What is Young Adult (YA) literature? In today’s publishing world, the definition of YA literature is adaptable. The genre includes books written specifically for ages 14 to 21. They have the young adult as protagonists and are about issues these young adults deal with or may have to face in the future.
But, YA literature also includes what teens are reading during their free time. This can be an adult book pushed to the YA audience, including authors such as Michael Crichton, Stephen King, Danielle Steel and John Grisham. And, YA lit can include any book marketed as YA by a publisher.
Conflict
As with any good fiction, there must be tension or conflict to move the story. In YA lit, conflict is usually with parents, school, peers and society at large. Good YA books have themes that are of interest to young people and include sex, drugs, music, coming of age, dating, fitting in, friendships, self esteem, and school. Of course, relationships with parents and siblings are frequently addressed in young adult fiction.
The protagonist is usually a young adult, though some YA literature does include pre-teens, 11-13 years of age. But, readers of YA lit are of all ages; many adults read YA lit to keep up with their kids, but also because many of these books are as well-written or better written than adult fiction.
Today’s YA fiction is more sophisticated, complex and powerful because of the world young adults are exposed to. These books can help teens and even pre-teens handle the emotional, social developmental and physical changes they experience. Problems with bullying, sibling rivalry and teen pregnancy are plotlines in today’s YA fiction. These plotlines reflect the reality of today’s young adults.
Trends in YA Fiction
Trends in YA fiction include moving away from “what’s good” and onto what teens really want to read. The authors write about all types of truths, though they may be ugly.
YA novels are written in poetic verse, in graphics and cartoons, and in comics. These books are about multiculturalism in the present day, and include conflict between urban and rural kids, between whites and non-whites, and between religious beliefs.
Many YA books are hybrids of genres, from vampires and werewolves, to good and bad angels, to futuristic societies where the internet is so all-encompassing, its implanted into people’s brains. There has been a re-emergence of fantasy and historical novels in young adult literature, too.
Award Winners
The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents (ALAN) of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) awards the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award for Young Adult Fiction. Established in 2008 to honor the wishes of young adult author, Amelia Elizabeth Walden, the award allows for the sum of $5,000 to be presented annually to the author of a young adult title selected by the ALAN Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award Committee as demonstrating a positive approach to life, widespread teen appeal, and literary merit.
The 2010 Winners of the award crisscross into the different genres of YA fiction. The grand prize was awarded to Kristin Cashore for her novel Fire. This is her second book in the Seven Kingdoms Trilogy and is considered fantasy and/or science fiction. Not only has the book won the ALAN award, it has been awarded the Cybil in the category of YA Fantasy and Science Fiction, picked as a Junior Library Guild Selection, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, a Kirkus Best YA Book of 2009, a Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Book of 2009, and 14 other major YA novel awards.
The four other winners are Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork, which is about seventeen-year-old Marcelo Sandoval who hears music no one else can hear, part of the autism-like impairment no doctor has been able to identify; The Monstrologist by Rick Yancey which features a monster hunter and the young boy who becomes his apprentice; North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley which features a young girl with a hideous birthmark on her face; and, The Sweetheart of Prosper County by Jill S. Alexander which is a warm, humorous story that touches on bullying of the main character, Austin, and politics in a small town.
For a list of appealing and appropriate books for young adult readers, review the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) most current list (2010). The list of 90 books, drawn from 203 official nominations, is presented annually at the ALA Midwinter Meeting. The books, recommended for those ages 12-18, meet the criteria of both good quality literature and appealing reading for teens. The list comprises a wide range of genres and styles, including contemporary realistic fiction that reflects the diversity of the teen experience, nonfiction that brings to teens an awareness of the world they live in and its history, and fantastical stories told in both narrative and graphic formats.
Debbie Whittemore - I've been blogging for the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) since 2006. SIBA is a trade association which represents over ...
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