As readers’ advisory librarians, we should
definitely work to ensure that we can help adult readers in search of young
adult and graphic novels. We should not shame readers for reading young adult
novels, because although they are marketed to a younger audience, they are not
of intrinsically worse quality than other books. There are certain prevalent
themes in young adult novels such as not fitting in and coming of age, and I
would describe these themes as being universal, and not just limited to a
certain age range. Young adult novels range widely in writing quality just as
all books do, and we should include young adult fiction reviewing sites and
publications in the resources we use for regular readers’ advisory work. We
should also try to expand our reading into the young adult genre (if we haven’t
already) so as to get a better sense of the landscape of contemporary young
adult writing. As Booth (2005) points out, teenage readers just want good
stories like the rest of us, and do not want to be moralized to.
Graphic novels are a whole medium containing a
wide variety of genres, so it would be ignorant to dismiss them as “childish”
or unworthy of attention for readers’ advisory. There are graphic novels
targeted at young adults, children, and adults, and I think it’s helpful for us
to read widely in these different genres to get a sense of unique appeal
factors. For example, in graphic novels the art style can be just as big an
appeal factor as the story itself, and patrons may have preferences: one person
might like graphic novels with a strictly realistic art style and another might
enjoy more figurative, unrealistic drawing. If we don’t regularly read graphic
novels as part of our readers’ advisory work, we won’t be able to identify
these appeal factors and properly recommend good graphic novels to our patrons.
Works Cited
Booth, H. (2005). RA for YA: Tailoring the
Readers Advisory Interview to the Needs of Young Adult Patrons. Public
Libraries, 44(1), 33-36.
Sam,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. We should not shame readers for reading what they enjoy whether that is something that we would read or not. Our place as librarians is to help people find what they are looking for, not to make them feel bad for it.
I also agree that it is hard to keep up to date with all the appeal factors in Graphic Novels since art style and length are much different than in a regular novel.
I battle the graphic novel as literature all the time with my children's friends' parents. Many are not ready to give their children graphic novels because they do not see their literary merit. I can't say enough about graphic novels, I think they are great ways to keep kids reading whether they are great readers or struggling readers. However, I do not have as much experience with adult graphic novels beyond Maus and Watchmen, but feel their merit is well stated. However, I don't know when I would introduce "have you considered a graphic novel" into the readers' advisory interview. If someone is interested in WWII does that mean Maus will be a good fit? I think keeping them on display, beyond the shelves, might be a great way to start to get people thinking about the merits of the genre. If the library is willing to display the books in that manner, then it also shows the patrons that the library feels the books have merit. Once people become familiar with the genre we'll be able to better help them (art style, etc.) as you've suggested.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great way to slowly introduce GNs!
DeleteGreat job on this prompt response, you really hit the nail on the head. If people are reading, it's a win. Who cares what they're reading. Someone once said, "Harry Potter is a gateway drug to hard literature" and I definitely agree! Full points!
ReplyDelete