To answer
the above question, YA changes with the times.
In past
decades, the definition of YA was The Catcher in the Rye, Bambi, To Kill a
Mockingbird, and Oliver Twist. Seriously, can you imagine kids reading one of
the above on their own without a school report looming? Well maybe Mockingbird
but what about the rest.
Animal
stories dominated the shelves as well as what is now labeled literary classics.
Black
Beauty, Irish Red, Misty of Chincoteague.
Adventures
of Huckleberry Finn, Great Expectations, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.
Stories
about teenage drug dependences, graphic violence, and death almost
non-existent.
Alice in
Wonderland, Chronicles of Narnia, The Call of the Wild, The Black Stallion, Little House in the Big Woods.
But the kids
grew into adults and wanted more. They pushed the envelope on youth oriented
material. And their audience responded.
I Know Why
the Caged Bird Sings, The Diary of Anne Frank, My Brother Sam is Dead.
YA became
less a genre than a category, a cacophony of different voices covering social
issues, literary, and sci-fi and horror.
The
Babysitter, Vampire Academy, The Lord of the Rings.
New sub-categories
burst onto the scene with names like steampunk and dystopia that had to be
Googled.
Clockwork
Angel, The Hunger Games, Hush Hush, The Hunger Games, Twilight.
Aside from
any morality issues of teens exposed to TMI at an early age, some of today’s
books make me feel like a cat stroked backwards. Annoyed.
Many of the
books are carbon copies. I’m not talking about subject or content but prose.
First person, smart alec girl with a past who is kick ass at – fill in the
blank here. All of them talk the same with the similar vocabulary. Blech.
My pet
peeve, my problem, I reckon. I hate to see so-called ‘recipe’ type books. But writers
read a book, like it, and want to see more. Or (heaven help us) see a
profitable trend and want to cash in.
The YA
bookshelves are wide-open for any genre, full of promise and mayhem. But
golly people, give the Rose/Clary/Nora/Grace/Katniss spin offs a rest. We liked
them as a trickle. The flood? Eh, not so much.
Whadda you
think?
I think you're right, but I also know publishers tend to jump on trends, which leads to people writing more of that style, which leads to the flood.
ReplyDeleteBut don't stop writing what you love! And thanks for this brief history lesson~ :o)
I think there's a definite trend with 'paranormal.'
ReplyDeletetotally agree. i wanted a different greatness to follow hunger games, heard raves about divergent and it started out eerily similar. underestimated girl with undefined talent taking on and impressing the guys in a deranged dystopian future that needs to be changed. eh.
ReplyDeletebandwagon is full =)
Thought provoking and so true! Now I want to sit with this and feel where it takes me! Thank you! The original thinkers will rise above the masses...just as they always have.:)
ReplyDeleteWhat an awesome timeline!
ReplyDeleteI think Leigh was right. Pubs play a big factor in saturating the market w/knock off themes. It's funny, but when I read a book I like, it doesn't make me want to write one like it. It makes me want to take it in a whole new direction.
I remember those Misty books! I LOVED them. And black beauty, too. I was a horse fanatic. lol