The Young Adult (YA) category of books is heavily stigmatized. Despite its broad diversity of titles, it is known primarily for its blockbusters, including Divergent, The Fault in Our Stars, and Twilight. Although these are enjoyable, they are far from emblematic of the category as a whole. In fact, as someone who reads and writes YA, I often find that such titles inaccurately represent YA and imply that YA books forgo nuanced takes of our culture’s complications for high-voltage drama.
YA is as rich and innovative as its counterpart, what you might call the Adult category. Take, for example, a science fiction novel about a boy who is cryogenically frozen and then reborn with his head attached to a new body (Noggin, by John Cor-ey Whaley); a story of two runaway girls—one black, one Chinese—at the height of the Gold Rush (Under A Painted Sky, by Stacey Lee); or a multigenerational magic realism novel spanning the early 20th century about a girl born with angel wings (The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender, by Leslye Walton). These are the sorts of books that truly define YA.
YA is also a site for literary experimentation. Adele Griffin’s The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone is a fiction novel formatted like an investigative memoir that plays with traditional novel structure. The author inserts herself into the story as the fictional teacher of Addison, an artist who mysteriously drowns. Refusing to believe that Addison’s death is an accident, the teacher begins researching. The novel compiles her findings and presents them as a long form piece of journalism.
Another example is I Crawl Through It, by A.S. King, an at times outlandish but always thought-provoking surrealist novel featuring a girl who swallows herself, a boy who is building an invisible helicopter, and a high school with daytime activities that oscillate between bomb drills and standardized tests.
YA is also a medium for social justice: Jason Reynolds’s All American Boys, featuring a black boy who is beaten by a police officer after being falsely accused of shoplifting, looks at race relations in the United States. Poisoned Apples by Christine Hepperman, is an anthology of feminist poems that examines sexism through dark, retold fairy tales. Dumplin’, by Julie Murphy, tells of a plus-sized girl who enters a beauty pageant. Adam Silvera’s More Happy Than Not explores the intersection of race, class, and sexuality, and Hannah Moskowitz’s Not Otherwise Specified examines biphobia in and out of the LGBTQ community.
YA novels have literary merit. Though not a perfect category, YA is one where breaking boundaries is increasingly becoming the norm and where anyone can find plenty of meaning. If you’d like to read nuanced explorations of all parts of our culture, YA novels are the place to start.
