil it, but something my friend said yesterday reminded me of the ending. She described her current stage of middle age of life after the kids are reasonably able to look after themselves: I am metamorphosis-izing back to me.
Quiet crises are subtle and perhaps harder for young readers to grasp. Even in my twenties I didn't understand some of Wallace Stegner's work, including Crossing to Safety about people in late middle age. I read the whole thing, but missed the point. I wonder if I try it again if it will speak to me.
Young people missing the point of adult stories isn't always the case. My daughter read Bernadette, and liked it. I am trying to get both of my kids to read The Boys in the Boat, but they are reluctant, I am not sure why. Kids are so wrapped up in YA these days, but they should read books about what it is like to be a grown-up. What will be their right of passage into regular literature? Will they wander in the tall stacks, or will they read YA for the rest of their lives?
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* In case you are wondering, here are the reading recommendations from my dinner conversation. Some of them were based on what my kids have liked in the past, so the recommendations might be somewhat specific. I won't tell which recommendations are for kids or for me.
- The new Ishiguro
- I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
- Counting By 7s by Holly Sloan
- Noggin by John Corey Whaley
- The Wallcreeper by Nell Zink
- The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
- Under the Egg by Laura Marx Fitzgerald
- stuff by Brandon Mull
- Beautiful Boy by David Sheff
- The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
- The Dark is Rising by Ellen Cooper
- Hausfrau: A Novel by Jill Alexander Essbaum
- stuff by Gail Forman
- The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander
- The Silo Saga by Hugh Howey
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