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What is it you love about YA?


Michelle

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I'm not a die-hard fan of YA, but I do enjoy reading books in the genre, and mostly because of this reason: whenever I start reading a YA book, I guess I still expect the book to be a bit 'young' and 'easy' for me. But most of the time I'm surprised by how mature the books are even for an adult reader, and the ones I've read are so insightful. Without having to underline the insights. It takes skill from an author to say something witty and genius, without seemingly doing so.

Edited by frankie
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It's not really something I'd thought about but for me it has something to do with the speed of the plot, there is a lot less hanging around like there may be in a more 'adult' book, less prolonged descriptions and anticipation. I do love all that but not always.

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I'm very new to the YA books, but I like reading about school days and the fun teens have during those years . It brings back a lot of good memories of my time as a teen . Even listening to a teen character in the book talking about the  challenges teens face can take me back to that time ,and a place I haven't been or thought about in a long time .

I'd prefer more humorous teen stories , rather than end of the world type books .

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I'm never really 100% sure about the difference between Young Adult and Children's novels - but I do enjoy reading stories written for a younger audience.  I particularly like historical novels like those of Mary Hooper.  I don't tend to read books set in (for example) the 1600s written as adult books but I've enjoyed books about the Plague and the Great Fire of London recently that were written for young adults.   This generally then makes me go to Wikipedia or other sites to find out more about those subjects. 

 

I agree with Chaliepud too - a lot of it is due to the ease of reading - they're something I like to pick up from time-to-time to be a quick read.  :)

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I enjoy them because to me they're 'proper stories' and more escapist often than adult novels (especially in the genre I prefer which is fantasy). It's probably because the writers are aiming to fire up a child's imagination so basically anything can happen and does. They're often more humorous too because again that appeals to kids/teenagers and so I find them less stuffy on the whole and more engaging.

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I like YA for many reasons, but what it mainly is is that I'm attracted to a synopsis of a book, and whether it's written for Young Adults or adults doesn't matter a whole lot. I like a variety in my reading, so sometimes I want to read a book about an older character and sometimes about a younger one. Sometimes I want to read something simpler written and sometimes something more complicately worded (that's why I read adult, YA and children's books.) I read a lot of YA when I was younger, but at the time the term YA wasn't known. They were simply classified as "teenager's books" and were written with teenagers in mind. Some of them dealt with difficult issues, others were just fun stories. I like both things, really. Sometimes it's nice to be nostalgic and read a book about a teenager being in school, other times it's nice to read about someone with a job (and yet other times it's nice to read something fantasy-like or science-fiction-y). I do like reading coming of age stories (which can be YA or adult), people coming to terms with how they are. I think it's because I sometimes struggle with this still. YA books sometimes have a more vivid imagination, ie. there are fantastical elements, which I can enjoy. In short, I couldn't really tell you, I just love the books I read.

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I've only really rediscovered YA books since joining the forum, and what I've found is that the thing about most of the YA books I read is that they are fantastic stories.  I'm not sure that I notice the difference in the "difficulty" of writing between YA and general or literary fiction, but I think that there is much more focus on the plot, and keeping the attention of the reader, and for me, that makes for page turning reads.  I want escapism, with an exciting ride, or heart-wrenching tale, and I still love living vicariously through books, which YA rarely fails to deliver.  

 

When I was actually a teenager (and yes I can just about remember that far back), the only books aimed at teenagers I actually remember reading were things like the Sweet Valley High and other types of romantic books, and I'm delighted to say that writing for teenagers has broadened immensely since those days, and the wealth of material available has improved immeasurably.

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We didn't even have such books as Sweet Valley High when I was a teenager. :blush:

 

I don't remember their being anything between (what I would have definitely classed 'back then' as) children's books and adult books.  I read Enid Blyton prolifically and books like Paddington by Michael Bond and Gobbolino the Witch's Cat by Ursula Moray Williams and then graduated to books by authors like Catherine Cookson/Danielle Steele/Sidney Sheldon because there wasn't really anything that catered for teenagers - or not that I can remember, anyway.  

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I recall seeing some girls in school reading Sweet Valley High books when I was an adolescent.  They never appealed to me so I didn't go near them. I did read some Hardy Boys and  Nancy Drew mysteries since my mother had read them when she was young.  I also read children's books and adult novels when I was 12 and over.  There is more variety of YA books these days.  I'll happily read some YA.  I'm fine with YA dealing with realistic issues or fantasy ones.

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I agree with Janet regarding the gap between kid's books and adults. In our library, you read books in the kid's section and gradually just chose the thicker books up there until you had pretty much read all they had in that section ,so then you'd move down to adult books. No special YA section in between.

I did read Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys a bit, but I've never been a huge mystery fan, plus those books seemed to be too "sappy" to me . They seemed like the mystery version of a romance novel ...

I agree that YA books should have all types of reading material. for all types of readers . I don't remember if it was this thread or one of the others where there seemed to be more "girl" books than boy's . In my estimation, it seems there are a lot larger number of girls who enjoy reading compared to boys . I'd have no idea of the ratio ,but it seems as true for adults. You see a lot more ladies using the library than men .

So I guess it depends on the target audience as to what type books an author is writing for .

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I didn't really define the books I read beyond the broad categories of Crime, Fantasy, Classics, Non Fiction etc. so it took me a while to realise that some of the books I read had been specifically written for the young adult market. The covers might have given that fact away had I taken better notice! :doh:

 

The reason I enjoy them is that generally they have young people as central characters, and this tends to offer the characters much more room for development than older characters. The pace is generally steady and fluid, and there seems to be greater scope for variety within one text, so that you can have action, drama and humour all together, rather than keeping to one aspect.

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My favourite thing about YA is that's the one category/genre that welcomes books that dissolve traditional genre boundaries. This opens up a really interesting space for innovation and for books that aren't just about one element of life but can look at how different things come together to shape people's lives.

 

The 'constraints' of writing in a way that is deemed 'suitable' for a YA audience also encourage people to discuss difficult issues (usually)without including graphic depictions of sex and violence, let alone sexual violence. As a result, the discussions are often deeper and more nuanced than when the focus is purely on representing these things, as it too often is in 'adult' fiction. Which is not to say that YA is by definition better at doing this, but YA writers tend to worry more about graphic material and that has many benefits in terms of directing their attention instead to issues like the impact of violence, the meaning of sex in people's lives, etc. rather than their focusing being on the mechanics of acts of sex/violence.

 

Just my 2 cents. :)

 

Alexia

 

 

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What I love about YA: Well, for one thing, YA books just hold my attention better. I like how the characters and plots seem better developed in YA than in regular adult fiction. And yes, I know I'm going to turn 20 this February and YA is still my reading weakness. I HAVE given some adult books a try (most notably the Jodi Picoult series), and had to end up giving those away because I thought they focused on too much of the boring stuff like court cases, the main character's sex life, etc. Bottom line: YA just keeps me interested more. I especially love YA books where characters set out on a good adventure. In fact my book shelf mainly consists of YA and teen. Note: this is only my opinion on this.

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