A Good Story Is The Key

A conversation I overheard in a bookstore:

“I think it’s time you moved up from young adult to adult, Leslie. You’re twenty after all.”

“But Mom, I love these stories.”

A lot of older readers think reading young adult (YA) books should stop after the teen years, and I understand. I'm very picky about what YA I read, but I’m also aware that a good story written in any category can be enjoyed at any age. A bookstore owner once demonstrated that to an audience of seniors. She read a picture book aloud but stopped short of the ending, and there was a general outcry. “Don’t stop!”

Of course, we need to move on and read more complex and challenging books as we mature, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still enjoy a well-written picture book, middle grade, or young adult when we’re older.

I look for YA fiction that has interesting twists and young characters who are pulled into universal conflicts that change their lives. Like most readers, I can relate to a story that deals with life-altering experiences—the death of a classmate or a parent, betrayal by a good friend, false accusations that embarrass or humiliate, and of course, true love. These are usually first-time events when we’re teens. They’re happening when we have no past experience to draw from and when we are struggling with a major transition from childhood to adulthood, so they’re all the more impacting. If we’re lucky, we have mentors to help, but a lot of times it’s up to the teen to figure things out. A story that shows a teen struggling to make sense of this tricky world and the part they play in it is the kind of story I love to get into both as a writer and a reader.  

True or false? “Young adult books are just dumbed-down adult stories.” Absolutely false. If that were the case over half of the YA readers wouldn’t be adults. Here’s a quote from an interview with Virginia Zimmerman, professor of English literature at Bucknell University. “The YA books that have been popular with adults are dark and serious and hard,” [Zimmerman] said. “People might to go to YA literature to sink into a reality different than their own, but I think they sink into that reality to encounter feelings, challenges, and relationships they recognize from their own lives.” (The Atlantic, Kitchener, C. [2017.] Why so many adults read young-adult literature).

The next time you stroll the aisles of Amazon or a brick and mortar store, take a trip down one or two shelves that hold young adult books and give them a look. Reluctant readers of this category are often won over by one good book. I like reluctant readers of my books. If they trust me enough to deliver a satisfying story to read through to the end, I double like them. Heck, I love them.