Ugh, i can't be the only who feels like this.

This will be a rant, it'll probably be long and your probably better off not reading it.... i just need to get this off my chest.

so i get emails from a large bookstore (even though i get most of my books through amazon via the kindle) and they send me coupon codes or sale notifications or new release lists. Today i got an email about Books your kid should read before 12... and i had a little sigh

they were all childrens books...
But Rai kid 12 and under are children!
yes i know but... i feel like the bulk of the titles are meant for a really young audience... I'm not saying the books are bad or can't be enjoyed by older kids/preteens or even possibly adults i'm just saying that i get a little annoyed with what things are deemed age appropriate and how it tends to be a specific type of book.

ugh i'm not making myself clear at all so let me explain with how I got into reading.
I was in french immersion for most of my young life. This had good and bad attached to it...

the good:
I can speak another language pretty well (though it's tricky now since I haven't kept  up on it lately)
I can pick up other languages (especially the other love languages) really fast.

the bad:
my spelling is terrible, i put Es where they don't belong.
as a kid reading was hard and i hated it.

Thats right.... i HATED reading as a kid however that wasn't the only reason.... it was also incredibly boring or stupid stuff that people were recommending. Nothing seemed to hold my interest and i couldn't get invested. My parents eventually started forcing me to read popular books hoping something would click... they tried harry potter since that was the one that was working at the time for kids my age.
Yeah i didn't like it, not because they were bad but because i am stubborn and i was being forced to read them and answer quizes and write reports.... not from school but from my parents. yeah way to make reading fun.

Eventually (aka book 3 of harry potter) they gave up and said it's okay that i didn't like reading. I was only 9 at the time and they hoped i would change my mind.
However my dad grabbed a book series from his childhood that he loved... The Belgariad.
Something clicked, I adored this book, to this day it's still my favorite fantasy novel and i recommend it to everyone as a way of determining what kind of stories they like. 

but why did i like it so much more then harry potter (i did read the rest and i like the second half of the series more then the first but still has nothing on the belgariad)... Both are fantasy novels in a series where the main character is the chosen one in  world of magic that he doesn't understand. They both have love interest and enemies and challenges only they can overcome. What made me like Garion so much more then Harry?

Garion is a whiny little bastard who is constantly asking why me over and over and says the dumbest stuff you could ever imagine cause he has led such a sheltered life. While Harry is a poor sad little boy in the care of some of the nastiest people who constantly tell him hie's not special when he really is.
On that description you'd think Harry would win.... but no.... So then why was that the case....

Well i got my answer during my third re-read of the series.

The belgariad isn't a 'children book' The print is really small, the language is quite sophisticated and it even deals with things like Sex, violence and the possibility oh having a spell rebound on you and completely erase you if you say the wrong thing. For a 9 year old that's kind of dark.... But even at that age i understood what i needed to to get the plot and it actually engaged me... more then any book that was targeted to my age group ever did.

So am i the odd one here? i just happened to read a book targeted for a slightly older demographic and love it when the stuff that i was 'supposed' to be reading bored me to tears.

Probably.....

i just feel like the whole "this book is for meant for a child" idea a little insulting.... why not make good books that kids can read and enjoy and potentially re-read later and enjoy the shit they missed instead of "you will probably only enjoy this if you haven't hit puberty yet"

Kids are way smarter then we give them credit for and i'm tried of seeing Movies, Tv, Toys and books Pander to the idea that they are so stupid that this is the only way they will enjoy something.

um.... wow.... ok again i apologize for the rant i just.... get annoyed easily.... i know that i should just be happy kids are reading.... even if it's something i don't consider good... but i just want to expect more from people since i know they probably have it in them.

and i guess TL;DR go read the belgariad....