Oh, the Indignity!

Dave Itzkoff of the New York Times writes:

I sometimes wonder how any self-respecting author of speculative fiction can find fulfillment in writing novels for young readers. I suppose J. K. Rowling could give me 1.12 billion reasons in favor of it: get your formula just right and you can enjoy worldwide sales, film and television options, vibrating-toy-broom licensing fees, Chinese-language bootlegs of your work, a kind of limited immortality (L. Frank Baum who?) and — finally — genuine grown-up readers. But where’s the artistic satisfaction? Where’s the dignity?

Where's the dignity? Does Itzkoff honestly believe that JK Rowling, Neil Gaiman and China Mieville (whom he reviews glowingly in the rest of the article) are merely treading water in kiddieland until they've matured enough to write for the "genuine" readers. Are teenage readers not "genuine?" Do they read books sarcastically, flippantly, with their tongues in their cheeks?Both Gaiman and Mieville wrote "adult" fiction before writing young adult fiction. One could just as easily argue that they had to graduate from adult fiction before being ready to write for teens.I am new to the field of young adult fiction. In fact, I wrote two "adult" novels before being ready to produce my first young adult effort, Cycler. To suggest that the teen reader is an undignified consolation prize is wildly off the mark. Teens have homework. They have assigned reading. To qualify to enter those crowded, over-worked minds, you have to deliver something truly special. The reward for meeting this challenge is knowing that your target audience is probably not as encrusted with cynicism and literary prejudice as the likes of Dave Itzkoff.