AGAIN, Again I wake up log in to twitter and see a horrible article critiquing and slandering Young Adults books, Authors, and Publishers in this industry. Why is all this hate around? What is going on?
Lets start from the top *deep breath* Tes is a site for Teachers, a network that helps you search for roles, inspiration for class lessons, and the latest news.
Joe Nutt just published an article feature this as its first line:
“I’ve drafted an outline for a bestselling young adult novel. It features a transgender school dropout with autism who meets a self-harming vampire with a heart of gold, hell-bent on bringing peace to the world. Together they embark on a magical quest to find an ancient crystal with the power to render all weapons useless. Oh, and the protagonist’s mother makes a living selling legal highs to illegal immigrants.”
I’m sorry but if that’s not the example for condescending I don’t know what is.
I was outraged that this was allowed to be published on a literary website, I understand the idea behind more kids should read classics, gosh I read classics as a teen and YA BUT why can’t we have both?
Slamming young adult books as the equivalent to a trashy magazine from the grocery store and starting an article basically pronouncing that having a trans-gendered kid with Autism as our main MC is wrong. I understand it is exaggerated to suit the point the author wanted to make but I don’t even care about that, because seriously if I want to read about Transgender kids with autism, or Vampires that self harm Hello Vampire Academy dig I will, and I will enjoy it!
If this helps teenagers cope then why critique and belittle people for it? Not everyone can come home from school, their part-time job, chores, homework, and crack open some Sophocles and Shakespeare for their personal down time.
The thing I really want to say and point out is the YA books that have helped me through Adult life and continue to help me grow and open my eyes to others issues and glean some hope that someone else felt what I was feeling even if it is in a fictional tale.
Looking for Alaska (mild spoilers for the plot, be warned.)
I know this book is a bit controversial, some people love it some hate it. This book features a suicide and a character that deals with all the feeling of what happens after they lose a friend.
I lost one of my best friends to suicide around the time I read this and everything that was described in this book was so spot on with my feelings that it helped me overcome some anger and sadness I was feeling.
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
A book that deals with the anxiety of starting university, the struggle with having a bi-polar father and a Mother that walked away from them at a young age. All life lessons that multiple people are able to relate to and help young adults with their problems every where.
These are just two books in my life that have helped me through some real Adult issues and I reject the statement that YA can’t teach valuable life lessons.
There are so many books that touch on and deal with important issues that it’s such a shame for someone to even think this statement:
“If I were a publisher I would be asking some serious questions about the cultural value and validity of the young adult fiction agents are peddling. I would be asking them where are those vital books for teenagers that introduce them to the real, adult world?”
The Article also mentions that there isn’t enough selection for nonfiction for Young adults but there really is (whether schools are stocking these is another question as I haven’t been in highschool for a good few years)! There are wonderful non-fiction books being released every year and if you’re looking for some NEW non fiction look no further:
Plus there are so many great classics that remain relevant and will continue to do so through the ages that help teens learn and grow just like there is so many YA and MG books of importance: Holes, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Once, Anne Frank, To Kill A Mocking Bird, Green Mile etc… All these books taught me the importance of life no matter if they had a boy wizard, a Greek god, or a true person as their main character.
What I really want to say is; can we please stop slandering the Young Adult industry? Are people writing these judge mental and condescending articles just to get a bit of the spot light? The whole ‘controversy will make me famous?’ Where are your priorities? With the Authors and Publishing companies? or on how much anger you can spark making your article get the most ‘hits?’
This article could have been about the importance of Non fiction in schools rather than the idea that YA is horrible and causing our generations to fill their head with “unreal” ideals.
Thank you to all my Fellow YA readers, everyone that’s ever learnt from a YA book, all the YA Authors, and publishers allowing amazing and educational books to be fun and accessible to younger readers. Also Thank you to everyone that reads classics and non fiction, what ever your reading choices they’re spectacular and any book has the ability to influence someone for the better.
adoptabookaus.com 
I read the article too and didn’t understand why he felt so much dislike to YA books now. He seemed more like a literary snob stuck in the past…
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I was just baffled at his whole take on it, I don’t think he’s ever actually read a YA book written in the last 5 years, there are so many great books that help people grow and learn that are fiction, I even went on his goodreads page to see if what he was basing his opinion on but if he had any YA books read they weren’t listed. I agree that he’s stuck in the past I don’t know why the article was even allowed to be posted on what seems like a great website.
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Really insightful post, and I loved the strong examples you gave! Looking for Alaska and Fangirl are definitely two great works of literature that prove that not only is YA something that shouldn’t be scoffed at, but sometimes the themes in these novels can appeal to all kinds of people of all ages – not just teenagers. xx
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Thank you! I completely agree Ya and adult can teach people things and relate to all types of situations and educate all ages 😊 I just hate seeing the YA genre put down I wish I had the range and diversity of these books when I was younger and think all ages should read them 🙂
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Gah, yes! It absolutely makes my blood boil when people hate on YA. It almost always seems that the haters haven’t read widely within this category. Sure, there’s plenty of rubbish out there, same as there are plenty of rubbish adult titles. In Australia, in particular, we have so many incredible YA authors producing smart, stimulating YA reads that speak to teenagers and adults alike. I think a lot of readers feel somewhat baffled and intimidated by YA’s increasing popularity with adult readers, and instead of investigating why these stories resonate beyond their target readership, they take the easier road and assume readers are getting dumber, then start bemoaning how we’re neglecting the classics. It’s upsetting because this attitude assumes that books for young people (and by extension young people themselves and their interests and opinions) are in some way inferior, and that’s a terrible assumption, particularly for a school teacher.
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Thank you! This is exactly how I felt! I don’t understand the bafflement behind everyone reading YA I mean is it just the name Young Adult? I think if people actually decided to explore it themselves they could see it’s because of the themes and issues YA tackles that make it so popular and not because that character is a teenager.
I also don’t know why people thing YA readers are neglecting classics? I mean I know people that picked up classics because they were mentioned in Twilight + if it gets someone reading why wouldn’t that person try a classic or adult? YA should be seen like a gateway drug ahaha it helps introduce people to love reading and trying different genres.
I would hate to have this Man as my English teacher (i’m not sure what he actually teachers so I’m making an assumption) If i didn’t have my wonderful teachers to encourage me and recommend me all types of books I don’t know where I’d be. Goodreads has reviews from 13 year olds that amaze me with their writing skills and read YA so the assumption that it makes them inferior is ridiculous!
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Here Here I agree!
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Yes to everything you wrote in this post!!!!!!!!!!! I feel like for the past two days, I’ve seen booktubers, bloggers, and authors defend YA books more than usual. I feel like people should read what they want to read. It is that simple. And if someone is picking up a book and reading it, then shouldn’t that matter more? I don’t understand the bashing and undermining YA receives. Some of my favorite books are YA because they have a great story to tell/teach.
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Exactly! I don’t know why all the hate is happening but it’s ridiculous, YA has such a range and the genre tackles so many themes and new topics that everyone should be informed about not just teens. Same with me! I have so many YA favorites because of how they influenced me or how fantastic there story and message is. I’d love to sit down with someone that agreed with one of these hate articles just to see how there brain works and what they’ve read that’s caused them to have that opinion.
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Agreed!! I feel like they try to make YA as a illiterate genre for illiterate people. As if we aren’t real readers. I’m so done with these YA haters!
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I can’t for life of me understand why they do it, or what they want to achieve from it. I sincerely hope no one stops reading YA and only read non fiction because of one of these opinions, but I doubt any YA lover could be swayed by 1 article when they have the whole book community refuting all the hate 🙂
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You’re so right!
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Main Life Rule; Don’t yuck someone else’s yum if nobody is being harmed. It’s easy, you just have to let it go…. Namaste.
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Ahhh! Another wonderful response to THAT article! Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, however the way Mr. Nutt provides his opinions was offensive and ignorant.
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Beautifully said Amanda! This article could have been informative and shown the need for more non fiction books (if that is what he wanted his point to be) instead it just dismissed a whole genre because of his lack of education on YA books and Authors.
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A great response to a horrible article. I had the exact same reaction to you and wrote a post, but I couldn’t go into depth with that awful first paragraph because my whole post would have been a full on, incoherent rant. 😂 It was written with such spite and lack of research that I couldn’t believe TES even published it. Great post! 😊
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I wanted to rant so much but I thought I’d keep it to a minimum so I wouldn’t come off as mean as the Joe did 😅 your are so damn right with everything you said and the spite and lack of research is what got to me! I would love to know if he actually has read a YA book in the last 10 years but I’d bet any money that he hasn’t!
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Hahaha that’s exactly how I felt! I was trying so hard not to get nasty. I think you did an awesome job! ❤ Exactly. There's absolutely no way he has and if he claims otherwise then I'd love to know what it was!
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I completely agree with you! Your comment about giving young adults reading material that helps them cope is absolutely spot-on. A whole purpose of young adult fiction, in my opinion, is to give young people experiences to which and characters with whom they can relate. I can only guess that what he means by books that introduce teens to the “real, adult world” are intense, tragic novels that prepare them for how horrible and harsh life really is — which is the last thing a teenager needs when he’s juggling all the crazy aspects of being a teenager. Ironically, I’m guessing he believes that young adult lit dumbs teens down, when he’s assuming that they’re dumb to begin with and won’t know what the “real world” is like if they read some fantasy.
Very strange!
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Exactly. What I adore most about YA is that the plots are simple, the writing isn’t dense, and we can learn so much about emotions and how to cope. We don’t have enough literature that explains to the younger generation how to deal with their feelings. We need characters they can relate to.
You’re not the intended audience, Haters. Leave it alone.
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Perfectly said!!! Exactly no matter what issue ya is tackling or if it’s a nonsense book only made to make you smile and laugh it can still impact and help anyone and is just as important as classics or non fictions books. 😊
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I remember being made to feel ashamed because I read comics. I remember my grandmother telling me how she wasn’t proud of me anymore because of my stack of Phantoms, Mandrakes and Tintins. I remember being told that Asimov wasn’t literature because he wasn’t science fiction. I remember being told that fantasy couldn’t explore the human condition because it was, well, fantasy.
I remember laughing at the stupidity of those ideas. I still do.
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Oh the amount of times I’ve heard that line about Fantasy! It’s so ridiculous you can’t help but laugh.
People judging others for what they read is just mind boggling to me, I mean we all have different tastes but reading doesn’t *only* have to be to further your mind sometimes a little space drama is just what you need and I think everybook that I love whether it be a classic or a fantasy I love because it’s left me with a feeling or new thoughts that I wouldn’t have had if I didn’t pick it up.
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