YA is Not Just For Teens

I've been to the library twice in less than 24 hours. I just really like books, okay? Plus, for some obnoxious reason, all the books that I have had on my wait list, magically all became available within the last couple days. And that means marathon reads for me!

Almost every morning for the past two weeks, I've spent at least an hour reading with my feet in the pool, catching some rays. I smell like chlorine and Coppertone. And it's fantastic! And, yes, I have a fantastic sandal tan line design huh?

By book shelf is full of YA novels. My pile from the library is all YA novels. Some may find this embarrassing. After all, YA is a genre "aimed" at 12-18 year olds. I'm about 5 years above that "cutoff." However, I have tons of friends my age & older discussing YA fiction late into the night. 

I did a bit of research and found some interesting articles, editorials, and comments. New research has shown that 55% (possibly more) of YA books are being purchased by adults (over 18), with most of those adults buying the books for themselves. Perhaps the Harry Potter franchise, later followed by the Hunger Games and Twilight series, spurred this interest in adults (I'll rant about books becoming movies later). The bandwagon has a lot of new jump-ons.

I ran across a few very angry adults. One of which said he can't take adults who read YA seriously. They're too "childish" for him. He says, "I'll read the Hunger Games when I finish the previous 3,000 years of fiction written for adults." Well, I'm sorry for your loss, sir. Because it is quite the loss; you're missing out. 

Once I waded through the haters, I found some great articles about YA novels are fantastic and completely okay for adults too. Hallelujah, there are people who agree with me!

Here's some reasons I gathered up about why YA is awesome for ANYONE 12+:

They are good.

They're compelling and action packed. They can make you cry or laugh. And they for sure make me stay up reading very late into the night! I can't remember the last time an "adult fiction" book had me up all night reading. Plus, I'm willing to bet ANY YA book is better than what's available on most shelves in the adult section of the bookstore (i.e. Fifty Shades of Gray).

They are an escape in our complicated, neurotic adult lives.

YA novels allow creativity and imagination that is not always available to us in the "real world." How much fun did you have imagining exactly what Hogwarts would look like? The writing of YA is easy. It's not like Dstoyevsky. They're light, easy, and comforting to jump into after a long day.

They remind us of who we are and who we want to be.

YA books are extremely relatable (even if they do involve vampires). We can see ourselves in the characters, how we used to be, and how we got to be where we are. We see the characters' fight for identity and purpose as our own fight.

They are current. 

One of these days, you'll be out of the loop. You'll have to Google what certain phrases or shorthand writings mean. You'll not have any idea who the next Justin Bieber turned out to be. But if you're reading YA, you have something in common with the "younger generation," you'll know what they're problems are at their time in life, and you could end up being the "cool" parent or role model because you understand. And you have an interest in what they have an interest in.

One columnist said, "We want to read things that apply to us, that tap into our emotions and make us feel, and we want to read things that don't put us to sleep right away, because at the end of the day, we are grownups and we are tired." 

So don't be embarrassed of your stack of YA novels. Because I think you're pretty awesome for reading them. 

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I get a lot of requests for book recommendations, so I thought I'd post a few here. Enjoy! 

The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green

Someday, Someday, Maybe, by Lauren Graham (yes, from Gilmore Girls)

The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak

An Abundance of Katherines, by John Green

Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell

Warm Bodies, by Isaac Marion

To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee (CLASSIC)

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs

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And, ah yes, my mini rant: I despise the relatively new major trend to transform books into movies. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Harry Potter, and I'm sure the Hunger Games is fabulous (no I haven't read it or seen it), but it just seems like Hollywood can't come up with any of their own original ideas anymore. And doing this sometimes makes the books become obsolete :( It's sad. And they often change things, which also saddens me. *Sigh* But I guess I'll have to live with it.

Happy YA Reading!