Do you agree with the stigma which some place against young adult?

I don't agree with the premise of this article at all, although I think the author did make a good point. The kinds of lines and ideas presented in YA novels don't seem cheesy or unrealistic in the slightest when you're a teenager, but when you're older, these repetitive ideas can become unrealistic/get boring/etc. I'm still a teenager so I suppose it's hard to truly see it from the author's perspective, but I do sort of get where they're coming from. The younger you are, the more easily you can empathize with these YA characters' feelings and the logic behind their decisions. When you're older, some of it comes off as ridiculously cheesy, idealistic, etc. For example, a teenager might really identify with a YA character who runs away. But an adult reader might see the character's logic as flawed and be frustrated with the stupidity of their decision. So while I DON'T think adults should be ashamed of reading YA, I do think the author makes a good point about how it may just not fully satisfy the adult reader, since your experiences and maturity make it harder to relate. But everyone should be able to read whatever makes them happy, IMO, and if YA novels are giving you all you need as a reader, then I don't see why someone should be embarrassed about reading them.

Never knew there was one.

caw

I'm going to port this over to Round Table, where it's a better fit.

Snobbery is the public face of insecurity. These kinds of arguments are a side-effect of someone trying to coddle their own ego up by nesting it in a bed of other people, stomped on.

I don't have a problem with adults reading YA litreature. I'll read anything if it's good.

P.S. love the nickname, is it based on the Sabbath song?

I completely disagree! That's like saying a teenager can't enjoy Charles Dickens because he wrote adult characters. A good story is a good story, and your age has nothing to do with that. Heck, my mom even watches those tacky Lifetime movies where a teenager goes bonkers and kills his girlfriend. She doesn't care! Haha!

There have been a handful of articles in the last couple of years spouting this argument...mostly they're just clickbait and not worth taking particularly seriously.

And if you're interested in writing MG, then you should absolutely be reading it! Tell your mom that authors who write for kids are very important people, because they're the ones who will lead the next generation into loving books and reading.

I read all literature. I LOVE YA, as do most of my adult friends. I'm 50. I won't read the article. A book is to be read by the person who picks it up and chooses to read it. PERIOD.

I think the truth of it all is the whole "rap is not music" "reality television is trash tv" "this popular thing is BAD." YA is a genre like any other genre--you like non-fiction, you don't, you like YA, you don't. I always thought self-imposed hierarchies were telling about how a person saw themselves. YA is trash but you don't read or write it? It's safe to assume you felt comfortable making that comparison because YOU read or write something non-YA and you think you're better than others.

Sometimes you gotta remember people can be sacks of egotistical garbage and just roll your eyes about it.

That being said, I personally don't read YA that often. I connect with a few and always try some when it catches my interest; however, as a whole it's not on my radar. BUT. If I were to list my top five favorite books of all time, I'm sure at least three of them would be YA. So it's what someone said earlier--a good book is a good book, no matter the genre.

So far, we seem to be in agreement that we do not agree with the premise of the article. Other than the fact that someone should be able to read anything they like, why do you think adults should read YA? In other words, what are some reasons for recommending YA for adult readership?

blacbird said:

Never knew there was one.

caw

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It's the same stigma - lightly repackaged - that some people have against sci-fi, or fantasy, or mysteries, or [fill in the blank with any genre or category they personally haven't experienced and/or don't care to understand, and therefore feel the need to denigrate in order to feel more sophisticated than Other Readers].

Yeah, as others have mentioned, articles like this aren't new. Same theme, slightly different phrasing and target... It only matters if you're one of those people who lets "popular opinion" (or someone purporting to be the purveyor of Popular Opinion) sway you. So your mother, or your father, or your friend, or your hamster doesn't "get" what you read. Don't wear yourself out explaining it, just enjoy what you enjoy. (And maybe consider a less judgemental pet - hamsters are jerks like that... ) I'm a grown-up and I still read MG and YA. Heck, I even read picture books sometimes. Back when the Animorphs were coming out, I was a grown-up, too, and I couldn't wait for each new installment - and Mom and Dad regularly swiped each book after I finished.

And, absolutely, you should read the kind of books you aim to write, if only to keep an eye on your competition... (I know there are those who write genres without reading them. IMHO, that's like deliberately running a footrace with just one shoe, when you could put in a little extra effort to tie up a second set of laces and significantly increase your odds of finishing and placing. Yeah, some few runners are good enough to pull it off, but are you dead certain you're that person, especially if you've never run the race before?)

Ari Meermans said:

So far, we seem to be in agreement that we do not agree with the premise of the article. Other than the fact that someone should be able to read anything they like, why do you think adults should read YA? In other words, what are some reasons for recommending YA for adult readership?

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Speaking for myself, I'd recommend YA books for the same reason I'd recommend any other book. There are some danged good stories on the YA shelves, and some danged good characters and worlds and writing in general. Closing yourself off to those books simply due to where they're found in the bookstore seems kinda snobbish and silly to me.

In my reading experience, YA also tends to move decently, less prone to the dawdling and navel-gazing that "grown-up" fiction sometimes indulges in. (Not that there aren't any slowpokes on the shelves, but I seem to find them less often in YA.)

Yep, I've read some real page-turners in YA in the past few years such as Katie Cross's Network Series, particularly the prequel Mildred's Resistance.

How about the fact that some of the strongest new voices in literature today are coming from YA? Has anyone else read An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir? I recommend it.

I'm constantly amazed at the worldbuilding and how seemingly effortlessly YA writers cross genre boundaries. Some are really knocking it out of the park.

Any other reasons for recommending YA or specific book recommendations?

Any YA reccs from our Aussie and Kiwi members?

An aussie classic YA is John Marsden's Tomorrow When the War Began series. Don't watch the movie.

remister said:

An aussie classic YA is John Marsden's Tomorrow When the War Began series. Don't watch the movie.

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Thank you!

Eh, anytime someone dismisses an entire genre or people's reasons for reading it, it comes across as snobbery to me. I do think that the plots of YA books sometimes come across as simplistic from an adult point of view. Not always (there's a wide range of YA fiction out there), but sometimes. That doesn't mean they hold absolutely no enjoyment value for older readers, or that the line between what might be marketed toward teens and what might be marketed toward adults doesn't get fuzzy at times.

A lot of this person's arguments in favor of adult fiction seem very skewed toward adult literary fiction. I would disagree with the claim that it's common in general for adult fiction to have ambiguous endings, for example. In some genres, like mysteries and romance, an ending that's too ambiguous can be a problem. There are a lot of things that people want to get out of reading. Sometimes people want something that really makes them think. Sometimes they want to laugh. Sometimes they want to read about hot people falling in love. Sometimes they want to try to piece together a whodunit. A book does not have to be "mature" or deal with complex issues to be enjoyable reading.

I do think that if someone reads only a small subset of literature, they might not be very well-read. I read plenty of YA, but I also read adult science fiction/fantasy, adult literary, mysteries, erotica, classics, etc. But I'm not interested in judging someone if they just want to read one genre. People should spend their time however they want.

AW Admin said:

remister said:

An aussie classic YA is John Marsden's Tomorrow When the War Began series. Don't watch the movie.

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Thank you!

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Yes, thank you very much, remister. I've added the series to my reading list.

AW Admin said:

Thank you!

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Ari Meermans said:

Yes, thank you very much, remister. I've added the series to my reading list.

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Welcome!

For YA high fantasy, there's Obernewtyn (Isobelle Carmody). It's a looooong series.

For YA sci-fi, there's Illuminae (Jay Kristoff) that's supposedly really good but I just couldn't get into it. Gave up after several pages.