Assignment #1: Anything that assists customers with book selection always draws attention and interest, and this flowchart is a great example of just that! I like that it includes the book cover images, it makes it much more visually appealing to customers.
Assignment #2: I read the NYT and the CSMonitor articles. I don't think the information included in these outdated articles, primarily that YA Fiction is popular with a large population of adult readers, is news to any of us, and that the literary and commercial success of the big three series books, "Harry Potter", "Twilight" and "Hunger Games" influenced this trend.
I wholly and strongly disagree with the opinion of the critic Ruth Graham, whose article was cited in the NYT piece, with the subheading: "Read whatever you want. But you should feel embarrassed when what you're reading was written for children". My immediate reaction to this statement was, "How dare you! What gives you the right to judge what other people find enjoyable?" Individuals choose books for a variety of reasons and a variety of appeal factors and its not for anyone else to cast opinion on whether a particular selection is "appropriate" for the reader. I don't read a lot of YA titles, but when I do, I'm drawn to pick up that book for all of the same reasons I pick up any book: curiosity about all of the buzz surrounding the book, good writing, strong character and plot development and a compelling storyline. A good book is a good book, it shouldn't matter what category or genre it falls into.
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