I would have been reading my books in fifth grade, if someone had been writing them then, but then I was a 'good reader'. I see this less with fantasy. Certain kinds of magic realism have been deemed worthy. They're, you know, fantasy. They aren't real.
Science fiction is at least based on science.
Fantasy is mere escapism, it has nothing to say about the human condition, about our lives here and now. Good fantasy talks about our deepest inner selves, about the dreams and longings and hopes and fears and strivings that make us human. But then I write the stuff. Obviously I'm prejudiced. Ask anybody on the other side of this chasm that I've tried to talk to about it.