I grew up reading books that were well above my grade level and discovered the sci-fi/fantasy section of the bookstore pretty early on. Because of this, I never really picked up YA books. Part of this (I’m ashamed to admit) had to do with the stigma attached to YA–they’re kids books, they’re all the same story in different clothes, they’re just kind of dumb. Luckily, I’ve been proven wrong. And then today I discovered this article and found out I wasn’t the only one to go through this transition. Go NY Times! It makes me happy to see things like this being covered at all, but I think this essay in particular is fantastic.
Books by Erica Cameron
Author of The Dream War Saga, the Laguna Tides novels, and the upcoming Assassins series
I completely agree. The boom in the past few years has a lot to do with the blurring of that line the article talked about and the fact that publishers are finally seeing that if they create thought provoking books for young readers, those readers will respond. I'm incredibly excited about being able to work in a market that's going through such an incredible expansion. 🙂
I'm glad to see that more and more people are discovering the wonders of young adult literature. I think that it has only gotten better in the past few years, too, as more people are writing it — and more people are reading it. I'm in my early thirties, and I still read YA books because they often address topics that adults' books won't.