A Note to Young Adult Readers

Featured in Book Fest in 2007

If you are reading this, then either you are already an adult, or you soon will be. If you are a young reader, then relish this time. Your first few years of reading novels will be a revolutionary period. You are growing beyond the control of your parents and your teachers. You will be exercising your own judgement now, rather than just trusting in theirs.

This will be the most exciting time in your life for reading. Your imagination is still a fertile wonderland; you have the maturity to tackle difficult plots, subjects and ideas, but you haven’t started drinking coffee and watching the news. You have many questions and you are still prepared to listen to more than one answer. You will make up your own mind.

Books had their most exciting effects on me at your age – the stories that I read then changed my life. Maybe I could have that effect on someone someday… that’s my dream. What’s yours?

There is a world of books waiting out there for you. You won’t always like the ones you choose – but what matters is that you make your own choices.