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WHAT MAKES A YOUNG ADULT BOOK?
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From: Marc Aronson <75664.3110>
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 1998 17:02:06 -0400
I agree with Brenda that there is a difference between a book for teenagers and one about teenage for adults. But I'm not sure that the fact that teenagers have more experience at a younger age must lower the age level for YA.
Last week's Time magazine cover story was about the very active sex lives, and rather thorough knowledge of sex, even young teens now have. What a YA novel can add to all of that direct experience is a sense of depth and meaning. The novel can allow the reader to feel and see and recognize more levels in his or her life. The novel is not outside of a teenager's world, but rather descends more deeply into it than the teenager can just by living.
If that is so, the fact that teenagers are having more adult experiences doesn't push YA younger, rather it challenges it to go deeper.
Marc Aronson
Received on Tue 23 Jun 1998 04:02:06 PM CDT
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 1998 17:02:06 -0400
I agree with Brenda that there is a difference between a book for teenagers and one about teenage for adults. But I'm not sure that the fact that teenagers have more experience at a younger age must lower the age level for YA.
Last week's Time magazine cover story was about the very active sex lives, and rather thorough knowledge of sex, even young teens now have. What a YA novel can add to all of that direct experience is a sense of depth and meaning. The novel can allow the reader to feel and see and recognize more levels in his or her life. The novel is not outside of a teenager's world, but rather descends more deeply into it than the teenager can just by living.
If that is so, the fact that teenagers are having more adult experiences doesn't push YA younger, rather it challenges it to go deeper.
Marc Aronson
Received on Tue 23 Jun 1998 04:02:06 PM CDT
