Hey there, my name is Simone! I’m a fourth-year English Literature student at the University of Texas at Austin, and I frequently and almost exclusively read middle-grade books. Middle-grade books can be described as “books intended for readers ages eight to twelve,” and in case you hadn’t noticed… I’m a bit out of that age range. Here’s the thing, I spend hours of my time reading Hemingway and Poe and plenty of academic articles that make it easy to forget that I adore reading. Don’t get me wrong, I love what I study. I love the creative freedom that it provides me, the community that I build with my peers over dissenting perspectives, and I’ve yet to encounter a professor who isn’t passionate about the literature they’re sharing, but at the end of the day, it can all be a bit much. So, I turn to middle-grade literature… and it definitely gets a rise out of some of my peers and most adults. They say things to me like:
- “Isn’t that book for kids?”
- “Aren’t you a little bit old for that book?”
- Doesn’t reading middle-grade books affect your ability to analyze academically?”
These are a few of the various questions, comments, and concerns I have received from those around me. I say I have accomplished my academic goals of providing new perspectives and broadening my scope as a reader, but at the end of the day, these books are just plain fun, and that’s what I’m looking for in a novel. I’ve spent too many minutes thinking about and attempting to read the books I should be reading when I could just be reading what I want to read. Read what you want, NOT what you think you should. What content you consume during your free time, regardless of the target audience, does not negate your ability to succeed in an academic or career setting. So please read that book you loved in middle school and watch that TV show that reminds you of simpler times; it doesn’t make you any less intelligent or any less of an adult.