The Young Adult or YA genre features resourceful protagonists who are, often, still figuring things out about the world and themselves.
There's more to it of course — a lot more — but whether you're a longtime fan or just thinking about how and where to get started in YA, we've got you covered with some recommendations, some thoughts about what YA is and is not, and some things to look for as you wade into the inviting but turbulent waters of Young Adult fiction. I'm Glen Weldon, one of the hosts of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour, and we're teaming up with Life Kit for a beginner's guide to YA.
YA defined, albeit vaguely, and with caveats
Among readers and writers of YA, there are those who rankle at the term itself. "It's just a marketing term used by publishers," they sniff.
Which: Fair point. It certainly is. But then ... every genre you care to name began its life as a marketing term — specifically, an attempt to alert prospective readers that a new book in question has several things in common with a book or books they've previously enjoyed.
When it comes to what those specific "several things in common" might be for the YA genre, there are some pretty broad, squishy parameters that keep turning up.
First up: Age. Both that of the book's protagonists and its readers.
Generally speaking, protagonists in the YA genre range from 12 to 18. (Yes, there are exceptions! That's what "generally" means!) A lot of the genre's readers fall into this range, as well, but not nearly all of them. YA is read by many, many people in their 20s, 30, 40s and beyond. We'll get to why that is in a moment.
Next: Firsts. YA characters are dealing with the same things all of us deal with — they're just dealing with them for the very first time.
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That newness grants these events a primal emotional power that readers love. There are all the thrilling firsts we remember fondly — first kiss, first party, first time away from the family. But there are also the many firsts that are just as irrevocable and life-changing, though as we age, we tend to underestimate and misremember the sheer impact they had on us: first time driving a car, first death of a loved one, first sundered friendship, first time rejecting the advice of others and making a choice for yourself — even (especially) a bad one.
Next up: Selfhood. YA characters experience new things, yes. But those experiences have a cumulative effect.
They help them define who they are and — equally importantly! — who they're not. The term coming-of-age gets trotted out a lot, but YA has more to do with a coming-of-self. Whether it's something as simple as figuring out who their real friends are, or what they want to do with their lives, or something altogether thornier like embracing revelations about their sexuality and gender, the YA genre is about self-discovery and self-determination. This is one reason so much of the genre explores themes of rejecting authority, in one form or another.
Finally: Stakes. Always emotional, sometimes physical.
Some YA books deal with things that those who dismiss the genre consider trivial and unworthy of "serious" fiction — teenage crushes, school rivalries and romances, the ending of lifelong (albeit teenage) friendships. What these folks fail to grasp is that the emotional stakes are what's truly important. They're what drives people to the genre and keeps them devouring book after book. In the charged, hormonal landscape that YA characters navigate, the world may not be literally ending, but when the author's on top of their game, it sure as hell feels like it is. (Note: There's plenty of YA fantasy and science fiction in which the emotional stakes are made all-too-perilously literal.)
So: Why read YA?
Most of us grew up on YA fiction. From Nancy Drew to The Hunger Games, we're drawn to (and marketed to by) books whose characters look like us. And while many move on to "adult" fiction as they enter adulthood, there are plenty of folks who keep coming back to YA throughout their lives.
The reasons are many, and some are complex, and may in some cases have to deal with seizing upon an opportunity to re-examine our adolescent selves, so as to forgive or heal them.
Mostly, though, it's about the stories, the characters and the heady, ceaseless emotional churn of being at an age when your body is screaming at you, your parents are screaming at you and the world's expectations are screaming at you, and you're just trying to find a way through it all without making a litany of dumb, embarrassing mistakes that (you feel certain) will brand you forever.
If all fiction is about empathy — the opportunity to jump into someone else's head, see through their eyes, and feel what they feel — then YA fiction is about doing so when the emotions involved are those that we felt most deeply, most thoroughly and most profoundly, before the world got a chance to come in and calcify our hearts.
Enough! (I mean: It's not enough. It's barely scratching the surface. But we need to get to the recommendations, already.)
Recommendations for summer reading
I talked to three panelists who are building and shaping the YA genre right now. Aiden Thomas is the author of Lost in the Never Woods and Cemetery Boys. Loan Le is the author of A Pho Love Story and the forthcoming novel Solving for the Unknown. She's also an editor at Atria Books. Rounding out this all-star panel is Gabby Rivera, author of Juliet Takes a Breath, and the writer of the much-missed Marvel comic AMERICA, about queer superhero America Chavez.
You can listen to this episode at the top of this page or here.
Aiden's pick: Gearbreakers by Zoe Hana Mikuta
If you love Pacific Rim, check this out. It's a queer sci-fi book — there are giant fighting mechas, found family, Sapphic romance, and those really messy, chaotic relationships we all remember.
Loan's pick: I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson
This book is for anyone who thinks that YA is one-note, or recycled, or petty because this book is going to make you cry. It represents so much of humanity. There's a journey to find your identity. There's some romance. There are gay characters. There's a deep exploration of parents and children, and the relationship between siblings, too. It's about fraternal twins who used to be close but have grown apart.
Gabby's pick: Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender
This book is just glorious. It's one of the quintessential YA books, especially for queer kids of color. It takes place in Brooklyn, so there's all that New York grit and hustle and chaos and love on every page. It's the first book I've ever read where the character is already trans, so there's no "What am I?" or anything. You just root so hard for Felix.
The audio portion of this episode was produced by Andee Tagle.
We'd love to hear from you. If you have a good life hack, leave us a voicemail at 202-216-9823, or email us at LifeKit@npr.org. Your tip could appear in an upcoming episode.If you love Life Kit and want more, subscribe to our newsletter.
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