Young Adult Lit
Reminder first, there's a month left for submission of stories to the Coyote Wild Young Adult Issue in August.
Justine Larbalestier has posted twice about how young adult sales are up (see top post, and one below) and speculated on why.
My own thoughts pretty much parallel hers, though I haven't done any research--where would I go and who has the time?--but what interests me more than statistics is that bit about adults reading YA. If you're an adult and you read YA, why?
Some years ago, it could be said that young adult literature could be trusted as a safety net--one was less likely to find horrific or graphic matter, but that's no longer true. I like YA because it channels my inner kid, who has never really been smothered by the matters of adulthood. My sense of humor has stayed right in sixth grade. But also, I find I enjoy stories about the young figuring out life and deciding what to do. I'm not drawn in the least to fiction specifically about being old: I've garnered enough experience of that, and don't feel that there's much more to be learned. It's more fun to look back down the years, and "be" younger, sometimes with the insight of experience, and other times I'm taken by surprise.
Anyway, enough about my tastes: I'm more interested in yours, if you read YA, tell me what you read, and why? This can be old favorites revisited, or new books--anything you want to talk about.
Justine Larbalestier has posted twice about how young adult sales are up (see top post, and one below) and speculated on why.
My own thoughts pretty much parallel hers, though I haven't done any research--where would I go and who has the time?--but what interests me more than statistics is that bit about adults reading YA. If you're an adult and you read YA, why?
Some years ago, it could be said that young adult literature could be trusted as a safety net--one was less likely to find horrific or graphic matter, but that's no longer true. I like YA because it channels my inner kid, who has never really been smothered by the matters of adulthood. My sense of humor has stayed right in sixth grade. But also, I find I enjoy stories about the young figuring out life and deciding what to do. I'm not drawn in the least to fiction specifically about being old: I've garnered enough experience of that, and don't feel that there's much more to be learned. It's more fun to look back down the years, and "be" younger, sometimes with the insight of experience, and other times I'm taken by surprise.
Anyway, enough about my tastes: I'm more interested in yours, if you read YA, tell me what you read, and why? This can be old favorites revisited, or new books--anything you want to talk about.