Graci Kim is a children's and young adult author writing for the American market. Photo: Supplied
When Kiwi New York Times bestselling author Graci Kim recently tweeted that adults should read more 'middle grade' books, she found herself in a social media storm.
"If you're an adult and you're not reading middle grade books, you're failing yourself. Here's why." she wrote.
To her surprise, her rather innocuous observation elicited some ferocious reaction, she told RNZ's Nights.
"To be honest, I was actually really taken aback and surprised by the haters out there.
"I thought this was just something I've been thinking about for a while, that I wanted to share, and I thought it would be something that people would just be like, Oh yeah, nod, nod agree, but I was surprised to hear how many people felt so vehemently against adults reading children's books."
Her broader point is that middle-grade books, written for ages 8 to 14, are overlooked, she said.
"They don't shy away from, from the real stuff that that hits adults too; grief, loss, pain, growth, love, all of the good stuff it's there, but because it's for children, it's done with the special amount of care and respect."
"What I was trying to get at was that no matter how old we are, we all have a kid inside of us, and sometimes we forget that the kid is still there."
Reading such books, she said, can be a pleasant reminder of buried memories.
"Sometimes it's good nostalgia, and sometimes it can be unresolved trauma, but reading in this kind of safe way can not only be fun, because quite often, middle grade books are about these awesome adventures full of magic and fantasy and humour and sometimes some tears as well. You can have a good time and just rekindle that remembrance for that inner child."
Given the times we live in, she believes, reading books aimed at this cohort could be therapeutic.
"If you can have a chance to just revisit that younger version of yourself why not?"
Some of the most vehement opponents of her suggestion could benefit most from delving into this type of fiction, she said
"In this thread I talk about how the one of the hallmarks of middle grade books is that they end with hope, and it's intentional, because we are writing for children, and so no matter how hard the topics are in the book, you should always turn the last page with a sense of hope for the future.
"And maybe what some of these very vocal haters out there are missing is that sense of hope and that sense of awe that we did used to all have."
