Age Appropriateness

[sartorias]

My BVC blog today is about age appropriate reading, and how to define it--something I've talked about here off and on over the past few years

Comments

[aohdwyn]

Well, I'm currently 23 -- eek, no, 24! -- and I have yet to stop reading YA; old favorites as comfort reading, but also new books put out by both beloved authors and new authors that other readers have recommended. For instance, I didn't read Shannon Hale's Princess Academy until I was well past the intended age bracket, but I enjoyed it unreservedly. I've continued to pick up new books by Shannon Hale and while I love her books written for adults (Austenland, The Actor and the Housewife) there's something really enjoyable about her YA Fantasy books

[sartorias]

I remember that sheepish feeling when I was a teen, over at the kids' section, but because I'd known the librarian all my life, it felt slightly easier. In those days, things were so much more compartmentalized.

And so little was published back then, I too, knew all the books by sight, yet used to examine each spine in case I'd missed one.

But yes, the Venn diagram venture outward into reading, that makes perfect sense. I actually much prefer Shannon Hale's YA to her adult books. They really are spiff.

[aohdwyn]

Oh man, I can't even bring myself to go into the true kids' section, now; they keep it SO TOTALLY separate from the adult and YA section that just being there (amongst the teeny low shelves and colorful posters!) makes me feel like some kind of child molester or something. Truly ridiculous, I know, but if I MUST read a book from the children's section (...it happens...) I generally just put it on hold. <.<

I got such a frisson of anticipation when I came across a shiny new book (especially by a favorite author) all crinkly with new protective plastic. At the same time, I hated when the librarians rearranged the shelves to make room for more books; it completely threw off my perception of where things went

[sartorias]

Yes, I love that aspect of her YA novels, too.

[mrissa]

My friends in their late teens have never stopped reading YA but have added adult stuff in, which is to me a good balance. My friends in their early/mid teens have stuck with YA exclusively, which strikes me as far less of a good thing. I want them to have the whole world, not just the teen corner of it.

[sartorias]

Well, but age is going to fix that, no doubt.

Meanwhile, there is so much published for teens right now, and a great deal of it is so good, I can totally see a teen staying with YA a whole lot longer.

[mrissa]

Yes, but it combines with the helicopter parent trend to make me wonder whether age is going to fix the whole thing or whether they are more comfortable with being pigeonholed and given orders than makes me entirely happy about the direction of our culture.

I'm not panicking in this direction, I'm just a little nervous.

[sartorias]

That's an interesting view. I hadn't considered that.

OTOH, so much of that YA is about independence . . . hmm, you've given me something to think about, and a new thing to listen for when I am in dialog with teens. Thanks!

[aulus_poliutos]

The only YA I renjoyed was some of the historical fiction (Rosemary Sutcliff, Hans Baumann, Barbara Bartos-Höppner), for the rest I always got the feeling the books wanted to get a point across. We had to read some for school - I remember one about a boy whose mother worked and so he had the key for the appartment and had to cook for himself, how shocking. I thought it was boring, preachy stuff that should make those kids who had SAMs feel grateful, while I'd have prefered my mother do work because I thought she'd be happier than at home. (I didn't know she suffered from a depression at that time, nor did she herself.)

Several books were about adapting - I hated those with a passion because I was bullied and felt those books utterly unrealistic and cheesy. In the end I didn't touch non-historical fiction YA books with a five foot pole since I was 8. ;)

[sartorias]

Oh yeah, sounds like you were getting the equivalent of the Problem Novels that we had over here. I knew very few kids who liked those (with exceptions). Actually, those drove a lot of readers I know to adult sf and f and historicals a lot sooner than they might have.

[aulus_poliutos]

Problem Novels is a fitting description. With unrealistic solutions for the most. The bullied kid adapted and did something to win the respect of his classmates and the bullying stopped. Yeah, right, that so works. *very ironic grin*

I prefered Call of the Wild, but most of the kids thought that one had an unhappy ending, the poor dog should have found another home. For me, he found freedom.

[sartorias]

Oh, I remember our teacher reading us Call of the Wild in fourth grade, after we came in from lunch. I so recall entering the classroom, drenched with sweat from the blasting sun, and having to put our heads down, as the inadequate fan burbled back and forth. Her voice would take over and I would sink into the story, forgetting the killing heat.

[sollersuk]

"YA" is a concept that, as a Brit, I find it hard to get my head around. An adult is an adult, old enough to vote, enter into binding contracts, so anythhing goes. If "young adult" has any meaning to me it's someone between 18 (the new age of majority) and 21 (the old one

[sartorias]

Yes--of course here there is so much emphasis on marketing and demographics, and so forth.

[marycatelli]

You're confused because a marketing category is not an honest and exact replication of the truth?

[sollersuk]

Actually, I wasn't discussing marketing categories per se because I have so little understanding of YA that I didn't even realise that it was primarily a marketing category. My main theme was that I didn't know what the blazes YA was supposed to be, and the secondary one was that even staff in major book chains view their shelving policies as nothing but suggestions.

[padawansguide]

I never really stopped reading YA and often I like it better than adult fiction. (And I'm 35!) When I was a teen I adored Ellen Conford and Paula Danzinger as well as the more fantasy stuff.

Like someone else commented, I feel weird going to the children's/teen section in bookstores. But hey, Amazon doesn't have that stigma! As an adult I've read and enjoyed the Harry Potters, everything by Tamora Pierce... I was just introduced to Megan Whalen Turner by a friend, and another recent find was When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead. I just got The Hunger Games, since I heard good things. It's great that so much YA is so well-written that an adult can enjoy it too.

(I liked Hale's Austenland, so maybe I should try her YA books, I never have!) :-)

[sartorias]

Do try Hale's YA. I was very disappointed by Austenland, but I adore her YAs. Judging from the list of your likes here, I bet you would like them.

Ellen Conford! Yes!

[padawansguide]

I will look into them! :-)

Conford was a huge influence on me as a pre-teen and teen (and on my own writing). As I recall she used a lot of those now-unpopular adverbs, and I think that's partly why I like that style, because she had such a wonderful turn of phrase. I still reread her stuff with enjoyment, even 20 odd years later. I haven't seen her online at all - I wish she was so I could tell her how much I still love her books! :-)

[padawansguide]

Oh yes, and I read Crown Duel as an adult too, and greatly enjoyed it! :-)