Big Ideas for Little Minds: Why Children's Literature Deserves Respect

The Curious Garden by Peter Brown

There is a lot of anti-children's book sentiment out there. Not that someone thinks children shouldn't read, but rather that children's and young adult books are an inferior form of writing and reading and should be mocked, ridiculed, and belittled by journalists and more "serious writers" (and their readers). Of course, this infuriates many people in the children's writing community as one would expect. There have been some great responses to this too. Some I have liked more than others. Honestly, as someone who has been working with children's books for years, I am so used to it and I simply can't get upset about the book snobs anymore. There are people out there who will read Salinger, Faulkner, and Sayers and to them, only high literary fiction is worth reading. Some will turn their noses up at the idea that anyone could find value in a book about teen superheroes or child detectives. As a lover of all the written word, I find immense value in all books, even the ones that I dislike or disagree with. I have a serious dislike of romance, especially in my action adventure stories, however I would never make fun nor tell someone a romance book can't be both good and literary. Here are some links of the articles and their rebuttles that I am speaking of:

The original articles:
     Out-of-Body Experience by A.J. Jacobs
     John Green and His Nerdfighters Are Upending the Summer Blockbuster Model
     MFA vs POC
     Adults Should Read Adult Books

The rebuttles:
     Teen Librarian Toolbox: Dear Media, Let me help you write that article on YA literature
     Anne Ursu: On 'The John Green Effect,' Contemporary Realism, and Form as a Political Act
     Beyond Relevance to Literary Merit: Young Adult Literature as "Literature"

Personally, I think Phillip Pullman put it best when he said, "One mistake that adults used to make about children's books, is to think that children's book deal with trivial things. Little things that please little minds, and little concerns about little people. And, so, nothing could be further from the truth. Quite the contrary, it's been my observation that a lot of highly praised adult books, or highly successful adult books, in recent years have dealt with the trivial things. Such as, "Does my bum look big in this?" or "Will my favorite football team win the cup?" and "Oh dear, my girlfriend's left me, whatever am I going to do?". Whereas the children's books have dealt with ultimate questions: "Where do we come from?," "What's the nature of being a human being?," "What must I do to be good?" These are profound questions, very deeply important questions. And they are being dealt with. Largely, not in the books that adults read, but in the books that children read."