Adult and Teen readers! Lend me your two cents!

[D]

I am writing a paper about teenagers and adults as readers, and I need your input! Using the main theme of Paper Towns as a lens (the relationship of what we imagine and what really is), I will be examining the relationship between reviews of Paper Towns and the perceptions about teens and adults as readers therein.

Paper Towns is marketed as a Young Adult novel. The age range of YA readers has changed over the years to now include the ages of twelve to thirty-five! And yet most of the reviews I have read categorize Paper Towns as a novel meant for older, mature teens such as juniors and seniors in high school. One reviewer recommended that PT only be given to teacher's "sharpest teens." I argue that the adults reviewing PT with the teen reader in mind are actually "doing a Quentin": they're projecting who they believe the audience to be over the reality of who the audience actually is.

So! How do you view yourself as a reader of PT?
Do you think you are you an Adult reader, a YA reader?
Who do you think PT is written for?

Adult readers: what do you think YA readers want to read? Why do you think they read what they read? What do you want to read? Is it different from YAs?
YA readers: what do you want to read? Why? Do you think adults are mis-imagining you as a reader?

And the big questions:
Why do you enjoy/value PT?
What makes you a "mature" reader, if you believe that you are one?
Do you agree that "language and sex issues" are reasons to push a novel onto a demographic considered to be more "mature"?

Barnes and Noble page for Paper Towns, including a selection of reviews.

If you would be so kind as to let me know if I may quote you in the paper, I would be very grateful. :)

[Heather]

I'm sixteen and I read Paper Towns in January and again in September when I was fifteen. I would technically be considered a young adult reader but having grown up addicted to Harry Potter (a series that so blurred the lines between the marketed age group and the readers) I've never really bought into the stereotype that one book is specifically for one group of people. Different readers will find in a book so many different things based on their past experiences, what they're doing at the present, and what they hope to find. So in a sense this problem is very much like that central to Paper Towns. View points will very depending on who you are but they may not be what was there originally. But when you see it, it becomes a part of the book. So I think that Paper Towns is for whoever finds it.

I suppose that being a mature reader is finding things for yourself in stories. Getting you own morals and making your own connections. I don't want to sound pretentious but I think that that's always been the case for me. When I read, I can just put myself in a story wherever I want or wherever seems right.

And as for whether Paper Towns should be pushed away from certain demographics, I find this just wrong. I hate censorship. I believe that if someone wants to read something, they should go right ahead a do that. You should never deny someone books. You can encourage them and give suggestions, but not mandate. I find whoever said that Paper Towns should only be given to "the sharpest" to be right out of line. Often it's the people who aren't that interested or good with schoolwork who should be given the opportunity to read the best books.

But why do I enjoy or value Paper Towns? Because I can find myself in it so easily. From being imagined wrongly to hanging out in the band room to leaving. I think that because it's written so well it puts what the reader can't or isn't sure how to put into words. all the things about seeing people wrongly and feeling lost in the world. I'm probably explaining this terribly but it just sort of makes you-- imagine yourself in a more accurate and complex way. Like it opens your eyes to who you've been along but you didn't realize that until now. I truly love this book.

I hope that my ramblings helped and good luck on your paper! :)
DFTBA!

[D]

"I think that Paper Towns is for whoever finds it."

I love that! You have a lot good points, many of which I touch on. Thanks for replying!

[Heather]

Hey, always willing to help a fellow nerd! (Except perhaps M.I.T. ones when looking for balloons. :P) And for a chance to babble.

[D]

All input helps! You touched on some things I'm writing about in my paper (or trying to write coherently at least). I'm glad you contributed your perspective. :)

[Heather]

I think that this just basically made my night.: "go out and sleep with everyone you meet! and condoms suck! being a teen mom is cool! STDs are a hoot!" :D