Different Standards For Different Books?

Roger Sutton has some things to say about the demise of Kirkus Reviews. He says, '"But kids like it" is a defense mounted in our field all the time, an argument that would be laughed right out of any critical conversation about books for adults. As well, preachiness is tolerated in children's books (because preaching to children comes second nature to adults) even while grownups won't stand for it in their own recreational reading. What Kirkus did was to treat books for children and adults the same in the same publication.'

When Roger says that Kirkus Reviews treated children's and adult books the same, I think he means that it didn't treat children's books as being inferior and thus requiring lower standards. For those of us who don't want to be good for a children's writer or for a woman writer or for anything else, that's a good thing. Expecting us to play by the same rules that everyone else plays by is a way of treating us with respect.