YA and Alcoholism Cont

It depends on your editor, really. Tamara Pierce gets away with talking about sex constantly, but her editor made her cut out a reference to a sixteen-year-old drinking brandy as a pain releiver even though that was perfectly historically accurate.

Libba Bray, on the other hand, had her highschool-aged mc steal whiskey from the vicar and get drunk on it with friends.

If it suits the story, use it. If you're sticking it in to make the story seem edgier, don't. If you think it's inappropriate, leave it out. Just don't censor it out-- take it out completely or leave it in, because if you water it down, readers will be peeved.

Think about what you're asking. A cut off age??

Does your library have sections where only certain age groups are allowed?

Does your local bookstore prohibit potential book buyers from entering certain sections based on their age?

And if someone decrees that YA books are only for those 12 and older, wouldn't that make them even more appealing to 10 year olds, desperately wanting to see what all the fuss is about? Do you really think you can keep those books out of the hands of anyone who really wants to read them?

There is no cut off because every reader matures at a different rate. Publishers might suggest middle grade books are intended for middle grade age readers but that never stopped millions of adults from reading the Potter books. I'm sure many middle grade aged readers prefer more mature and challenging themes in their reading. Young adult books are read and enjoyed by everyone. Many teens prefer and devour adult level fiction. How many 12 year old boys have Playboy magazines hidden under their mattresses, do you think? Parents might prefer their younger children weren't exposed to mature themes until later in life, but I don't think you can classify genres with rigid cut off dates.

In general, I think it might be safe to say that where middle grade novels leave off, young adult novels pick up, and after that adult.

As for appropriate themes for each level....one of the defining features of young adult literature is a freedom to explore sensitive issues...a freedom that's rarely found in middle grade books. Not all YA books explore such issues, of course, but the freedom is there.

Whether schools and libraries and parents choose to expose younger readers to such themes is a matter of individual censorship. Catcher in the Rye is still banned in a lot of places. Nearly every YA book I've read recently deals with sex, drugs, booze, and even incest and abusive situations. These aren't issues to avoid. Teens are surrounded by difficult situations. Good YA books help them explore these tough issues in a vicarious way.

It's really not a question of age appropriateness. It's a matter of maturity level. Publishers tend to group novels dealing with sensitive issues as YA. Even if the MC is 10 or 12 years old and the content is sensitive, it'll likely be pegged as a YA. Most times though, the MC is nearly the age of the intended reader or slightly older. Most 18 year old readers aren't too interested in the problems of a 12 year old, having already lived through that period.

In an honest effort to answer your original question though, the best I could do is say most YA books are meant for high school age readers.

Anyone with middle grade school aged children knows, however, that the issues of booze, sex, and drugs, are not confined to high school. You'd think these middle school kids would be the most in need of help in exploring such difficult problems.

I certainly don't mean to sound flippant but definitive age cut offs are simply not reality. As always, I think we writers need to focus on writing the book and the story that is within us as best we can and leave the marketing for others. Or at least leave the marketing and labeling process for after the work is finished. Our work will find its own market if we let it.

I think you're pegging YA too high up there as far as age-range. Middle-grade is for 3rd through 5th graders, not middle schoolers. I (along with everyone else in the school-sponsored reading club) was reading YA in sixth grade. Tamara Pierce and Garth Nix, among others, and they don't shy away from tough subjects in the least.

Middle school=10-13. They've already had sex ed and drug ed. They watch MTV. They're perfectly capable of reading a 300 page manuscript. They don't like being talked down to, and they can mock simple, watered-down storylines with the best of them. We used to laugh at the kids who still read Goosebumps, Seet Valley High, and Baby Sitter's Club.

Highschool=13-17. If you show the average 16-17 year old the YA shelf, they're going to look at you funny and ask where the general fiction section is. The average high school reader might continue to pick up YA titles from authors they already know, or those that have broad enough appeal to attract older readers (Like Harry Potter, which is definetely YA and not Middle Grade), but unless they have a vested interest in YA (because they're interested in writing it, for instance), they're going to be swimming in the big kid's pool by then.

Not sure I completely agree. I do agree that it depends on the reader's level of sophistication. Here, third grade is 8-9 years old, a little young for a lot of the MG fiction. I realize that this is not true of all kids. MG fiction has come a long way from what I remember as a kid. What I see now are lots of kids who read YA still in high school, but are also mixing in adult. They aren't exclusively in either category. The closer they get to gradutation, the more they only have eyes for adult, but they do still cling to certain authors.

If you write a complelling story, there is a market for it. I'd let the agent and editor figure out the right age group to pitch your ms to.

LeeFlower,

We're talking about two different things. You're talking about the ages at which you've experienced readers reading what sorts of books. I agree with you. I even said that what kids read depends on their level of maturity more than their age. I'm sure there are 3rd graders who not only read middle grade fiction but probably even find some adult fiction interesting. What I believe the original question concerned, however, was what the publishing world viewed as age ranges for each genre. That, I think is based more on content. In other words, a ya book would tend to deal with issues commonly found in high school settings...drinking, sex, drugs, abuse. True, some of these things are found in earlier age groups but, for the most part, complex "coming of age" issues are left for high school age readers. That might be more to soothe the parental viewpoint, but I think it holds true. Sure, middle grade kids read these books, as they should, but I think the publishing world views the books as written for more mature readers. As for Potter, maybe 3rd graders read him (of course they do) but I doubt you will ever find the books in the YA section of the library. It's all about content.

I'm talking about publishing labels, you seem to be talking about reader interests. My Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market Guide defines age levels as such:
Picture books: for pre-schoolers to 8 year olds
Young Readers: for 5-8 year olds
Middle Readers: for 9-11 year olds
Young adult: for 12 and up

The publishing world doesn't rigidly stick to these guidelines but they can be used in writing query letters and choosing markets. As for what readers choose to read in the end....that's up to them, regardless of age.