The Young Adult Service Division of the American Library Association defines the age of a Young Adult as 12-18 years old. This means YA fiction is written for and marketed to youth of an age range which spans almost an entire decade, making it a very complex genre, as there are enormous differences in the intellectual and emotional maturity of a fourth grader versus a college freshman.
What Makes YA Fiction Different from Children's Books or Adult Fiction?
Young adult literature has certain unique features which set it apart. Books for teens are almost always written in the first person and usually have:
- a teenage protagonist
- adults characters as marginal and barely visible characters
- a brief time span (the story spans a few weeks, yes, a summer, maybe, a year, no)
- a limited number of characters
- a universal and familiar setting
- current teenage language, expressions, and slang
- detailed descriptions of other teenagers' appearances, mannerisms, and dress
- a positive resolution to the crisis at hand (though it may be subtle and never in-your-face moralistic)
- few, if any, subplots
- about 125-250 pages in length
- a focus on the experiences and growth of just one main character
- a main character whose choices and actions and concerns drive the story (as opposed to outside forces)
- problems specific to adolescents and their crossing the threshold between childhood and adulthood
Also, a lot of new YA lit is unique in that it is edgy: pushing the limits of socially acceptable content in teen books, especially regarding drug and alcohol use, violence, abuse, suicide, and social norms in human sexuality. This edginess pushes teenage fiction beyond appropriate boundaries for children's books.
What YA Fiction Is, and What It's Not
Don't let its name fool you: Young Adult fiction is not watered down adult fiction. It's also not children's fiction with older characters. It is literature that doesn't waste a breath. YA fiction moves at a clip that keeps pace with busy teens who are pressed for reading time, whose attention spans are brief, who are accustomed to and crave instant gratification. YA lit is the movie version of a great story... gripping from the first line, never slowing down, with all the slow parts edited out. YA literature is crisp, lively, and hip.
Is YA Fiction Trashy?
Some critics claim that YA lit is all about catty cliques and clothes and broken hearts and sex and and shallow, petty characters. Unfortunately, because of a considerable number of trashy reads for teens, YA has, in the past, been ghettoized in many book stores. The good news is that today, YA lit is finally getting the respect it deserves and teen readers are finally getting the selection they deserve. For more about this development, see my blog.
Is YA Fiction Literature?Long before the YA label was born, authors were cranking out books for the teen crowd and beyond. Think: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott , Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, Treasure Island and Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson... all books for teens which have made their way to the distinction of great literature.
But the great books haven't all been written, and besides the ever-popular Harry Potter books, many others are being elevated to literature status such as: Mark Haddon's crossover novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in Night-time (Vintage, 2004) The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2007) and The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (Washington Square Press, 2007).
Are YA Books Educational?
Today's teen fiction books offer compelling stories which allow teens to connect with, and relate to, the characters. YA fiction helps teens to confirm themselves and their own experiences. YA books also let readers explore new experiences in a way that helps them learn about the world outside of their own knowledge, and there is truly value in that.
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