I'm YA and I'm OK.

[penmage]

As usual, John Scalzi says it best:

Observers of the science fiction field will note the Nebula Award for Best Novel was won this year by a YA book, that the Tiptree Award is co-shared by a YA novel, and that in the Hugo Best Novel category, two and a half of the books nominated are also YA (the “half” in this case being Zoe’s Tale, written to be YA-friendly but shelved with the adult SF). This surge of recognition for YA has caused some consternation and grumbling in certain quarters. Here’s what I have to say about that:

Yes, how horrible it is that some of what’s being hailed as the best science fiction and fantasy written today is in a literary category designed to encourage millions of young people to read for the rest of their natural lives. Because God knows the last thing science fiction and fantasy publishing needs right now is whole generation of new and enthusiastic readers who might actually get hooked into the genre until they die. It’s a goddamn tragedy, it is.

YES. Yes, that.

It just so happens that we are living right now in the heyday of YA fiction. We are in the glorious golden age of the teen novel. There are some amazing talents writing YA--writers I adore turning out books that make me excited. This is a glorious time to be a children's book editor, or to be reading teen fiction, or just to care about the kidlit industry.

I spend so much time in the kidlitosphere these days that I forget sometimes that there are people out there who gripe about the attention that YA gets, or conversly, think that YA is not every bit as strong and smart and complex and fascinating and exciting and well-written as adult books (and sometimes even better.)

And then this happens. YA gets a swarm of recognition from the FSF world. As a children's book editor and a kidlit lover, I am thrilled beyond words. First of all, for the books that were chosen. The Knife of Never Letting Go was one of my standout books of the year, and I am so happy to see it get this kind of recognition. It's groundbreaking and brave and compulsively readable. And second, of course, because it's time our corner of the industry was acknowledged as sharing the playing field with the grownups.

If you are still grumbling about the fact that YA swept the FSF awards this year, do yourself a favor. Read some YA books. I'll be happy to give you a short list of recommended titles, but if you don't want to ask, the shortlists and award lists for the awards is definitely a good place to start. Read The Knife of Never Letting Go, and then come back and we can have a conversation.

YA is here and it's proud and it's good. And it's not going away.

Comments

[ex-fashioni.livejournal.com]

It's also gaining ground in the romance genre as well. My debut YA, Adiós to My Old Life won the Best Contemporary Single Title Romance RITA in 2007. A common refrain post-awards was "I can't believe a YA won the Single Title RITA! What's the genre coming to?"

How about moving forward and growing new readers?

No matter how many times I'm faced with it, I remain continually stunned by the short-sightedness of people who don't get it. The woman who prompted the kerfluffle a couple of weeks ago with her open letter to every editor who refused to see her literary genius has been quoted as saying, "I'd read Cormac McCarthy over Rowling any day because McCarthy writes books for adults and I am an adult."

Way to be broadminded there, no?

[janni.livejournal.com]

"I'd read Cormac McCarthy over Rowling any day because McCarthy writes books for adults and I am an adult."

To which I want to say, "I'd read Rowling over McCarthy every day because McCarthy makes me want to jump off a bridge and I already know first-hand there's more to being a grownup than that."

[akamarykate.livejournal.com]

Because God knows the last thing science fiction and fantasy publishing needs right now is whole generation of new and enthusiastic readers who might actually get hooked into the genre until they die. It’s a goddamn tragedy, it is.

SNORK!!!!

Wordy McWord to everything you said. And I ADORE your tags! *g*

[fshk.livejournal.com]

There have been a whole rash of articles lately about the popularity of YA and "crossover" big sellers. I read very little YA (I like my adult themes, I guess) but I can certainly appreciate the value of having high-quality books for younger readers. I mean, when I was of prime-YA-reading age, what was there? Sweet Valley High and the like, you know?

[elissa-carey.livejournal.com]

Sweet Valley High was my guilty reading pleasure at that time. I was usually found reading Morgan Llewellyn, or Tad Williams (when Tailchaser's Song and The Dragonbone Chair came out), or King of the Wind & Misty of Chincoteague, and so on.

There weren't many new books designed to appeal to YA readers at the time, certainly, but there were a few. One of them is still one of my absolute favorite books: Nancy Springer's The Hex Witch of Seldom. (http://www.greenmanreview.com/book/book_springer_hexwitch.html)

[fox1013.livejournal.com]

I read very little YA (I like my adult themes, I guess)

What kind of themes do you like in adult books that you can't find in YA?

[fshk.livejournal.com]

I should clarify that I prefer to read about adult characters. Also, I think the blurring of YA and adult fiction, particularly when it comes to what is and is not acceptable to include in YA, is a little problematic. Lots of sex and drugs and violence in some teen subgenres, which I don't really think is appropriate.

[etoilepb.livejournal.com]

While I agree with you, the flip side is a bit troubling.

It's hard enough convincing many people that genre fiction isn't a waste of an adult's time. Haven't most of us who read SF/F been looked down on at one point or another for reading a book with a dragon or a robot on the cover? As more and more of the fiction recognized for quality in those genres becomes targeted to non-adult readers, it's a little harder to be taken seriously as an adult reader of fiction in those genres.

I mean, Harry Potter helped a lot to make the mainstream get over itself, and Twlight's kind of kept that momentum going, but I can see why some folks would worry.

[meep.livejournal.com]

What's odd to me is that some books I considered regular old scifi/fantasy is classed in with YA at the library. Ender's Game? WTF? Just because it has kids in it doesn't mean it's necessarily kiddie fiction. It's like sticking David Copperfield or Oliver Twist in YA... uh, it's intended for all ages, but even so, it's not really YA.

I think some of the YA shelving is library propaganda, some is marketing, and some is indicating that the books are ok for younger kids or that they might find it interesting.

But then, my dad gave me Stranger in the Strange Land when I was 12 (didn't get the sex, so I just skipped those parts). I saw YA as the Sweet Valley High books, and I started reading "adult" books around middle school. So my idea of literary classifications may be a bit "off".

[(Anonymous)]

I'm not a librarian, but I totally support these books like Ender's Game being shelved wherever young readers are more likely to find them. I'd guess they're shelved in Adult SF/F as well, no? If not, they should be in both places, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with putting them in YA too, is there?

--Laini
www.growwings.blogspot.com

[meep.livejournal.com]

Well, at my library (very small), generally they have only one copy of a book. So they've got to pick a place and keep it there.

[janni.livejournal.com]

But for books that appeal to all ages, isn't it a tossup where to shelve them anyway? I see it as no more odd to put them under YA than under adult--either way, some portion of their readership has to travel out of their so-called section to find them ...

[meep.livejournal.com]

I think it more likely for the teens to go perusing the adult section than vice-versa. Just like the "adult" bookcovers for Harry Potter that were done in the UK - adults don't want to be seen reading "childish" stuff.

Of course, there's so many more books in the adult section (which does make it harder to browse). In fact, the reason I checked out the YA section at my library (which is very small) was that it has only 2 full bookshelves (full = floor-to-ceiling) so it didn't take too much time to see what they had.

[fox1013.livejournal.com]

Just like the "adult" bookcovers for Harry Potter that were done in the UK - adults don't want to be seen reading "childish" stuff.

But isn't that essentially asking YA authors/publishers/fans to reinforce the status quo? The only way to get YA out of this weirdly-imposed ghetto is for people to read the books and see that it's not that they're good DESPITE being YA, it's that YA can be good and these particular books are. "This book is good so it shouldn't be classified as YA" is self-defeating.

[sarahtales.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the most excellent link!

[(Anonymous)]

Great post! So true. What a wonderful time for books, and John Scalzi says it perfectly. Like you, I live in a bubble where I rarely have to encounter the YA-denigrators. I forget they exist. May they wither away (you know, not THEM, but their stupid preconceptions) and vanish!

--Laini
www.growwings.blogspot.com

[tarlia.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's such a goddamm tragedy that there's other books bridging the gap between kid and adult besides Twilight.

[janni.livejournal.com]

And that they're actually good books, good enough that people might want to read them just for that regardless of category. Apparently all the good stuff is supposed to be written for and reserved for adults, because they're, you know, more important.

[janni.livejournal.com]

Kidlit's totally already driving the bus. The adults are just being adults and trying to come up with some way to forbid it and regain control and power and all, but YA readers know that never really works. :-)