Are YA Books Objectively Bad? (PART TWO)
Last week, I released part one of a two-part series discussing Young Adult books. In that post, I talked specifically about the arguments against Young Adult novels that are often presented and aren’t necessarily genre-specific. I countered them, but also discussed their merits. Today, however, I’m going to be addressing a lot of pros of the Young Adult genre as I see them. This is the last planned part of this two-part series, so I’ll wrap up with my final thoughts on the matter at the end of it.
There are Good and Bad Stories
Young Adult novels have both good and bad stories. There are some excellent pieces of literature on the YA shelves and there’s senseless drivel on those same shelves. Guess what? That’s going to be the case for books targeted at any age category. Heck, there are chapter books that are excellent and are probably seated next to utterly mind-numbing mediocrity. There are also adult novels that are utter garbage. You’ll see plenty of terrible books sitting not far from the works of Feist or Pratchett. Even if we say that YA is more likely to have terrible books in its category (which I don’t think can be said honestly), that doesn’t mean we can discount this swath of stories.
It’s Important to Keep Reading Through School
I attribute a huge part of the reason why I stopped reading consistently after high school to the fact that my last year or two of high school (and then those few months of community college I wasted my life doing) involved reading a lot of things I really didn’t enjoy, which sucked the joy out of reading. Specifically having to strain my eyes to read chemistry textbooks that made next to no sense, or scanning a study guide for three hours a night at the end of each week. Thankfully, whatever literature I was required to read wasn’t too bad, though I do remember reading some classics around that time that I absolutely did not like at all. In the last year or so of school, I stopped picking out fiction books to read and then never really went back to it. Every once in a while, I’d pick up the tried and true Terry Pratchett, but beyond that, I slowly approached the point at which I wasn’t reading at all.
To combat this, I think that having stories that are well-written but still accessible and approachable for people who are still in high school is important. If the only stories I’d had available to me when I was in high school had been high-fantasy adult epics, I would have read significantly less than I was at the time (which is saying something, by my recollection). The books I did read during this period were both adult and young adult novels, and young adult novels certainly served an important purpose, here.
So while I was reading less, the fact I was continuing to read at all was in large part due to the presence of YA novels.
Positive Impacts During a Crucial Time
Something that I think is really vital to note when it comes to YA novels is that they can have a positive impact on their readers during a critical developmental period. I didn’t read a lot of these during the time when I was reading YA, but they do exist and I’ve read a few of them after the fact. When YA authors don’t coddle the reader and when they talk to them like young adults, not children, there can be an incredibly important conversation had within the pages of the book. Not only that, but it can be a conversation that the reader doesn’t want to have with anyone. You can address topics that are uncomfortable, challenging, and confusing. YA books that do this successfully and tactfully are remarkably important.
Yet, we do of course see adults who fight to prevent such books from seeing the light of day, stating that teenagers shouldn’t be reading stories that include things like love, drugs, sex, violence, and all other manners of things that young adults are experiencing, are thinking about, and are battling! YA authors have the opportunity to help talk people through questions that they may be having, and I personally think that this is one of the key things that a young adult story should do. If you’re writing a coming-of-age story, be honest and genuine in your approach to it.
Sure, these stories can be whimsical and fun, but I would argue that even the most whimsical of young adult stories could be greatly improved by including a meaningful discussion about a challenge that the reader may be facing. It can be direct, an allusion, or a metaphor. Whatever the case may be, this is something that I find to be critical in the YA genre. It’s also why I take such an issue with young adult stories that glorify things like abusive relationships or vague immaturity.
Easy Books are Good
Easily read, approachable books are a good thing. I don’t think that they should be every book that someone reads, though to each their own. I do think that even the most hardcore epic fantasy reader should sprinkle in at least one easy book every now and then to keep things fresh and to ensure broader horizons. I myself just recently released a post in which I talked about how I sprinkle in the occasional easy book to prevent myself from experiencing a reading burnout. It’s important. Books that are easy to read are a vital part of the literary ecosystem.
When you’re used to reading adult novels, it can be easy to look down on people who read YA because you view YA as a lesser form of literature. It isn’t lesser, though; it’s different, but it isn’t lesser just because it’s a little (or significantly) easier to read than what you’re used to. I myself have two YA books on my TBR for 2022. I’m pretty confident that I can knock them out in a day or two, but I’m also looking forward to that break from the long string of epics I’m going to be reading until I get to them. It’ll be a great refresher that both keeps me reading and prevents me from experiencing a burnout that sends me into a reading slump.
I absolutely love FromSoft games. They’re some of my favorites, and I do a complete git-gud playthrough once a year in which I play each of their games chronologically. Telling me that because I play FromSoft games means that I need to only play every game on its highest difficulty is the equivalent of saying that because I read adult fantasy, I can only read adult books (and no Sanderson, since his writing is easy and approachable—that’s cheating). Sure, I enjoy a challenge and I like cranking Witcher 3 up to Death March now and then, but sometimes I also like playing Witcher 3 casually just for the relaxation and palate-cleansing that it provides! It’s the same for YA stories. Once you’re used to the tougher stuff, easier books are an excellent refresher.
The Final Verdict
So what’s the verdict? What do I think about YA as a whole? Let’s think back on everything I’ve talked about since last week. Young Adult novels get a lot of hate from elitist readers who think that they have no purpose. However, YA stories serve an incredibly valuable purpose in the literary world. They fill in a gap for readers who otherwise just have to read textbooks all day, every day. They also provide authors with an opportunity to communicate important lessons to young adults who may not otherwise be receptive to these thoughts and ideas. Beyond that, though, they are great palate cleansers for readers who are trying to prevent themselves from being burned out as a result of too many thick, challenging books.
There’s no denying, though, that YA books can be damaging or complete wastes of shelf space. The same can be said for books in any category and on any shelf. I have read some absolute trash that came from an adult shelf, just as I have seen of books on the young adult shelf. There’s no escaping garbage and drivel—it’s everywhere. It isn’t fair to dismiss YA as a whole just because many YA books are dreadful. You don’t see me slinging Feist, Pratchett, and Le Guin off the shelf at the library just because there are mind-numbingly awful books near their works.
The final verdict is this: YA is just like every other category of books: there are good ones, there are bad ones. There are some that are meaningful, some that are pointless. They, like every story, have the opportunity to leave a lasting, memorable impact on readers. It’s foolish to discount them simply because their target audience is a little younger than you may be. Just as is the case with adult novels, the quality of a young adult novel varies from one book to the next. YA cannot be discounted in its entirety just because some of the stories that are within its category are poorly written or potentially detrimental to the reader.
Conclusion
So there you have it! My thoughts on YA as a category of books. Should I be saying genre, here? YA isn’t really a genre, it’s an audience. This is confusing. Category sounds better and I’ve already used that terminology throughout this post, so I’ll stick with it. YA is a category and like any category, it has its merits and its demerits. If you don’t like YA books, there’s this cool thing you can do where you go and read something else. Even cooler than that is when you don’t drag people through the mud for reading YA more often than you think that they should.