A stupid, shaming, linkbaity screed--

Did Cory Doctorow-- heh.

In any case. Lewis' piece is very well known and I'm basically certain Doctorow won't get new mileage from it.

To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence.

Oft-quoted. True. But I'll just point out two things:

a) the quality of children's literature has nosedived since 1952 so I no longer think Lewis' thoughts are relevant to the discussion. In 2014 his opinion would be, not different per se, but qualified with caveats. There's children's literature and then there's books written for kids aged 5 to 15.

b) I know the Slate piece was submitted to hubski but I couldn't find it in a cursory search. I don't even remember what I said when I commented. However, it's worth nothing that the (sane) argument against reading young adult fiction has absolutely nothing to do with "growing up" and everything to do with not wasting your time reading trash. No one ever complains when someone is reading The Twenty-One Balloons. It can be argued that if I'm 40 and I've read Terry Brooks 17 times I would've accomplished more by ending my life before I reached voting age.

You shouldn't be proud to read children's books. You should be proud to read good books.