Reading Children's Lit is One Way This Reader Stays Young at Heart
Guest writer Nicole Bennett is a elementary school librarian by day, and a voracious reader, Bookstagrammer, and author by night
Hi readers,
I thought young adult books were for young adults. I didn’t understand that all of them were not the angsty, “teenage falling in love” type books I wasn’t interested in reading. I lived it; I don’t need to read about it. I discovered young adult novels by reading (well, listening to) Elizabeth Acevedo’s Poet X and then moved on to her other two YA audiobooks. This led to finding other YA books and to my love of YA now.
I’m so happy to welcome
of to SoNovelicious to share her “deep, abiding love of young adult and middle grade lit, both reading and writing it.” When she responded to my call for guest writers and suggested writing about her love of those genres, I couldn’t say yes fast enough. She believes we “never outgrow our love of children’s literature, and reading it is one way to stay young at heart.” She’s an elementary school librarian who says she feels “right at home.” Welcome to SoNovelicious, Nicole!
Hi, So Novelicious readers! I’m Nicole from Young at Heart, and I’m so happy to be here with you today. For the last year I have sent out a newsletter about twice a month called That’s Noteworthy!, which features middle grade and young adult book reviews along with a peek into my school library and what’s bringing me joy. By this fall, I am working to share all the same kind of content, but to publish more frequently with a newsletter issue going out each week along with a monthIy review of faves. I also recently published a serial YA novel on my Substack (available for paid subscribers) and am always working on other fiction projects.
“When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty, I read them openly. When I became a man, I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.” I may not be fifty quite yet (I’m a forty-something mom of teens), but I relate to this C.S. Lewis quote so much. I have no desire to fear childishness or to be “very grown up,”—those feel like very “childish” ideas indeed. As a child, I read voraciously, and now, as an adult, reading and writing books for young people is my favorite pastime.
Whenever I’ve gotten into reading droughts in different seasons of my life, it’s always been books for young people that have brought me back to my first love of books and reading. For me, this has happened more than once. It’s easy to get out of the habit of reading for pleasure when you’re a student, just like it is when you’re a busy adult. Academics and life’s responsibilities can easily make one feel like there’s no time to read.
In college and when I was first married, it was children’s books that sucked me back into the reading life. The Princess Diaries, the Harry Potter series, Anne of Green Gables, and The Chronicles of Narnia were the series I found time for between studying, writing papers, and working new jobs back in those days.
Years later, after being overwhelmed by the early days of motherhood, I fell away from reading again. While I was nursing my third child, I picked up an e-reader for the first time, and after being captivated by The Hunger Games, it was then that I truly stepped into the world of calling myself a “reader” again. That was almost thirteen years ago, and I haven’t looked back since then.
In these last baker’s dozen years, I have enjoyed many books written for an adult audience (my favorites are romance, memoir, and mystery). Still, over this span of time, it’s been middle grade and young adult books—novels written for and marketed to audiences of ages 8-12 and 13-18, respectively, that have brought me the most joy; I’ve also had a lot of fun with picture books and graphic novels, too! Several years ago, I finally got back to my first dream and started writing my own stories for—you guessed it, young people, as well.
This meandering path of reading all these books, many to and with my kids, also brought me to a new career as an elementary school librarian. Now, I get to talk about books and make recommendations to many young readers daily. I come home with book ideas for my kids, and I find myself with more delightful books from these age categories, in all kinds of genres, on my TBR than I could ever actually finish.
Reading children’s books connects me with my inner younger self (because I genuinely believe that we are always all the ages we’ve ever been, as others before me have said) and young people around me (talking to kids about reading is seriously the best). These are books filled with wonder, seeing the world with fresh eyes and experiencing things big and small for the first time. And, of course, many children’s books are cleverly crafted and beautifully written.
But if I had to pick two words to sum up why I love reading middle grade and young adult books, it would be delight and hope. These books always bring me some degree of delight, and while children’s books often deal with difficult themes or issues, most also bring about a sense of hope in their readers. I don’t know about you, but delight and hope are things I’m always looking for more of in my life.
Finding other adults who like reading middle grade and young adult books has also been fun. I’m in an Instagram book club called the Middle Grade Groupies, and I also have an in-real-life book club where we alternate between reading middle grade and young adult books. We always have great discussions despite not being the book’s target audience. 😉
I recently read an interview with beloved (and award-winning) children’s book author Kate DiCamillo, in which she said this of the kid lit community: “I just feel like we are a community of people all trying to do the same thing, which is to tell stories that make kids feel less alone and let them know that there is a way out and through. Life is hard, and I think what we do is even more important now.” You can read the entire Kate DiCamillo article here.
Maybe you’re an adult who hasn’t read a children’s book since you went away to college… might I encourage you to try picking one up? It just might help you feel less alone. It might give you a laugh or have you shaking your head at something absurd but poignant. It might bring you a little unexpected joy and hope. Or it might take you back to another season of your life and give you a dash of feeling young at heart.
I’m always available for recommendations– shoot me a DM via Substack anytime to chat books… and happy reading!
Nicole lives on the West Coast and has been married for twenty years. She has three teen kiddos and a labradoodle named Scully (after Vin Scully of the Dodgers). If that wasn’t a giveaway, her whole family are big Dodgers fans. As an undergrad and a grad student, she studied languages and literature, and now, she’s an elementary library media specialist who generally enjoys nerding out on all things bookish. She’s also a book club and buddy read addict, a seasonal reader, and a Library-Dependent Mood Reader™️.
What is a “library-dependent mood reader,” you ask? I asked, and this is how she describes her reading. “I started using that term because I’m a total mood reader. I rarely set a TBR because I like the freedom to read whatever I feel when the mood strikes. I also am an avid library user, so my mood-reader-ness is directed by when my library holds come in (luckily, I’m pretty on the ball with placing holds and having multiple library cards). I rarely buy books I haven’t already read because I like to borrow and read books before deciding if I want to buy them for my shelves (usually—sometimes I preorder or spontaneously buy something).”
Nicole can be found at the following places: Author Website | Newsletter | Bookstagram | Storygraph. She is very active on her Bookstagram, with lots of bookish posts, reviews, and other fun peeks into her life, so go check it out!
Thanks so much for being here, Nicole! I’ve been a fan of your newsletter since I subscribed a couple of years ago; you provide a middle grade and young adult fix that not many are writing about on Substack. I’ve found several new YA and MG books to read from your recommendations. I had no idea that you were one of The Art of Simple writers until I read your bio on your website. I loved that blog and was sad to see it end.
Readers, head to the comments to share your thoughts. Feel free to ask Nicole any questions about her reading life, and share something about your reading life so she can get to know you a little better, too.
That’s it for this week. I hope you have a great week. Happy reading!
This is great; I love reading middle grade and young adult books even as an adult! They truly are books that I think many people can enjoy and benefit from.
Thank you for introducing me to Nicole! I love that she prioritizes middle grade literature. As I've been rereading some of my childhood faves from this year, I'm leaning into more of that age level. It's truly fantastic what's out there and I don't want to miss out on it just because I'm an adult! I feel really lucky that I have kids I'll be able to read those stories aloud to for years to come.