There are those who
say that kids these days don't
read books.
But that's just not true.
Millennials and whatever
we're calling the generation
after millennials are actually
more well-read on average
than earlier generations and
also read more books per year.
And believe it or
not, we have the likes
of the "Hunger Games" and "Harry
Potter" and even "Twilight"
to thank for that.
So thanks, YA.
Young adult is a term whose
meaning has varied wildly
over the years.
It can apply to coming
of age tragedies
or serialized adventures
of babysitters
or insert really dated
twilight joke here.
But where did this young
adult genre come from?
And why did it get so big?
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While narratives
for children have
existed since people
started telling stories,
a designated literary market for
that mysterious, magical period
of time known as
teenagerdom is somewhat new.
And to be fair,
teenagers weren't
a designated demographic
in most respects
until around World War II,
due in part to advances
in psychology,
sociological changes,
like the abolishment
of child labor,
and even technological
advances like the car
making it easy to sneak
out of your parents' house.
But suddenly, teens are here.
And with them come
a plethora of shiny,
new things marketed to
them, clothes, music, films,
radio programs, and
of course, the novel.
In 1942, Maureen Daly,
herself only 17 years old,
publishes the
"Seventeenth Summer,"
which some have called the
first young adult novel.
"Seventeenth Summer" featured
plot points and themes
particularly to teens, under
age drinking, driving, dating,
and the, of course,
eternally popular angst.
But it wasn't the
great literary critics
of the time who defined this
new category of fiction.
It was librarians, in
particular, librarians
from the New York
Public Library.
Starting in 1906, Anne Carroll
Moore built a, sort of,
League of Extraordinary
Librarians, women
who were interested
not only in keeping
this nascent adolescent
audience in libraries
but also finding out
what made them tick.
Another young librarian brought
on by more, Mabel Williams
began working with her
peers to find books
in both the children's
and adult sections that
might be of interest to teens.
And in 1929, the first
annual NYPL books
for young people list was
sent to schools and libraries
across the country.
In 1944, another NYPL
librarian, Margaret Scoggin,
changed the name of her
library journal column
from "Books for
Older Boys and Girls"
to "Books for Young Adults."
And the genre was
christened with a name
that has lasted to this day.
While the YA genre had already
been laying down its roots
for decades at this
point, most YA fiction
tended to feature the
same generic plot points.
Girl dates boy.
Maybe they have a
fight or something.
But then they resolve it.
The end.
But in the 60s,
young people started
to see more thoughtful
contemplations of what
it is just to be a teenager.
Hugely noteworthy
from this era is
S.E. Hinton's, "The
Outsiders," published in 1967.
At first, a novel that failed
on the adult paperback market,
the publisher noticed it was
mostly being purchased by teens
and then re-marketed it to them.
And YA allowed itself to
explore deeper subjects,
ushering in novels like
"Are You There, God?
It's Me, Margaret" and
"The Chocolate War."
During the 80s and
90s however, YA
started skewing towards
serialized fiction,
or from the likes of R.L.
Stine, school centric fiction
like "Sweet Valley High"
and "The Baby-Sitters Club"
and genre fiction like K.A.
Applegate's "Animorphs Series."
So while young adult fiction
was plenty lucrative,
it wasn't really respected
by people outside
of its targeted readership.
It was low art for kids.
KID: Yippee!
NARRATOR: But then everything
changed with a boy wizard.
In 1997, publisher Bloomsbury
takes a leap of faith
and publishes "Harry Potter
and the Philosopher's Stone."
In spite of being genre
fiction, "Harry Potter"
manages to resound not
only with the YA audience,
but it also leaks into
a large adult market.
Harry Potter as a
character also grows up
with his readers, starting out
11 years old and ending at 17.
And the tone of the
series matures as well.
So this new post
"Harry Potter" YA
is nearly as long and sometimes
longer, sometimes way longer,
as adult fiction and on
the same reading level
as commercial adult fiction.
"Harry Potter"
also opens the door
for a wide variety of darker,
genre-based YA novels that
can appeal to an
audience beyond teens
and possibly get optioned for
a multi-million dollar movie
franchises.
With "Twilight," for
instance, came a boom
in the YA subgenre of
paranormal romance.
And boy, that sure was a
thing that came and went.
"The Hunger Games" popularized
the subgenre of YA dystopia.
And that, also, was a thing that
came and went really quickly.
And now, well, genre fiction
is still popular in YA.
But the trend has cycled
back to discussing
relevant social issues
and the world as it is.
John Green's, "The
Fault In Our Stars"
was a massive hit that
dealt with kids who fall
in love while dying of cancer.
And one of the most popular
YA books of the last year
was Angie Thomas's,
"The Hate You Give,"
which was partially inspired
by the Black Lives Matter
movement.
And also it was really great.
By the way, you should read it.
So it's a bit reductive to
be dismissive of Young Adult.
First of all, it's not
just a niche genre.
YA is remarkable
for its wide appeal.
55% of YA books
purchased in 2012
were bought by adults
between 18 and 44 years old.
It's also remarkable to see
the emergence of a genre
pioneered by women, authors
like Maureen Daly, J.K.
Rowling, and Angie
Thomas, and librarians
like Mabel Williams
and Margaret Scoggin.
Not only does YA shape
younger audiences as readers,
it is a genre that
helps give its audience
a lexicon for
understanding that there
is a complex world between
childhood and adulthood.
So what does your
favorite YA book?
Are there any books you love
that maybe you didn't realize
were categorized as YA?
Leave a comment below.
"The Great American
Read" is a new series
on PBS about why
we love to read,
leading up to a nationwide vote
on America's favorite novel.
Who decides America's
favorite novel, you ask?
Well, that would be you.
So head to
pbs.org/greatamericanread
to vote on your favorite book.
Check the link in the
description for more details.
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