WHAT IS YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE

Hi Welcome back,

I was out with a group of friends recently, all of us parents of teens. The conversation shifted to the return to school and how to encourage  kids to read. The big question asked, what's young adult literature?  

I am sharing a post that I hope will clarify that answer.

Young Adult Literature

Young Adult literature has rapidly grown in popularity over the past twenty years. Harry Potter, Twilight and The Hunger Games to name a few, have changed the way people are reading.  Even the most reluctant readers are sitting down and cracking open a book.

Titles are not exclusive to only teen readers, now expanding into the adult readership.

Young adult literature has become a multi platform industry, selling books, movies, and product. Now so popular, has almost had a cult like following.

  

     Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

             

 

What is Young Adult Literature?

Young adult literature covers a wide age spectrum from 12-18.  The primary focus is for a teen audience, with the emphasis on character and plot.  Topics cover a wide range, most coming of age and issues that affect daily life. Novels can be written using any genre, from fantasy to paranormal, but share one common thread, a realism.

Regardless of theme, most novels are the voice of a first person, notably absent, parents and adult authority.   

                 Trilogy by Suzanne Collins

 

                           

The first young adult literature

The first novel of young adult literature was The Catcher in the Rye by J. D Salinger. During the 1950s emerged a different style of writing, one adopted by adolescents. William Golding’s Lord of the Flies hit the shelves several years later. Both authors paved a pathway for other writers, and the continuing growth in adolescent books.

                Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger              Lord of the Flies by William Golding

                                                

 Types of Genres

Young Adult novels come in a variety of styles, continuously striving and expanding into new areas. Books come in an array of choices, fiction and nonfiction, short stories, graphic novels and even diary format. Popular genres include fantasy, romance, paranormal, steam punk and dystopia.  These can be broken down even further, many of which overlap in one story. 

Young adult novels share a common theme, peer pressure, friendship, conformity, belonging, obstacles, doubts and achievements.

             Graphic Novel by Vera Brosgol                       Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

                                       

  Trendsetters

Young adult novels often reflect the cultural and social climatic changes in society. Topics once considered taboo are now mainstream, addressing important issues that affect the lives of teens. 

Judy Blume is a prolific teen author, who has battled her way through censorship and narrow-minded thinking.  Her books are real and honest covering a wide span of topics, from puberty to sexuality.  

  

Judy Blume: Two of several teen novels

                             

Teens are perceptive, technologically savvy with the world at their fingertips. This has sped childhood, stripping away the innocence of youth, who are demanding deeper more in depth stories.  Authors have more freedom to write about sensitive situations, bullying, rape, drugs and alcohol, even suicide. 

   Laurie Halse Anderson:  Wintergirls and Speak 

                           

 

Currently, still in great demand are the dystopia novels. (“An imaginary place where everything is as bad as it can be.”) Several examples, the Hunger Games, Divergent, and the newest edition Insurgent, both set in a futuristic society, one of social change and political unrest.

 Veronica Roth: Divergent and the sequel Insurgent           

                           

Society doesn’t stand still nor does our demand for something new. Young adult fiction is on a continuous climb, the landscape shifting and exploring unknown horizons. 

I hope this is of some help, a very small representation of thousands of teen novels. 
Happy reading,
Bye Rosalyne