On YA
Why it's Not Evil
YA novels are great, in my opinion. Some are the type that aren't very useful, I'll admit. But I'm not reading YA for those. I'm reading for the knowledge that comes with seeing another person's life. I, being in the US, will likely never see how high schools are in England, but I can read about it. I, being visually impaired, will never know people's eye color before asking, but apparently other people can. I've never known the negatives to popularity from my own experiences, but I know them from YA books.You might be thinking, you can get most of that from adult books! But it is easier for me to identify with a 16 year old because I AM 16. And sure, I will read an adult novel if it sounds good. Right now, though, that's hard for me because I don't know what it's like to live alone, to have a husband, to have kids, to be in a career, to run a business, etc. I tend to feel distanced from the characters, just as I did when I tried to read YA when I was ten. Yeah, it was good. Yeah, I appreciated it. But no, I didn't know what high school felt like, or even switching classes, so I felt distanced.
The other thing about YA is, it has limits on certain things. I don't care about reading the F-bomb on every page, but I don't like reading sex scenes. YA has a few, but I have only come across one that has made me uncomfortable, and not nearly as uncomfortable as the one I found in an adult book (which by the way did not alert me there was going to be a romance involved at all.) So, for anyone who doesn't wish to experience that yet, YA is quite the savior. Because I do like romance, but not that kind.
The Big Picture
You know, I"ll admit, there are some really bad YA books. And yeah, some of them are getting hype. (I'm not naming names here. Some hyped books are amazing. Some not so much in my opinion.) But there also bad adult books.
You know what YA books did teach me? There's good in EVERY group of people and bad in EVERY group of people. Adults, children, teens. No group is all good or all bad. Same in genres. I'm sure you've picked up a terrible book in the adult shelves before.
And as Maggie Stiefvater pointed out, if you're looking for something, you are always going to find it.
