When Do You Stop Reading Children's Books?

I didn’t get invested in reading until the seventh grade; I was about 13. Already considered a teen, my reading level in general should be fairly high. I remember the class assigned book was The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, so like reading or not, by the seventh grade you needed to be able to read well and of a caliber befitting of being in the seventh grade. But like I said I didn’t get invested in reading until then. I didn’t read for fun, at book fairs I got superficial books, and if I did read it was the same book over and over again, unwilling to open my world to others.

Lucky for me, I had stumbled on a whim, The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. By my 13th year, The Lightning Thief had already had a sequel and a trio out, with a fourth on the way. The main thing was that this book and following series was considered a children’s book and I feel in love with it. Now as young teenager I was perfectly fit for this type of book, since I wasn’t really a young adult yet let alone an avid reader to read anything in the Young Adult genre, so as far as I and society was concerned, I could read this book and the books after it without much judgement. Rick Riordan ended up writing a five book series with Percy Jackson pertaining to the events of the first Lightning Thief book, and I the newly transformed reader had ended up reading all of them by the end of the eighth grade. Normally that would be it, series done, time to find a new author to fit my growing mind. But to my surprise, Rick Riordan wrote more. The new books he began to publish were basically a continuation of the series I had just finished with some also being new stories just in the same world as the original series. I had loved the books I read from him originally, so I was happy to continue reading more of his work. Before I knew it, I ended up reading his books through high school and into college and now even after college. Roughly 10 years I’ve been following this author and his characters that in the stores closest to me can be found in the children sections. This got me thinking.

As I read more and more books in by reading journey, I was exposed to other genres like, young adult, literature, historic, and non-fiction than just the children designated sections in bookstores. In my reading experiences, I have continue to read books that would be found in children sections of stores as well as out of it, no matter the age. A book is not innately age dormitory but it’s understandable to group like books together for organization sake. A book is it’s story and a story is what the reader makes it. Which is why someone in their twenties can still be entertained by stories found in chapter books in the children’s section or a thirty year old bored by a simple picture book in the same section, and why some people are unconcerned with moving from section to section in a bookstore or library scanning for a new book to read.

Honestly, Rick Riordan’s books could be placed in the young adult section of stores and not really have a problem. His stories don’t completely fit into the children’s or young adult category, so either works. But as he continues to release more books, I look back to his original five book series. Those books I’m able to tell now, were easy and fast paced, clearly meant to lick the reading appetite of youngsters to then pull them in to read the other works he has created as they grew their reading ability. That’s what happened with me and I wouldn’t want to take that experience from someone else. But I think this exposure could also benefit adults as well. Adults and even young adults are tasked sometimes with literature that works the brain into a body builder shape, their so complex. Some adults and young adults don’t have a passion for reading. But Rick Riordan’s original series crates that outlet for them to just relax as you read as you experience the story. As you progress in the story and the world, the books do get longer and more intricate. His books take the age labeling out of the equation and sets out a book for readers of all ages to progress forward in their reading capabilities; especially for the die hard fans that have been with him since 2005, I beginning in 2008.

I found an author when I was a kid in middle school, and now I just finished one of his latest books a few months after graduating from college. I continue will continue to read his books 10 more years if I have to.