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

Comments

[meep]

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".

[meep]

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]

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.

[meep]

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]

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.