Dear corporate powers that be,

I was in one of your stores the other day and noticed an endcap display with the sign “Books every teen should read.” Right beneath the sign were several copies of Twilight, along with some other titles. Noticeably absent were any classics or noted works of substance except The Giver by Lois Lowry–no Catcher in the Rye, no A Separate Peace, no Book Thief, no Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter. I suspected this was a corporate decision, which a visit to your other local store confirmed today. Having been a bookseller myself, I imagine many of the people who actually work on the sales floor, read books once in awhile, and interact with customers are just as irritated as I am about this.

I said on Facebook and I said in my e-mail to your corporate customer service address: Anyone who thinks Twilight belongs on any sort of must-read list ought not to be working in a bookstore. But some idiot in your marketing department — and no, I don’t think idiot is too strong a word — made the mistake of seeing Twilight‘s sales numbers and equating “wildly popular” to “every teen should read this.” It’s an asinine conclusion.

I realize I probably sound like a crank. I’m not. I’m an avid reader who wants and expects bookstores to promote literature of quality and substance, not just the popular crap that people can buy in every supermarket. Granted, I have never considered Barnes and Noble an arbiter of intellect or high literary reading — particularly after working there briefly — but this represents a new low.

Incidentally, I teach English at a community college, and many of my students are in their late teens and early twenties. We’ve discussed Twilight in class, and I don’t think I have one student out of twenty who would recommend that “every” teen read it — quite the opposite. In fact, most of them are extremely vocal in asserting that they wouldn’t be caught dead (pun intended) reading the book.

I’m not advocating censorship, mind you. I’m not saying no one should read Twilight, nor am I questioning your right to sell and even promote it. If I were a parent of teens, however, I would discourage them from wasting their time and brain cells on this novel. It revolves around patriarchal control, a highly dysfunctional relationship masquerading as romance, an attraction that never goes deeper than pheromones and good looks, and “sexual morality” that consists of a girl placing herself repeatedly in a position in which the boy restrains them both — and he does restrain them right up until they say “I do.” You can read much more about my opinion of Twilight here.

So, Barnes and Noble corporate bigwigs, why don’t you use your position as the only remaining monolithic bookstore chain in this country to promote some quality writers who aren’t receiving the publicity push that Stephenie Meyers — somewhat inexplicably — has? Why don’t you provide visibility to frequently overlooked writers who are actually worthy of the name? Why don’t you hire people in your corporate marketing offices who pick up the occasional book?