Who’s reading YA?
July 03 2009
This is a question that has always niggled me, because there are usually two assumptions that go with it.
(1) That YA fiction is only read by young adults
(2) That YA fiction is somehow sub-par to adult fiction
Tomorrow Museum reported recently that sales for teenage fiction were ‘rocketing’ – a veritable beacon in the dark shadow of the GFC that threatens to beat book sales ever downwards. The reason for this, they speculated, was firstly because the floodgates have been thrown wide open by blockbuster bestsellers (like Harry Potter and Twilight), and also because teenage readers were more passionate, more alert and more voracious readers than adults.
‘When you are young, you have few deep relationships, maybe no real emotional connections with others at all. You connect in the text. At that age, it is a revelation to see an author has the same dreams and insecurities as you do. Plus, there is a confidence and conviction to a fiction narrative’s voice. You are eager for someone to look up to, but certainly not your parents, not your teachers. A novel is an opportunity to really listen to another human being.’
Now I don’t want to get too heavy on TM here, they were standing up for the strength YA literature and its audiences, but really I think their assessment is flawed. It seems a bit patronising to say that teenagers have ‘few deep relationships’ and ‘maybe no real emotional connections with others at all’. In fact, I’d argue quite the opposite – the very reason fiction is so intense at that age is precisely because everything else is so heightened and so raw. In terms of quantity, I certainly made my way through a lot of books during high school – simply because (let’s face it) I had a lot more free time on my hands and also because everything I was reading was in some way new.
Paul Raven from Futurismic also had this to say in response:
‘This is a mantra we heard over and over again during the massive YA genre fiction circle-jerk last year, and it’s always backed with the unvoiced assumption that only Young Adults read YA. I’ve worked in a library, and I can assure you that’s an observable falsehood; most genuinely popular YA is successful precisely because so many adult readers with an expendable income enjoy the same titles.’
On this I’m inclined to agree. The YA genre may trump others in sales simply because it has the ability to straddle two markets, and not just in terms of the obvious choices like Harry Potter. I still go back occasionally and browse the YA section of my local bookstore, simply because there are some great stories there. The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie and Rose by Any Other Name by Maureen McCarthy are a few that come to mind, as well as anything by Melina Marchetta. There is something so effortless about reading these books, which I think has a lot to do with that deep-seated hunger for a bloody good yarn – just wanting to get completely drunk on a storyline before your inner jiminy cricket starts acting up.
Other YA books that I’m also interested in are China Mieville’s Un Lun Dun (London as a kind of urban, sci-fi wonderland for lost and broken things), Neil Gaiman’s Coraline (which has also been adapted into a wicked-looking feature, stills below) and The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation (simply because that’s a brilliant title) by M.T. Anderson.
JA
Comments
I love YA fiction. Sometimes I feel it has more depth than adult fiction, and isn't afraid to tackle big issues. Also, most of it is just damn entertaining! I'm making my way through John Green's books at the moment (Paper Towns, Looking for Alaska) and on the local front, I am a huge fan of Simmone Howell.
I think YA fiction is a damn tricky thing to pull off. As any retailer or advertising exec will tell you, young adults are the most discerning of customers. If the writing doesn't resonate then they'll put it down and go do something else. It takes a certain special combination loveable characters, pacing, and drama to craft a YA novel.
And as far as YA only reading YA, take the classic example of Roald Dahl. All of his books still take pride of place on my bookshelf, and even his supposed 'adult' stories could fit happily into the YA genre. I regularly pull down Matilda or Charlie and finish them off in an evening. They're great books to return to and remember what you loved about reading as a kid.
As Kathy has said, YA fiction isn't afraid to tackle issues such as growing up gay (see Bookkids excellent blog series on this, or racism, or the ugly bits of Australian culture.
Long live the bold, red 'YA' on white stickers in our libraries, says I! :)
Hurrah for YA! It's great to see that others love it as much as I do. I agree Phill that YA is hard to pull, but when it's done well it's brilliant. Another title I've just thought of are the earlier books in the Pagan series by Catherine Jinks, which I still pick up and flip through now.
There is a lot of fantastic YA fiction out there. I love reading it. Some titles I've enjoyed recently include The Sky Inside, a sci-fi novel by Clare Dunkle, Hunters & Warriors, by Justin D'Ath and Dark Hours (a great story set at the end of WW2 in Germany) by Gudrun Pausewang. Then there are old favourites like Cormier's I am the cheese & one of my favourite books of all time, Maurice Gee's The Fat Man -it's brilliant. And Aussie writers produce some of the best YA fiction of all (Marsden, McCarthy, Brugman, Hartnett etc etc)
Yes I love YA fiction too, I think when I am in the mood to be swept up in plot. I agree with the comment that reading YA fiction can be effortless. I love the Pagan series too, and Philip Pullman's trilogy and Isabel Allende's YA attempts.
I am a bit late to this party, but wanted to comment because I very passionately love YA.
Obviously, as you and other commenters have pointed out, it's not just young adults who read YA. It's a healthy industry because it's utterly readable, and utterly character- and plot-driven. (Haha, they're also cheaper than adult books.)
Re: their being less worthwhile than adult books: sure, their cover design is sometimes less geared to adult sensibilities, though I have noticed a trend away from character-based cover designs towards more abstract, 'adult' images (based on looking in bookstores every now and then). But the thing I love about YA books is their capacity to unambiguously highlight the morality of actions, decisions and lives. I think Madeleine L'Engle (one of my formative favourites) said that when she found a topic that was too complex to deal with in literary fiction, she wrote a YA or children's book. Of course, it's a rhetorical point, but my favourites growing up -- Maureen McCarthy, Isobelle Carmody, Tamora Pierce, Philip Pullman, John Marsden -- definitely all deal unshyingly with huge issues in compelling, humane reads.
Anyway, to answer your title question: I am!
Leave a Comment