Professional Reading #5

Tween literature and young adult literature is often difficult to define. Mary Pearson gets many questions about what a YA author is and does. She often finds these questions to be almost accusatory. Pearson believes there are many misconceptions about this genre and in this article addresses some of these myths.

Normal people like Mary Pearson write YA literature. “I am not writing it as ‘practice’ so I can one day write an adult book.” YA literature is just as complex and difficult to write as adult literature. It is just different. There is often still a misconception that teen literature is like a basal reader and just something to muddle through until they can get to the real reading when they are adults.

There is always discussion about the “responsibility” of teen writers which also includes issues of censorship. Maybe there shouldn’t be any bad language or difficult circumstances or the characters should always make good choices. Life is hard. It is a big scary world out there. If a teen can learn and experience the world through a book rather than suffering through it themselves, how wonderful is that.

I recently had a friend ask how I could stand reading all those tween books. I do not have to stand them. They are wonderful. It is true that like any literature there are some that are not so well written, but there are so many wonderful tween books that I can just move on if I find one that I do not like.

I have also noticed a different feel between tween and teen books. A tween book I read about depression is entitled Rabble Starkley by Louis Lowry. A teen book that I read about depression is entitled It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini. Although they are both about the same subject and are well-written books they handle the matter of depression on different levels.

So YA isn’t a pretend genre or a practice genre. It is just another genre out there for the reading. Pearson tries one last time “to take a stab at some sort of characteristic that sets teen books apart and say teen books are short. I would be wrong. Graceling by Kristen Cashore.

I might say they always have a teen narrator and sensibility. I would be wrong. The Book Thief by marcus Zusak

I might say they end on a hopeful note. I would be wrong. Inexcusable by Christ lynch.”

To sum up teen literature is just as varied, complex, and interesting as adult literature.

Article read: What YA Lit is and isn’t by Mary Pearson