I have noticed that the students in my school, ages 10-13 mostly, read a lot of titles I would expect only older children to read. That is to say, many 5th graders (ages 9-10) have already read “The Fault in Our Stars,’ “If I Stay,” “Divergent,” and “The Hunger Games.” I am not someone who cares to filter what a person decides to read and part of me is happy to see young children taking on this ‘older’ genre. At the same time, I think they are skipping and/or missing out on some of the fun, ‘lighter,’ younger material that is out there that is so terrific: like Pippi, Swallows and Amazons, Marilyn Sachs, Paddington, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Green Knowe, and Hilary McKay. It appears that some of the material geared towards a younger audience gets overlooked for this YA/New Adult genre that is in the movies and media and pushes aside the more innocent titles that get left behind unread.
