Erin Kinch recently completed her Masters in Fantastic Arcanum degree at the University of Nova Texas, granting her fourth-level telekinetic abilities. It is rumored that she has the power of the evil eye. Her stories appear on EDF, Allegory, and many other places. She maintains a scintillating blog.
Young Adult Fiction Isn’t Just for Young Adults Anymore
I used to skulk by the Y/A section, perusing the shelves surreptitiously, hoping no one noticed me loitering. At the cashier’s counter, I had a lie on the tip of my tongue (“They’re a birthday gift, I swear!”). After all, why would someone clearly in the adult age range be interested in reading about teen angst?
Now I know the truth—it’s not just me. A lot of adults like Y/A fiction. Good stories are good stories, no matter what shelf you find them on at the bookstore. I probably should have realized that earlier—I was never embarrassed about liking other genres (sci-fi, fantasy, romance). But I didn’t think of Y/A as its own genre—I thought it was a maturity marker that I was somehow failing.
Several things helped me slough off that Y/A embarrassment forever. One was a quote I read from my favorite Y/A author of all time, <a href=“http://www.tamora-pierce.com/” target=“_new”>Tamora Pierce</a>. I can’t remember the exact words (it’s been a while), but the gist was that she wanted adult readers to should stop apologizing for their age in fan mail, because she wrote her stories for anyone who wanted to read them. She loved to hear that her books appealed to different generations.
And then, the <i>Harry Potter</i> craze hit, and suddenly everyone was talking about “kid” books. At first it was just the youngsters of my acquaintance. I started to read the series so I could participate in their heated discussions, and soon I was hooked on the adventures of the young wizard. Soon, though, I noticed that I wasn’t the only adult reading it, and it wasn’t just parents wanting to read what their kids read, either. It was everybody!
The Y/A genre has exploded over the past few years. Now I read author blogs (like <a href=“http://jenlyn-b.livejournal.com/” target=“_new”>Jennifer Lynn Barnes</a>) and agent blogs (like <a href=“http://pubrants.blogspot.com/” target=“_new”>Pubrants</a>), and Y/A fiction is a huge discussion point. They enjoy reading Y/A (and not only the novels they write/represent), and they aren’t embarrassed to talk about it.
There is so much great Y/A fiction out there that it’s hard to know where to turn. When I was actually a teenager, we didn’t have anything that inspired the kind of devotion of <i>Harry Potter</i> or <i>Twilight</i>. Maybe part of that was the lack of Internet to help us with our fannish pursuits, but I think part of it was the stories, as well. <i>The Babysitter’s Club</i> and <i>Sweet Valley High</i> can’t hold a candle to Ann Brashares, Melissa Marr, Meg Cabot, Ally Carter, Michael Grant, and all the other great Y/A authors out there. Every time I go to the book store, there’s more to choose from!
But what is it, really, that makes Y/A fiction popular to adults as well as younger readers? I really can’t say for the world in general, but I have thought about why I like it so much. There is something magical about the idea of that time in everyone’s life, that time of youth and possibility. The big choices haven’t been made yet; the characters are only just discovering who they will become, so the possibilities are still wide open for them. I guess I’m just a sucker for the coming-of-age story. And there are those firsts that happen around that time that, once they’re over, never happen for the first time again. It’s powerful stuff. And, there’s also the fact that I write Y/A—all my attempted novels have been in that genre. So maybe it’s just a genre that resonates with me for whatever reason.
It’s probably long past time for me to wind up this entry, so I’ll leave you with one last thing—a list of some of my favorite Y/A novels. If you’ve never read Y/A before, but now find yourself intrigued, one of these novels might be a good starting point (there are tons more I could list, of course, but these few are at the top of my list):
<ul><li><i>The Song of the Lioness</i> quartet by Tamora Pierce—When her gender disqualifies her from fulfilling her dream of knighthood, Alanna takes things into her own hands.</li>
<li>The <i>Harry Potter</i> series by J.K. Rowling—Unknown to Harry until his 11th birthday, he is the most famous wizard in the wizarding world, and he has a destiny to live up to in the battle against the most powerful dark wizard of the age.</li>
<li>The <i>Twilight</i> series by Stephanie Meyer—a new interpretation of vampires. Though, really, my favorite Meyer book is <i>The Host</i>. It’s technically adult, but it’s written in the same style. The only difference is the age of the protagonist, but Wanderer, in <i>The Host</i>, is coming of age just like Bella in <i>Twilight</i>—it’s just that Wanderer happens to be an alien!</li>
<li>/The <i>Peaches</i> series by Jodi Lynn Anderson—three very different girls, brought together by a peach orchard, discover that life has more twists and turns than they thought.</li>
<li>The Tillerman books, starting with <i>Homecoming</i>, by Cynthia Voigt—Four kids, abandoned by their mother, journey cross-country to find their grandmother.</li></ul>
Posted in My Talented Friends | 2 Comments »