YA Novels For Everyone

Ah yes, YA novels. The genre I avoided like the plague when I was in my mid-teens to try and look cool and sit in the corner with my "Pride and Prejudice". I really thought YA novels were not worth my time, corny, and 'for girls'. How wrong and ignorant I was. There is so much we can learn from YA novels and there is a reason the genre is endlessly popular and ever-growing. We often learn about love, friendships, identity, family, and the importance of being true to our youth. And those are all great things!

Usually, YA novels get flack for being 'grossly romantic' and 'sappy', a genre meant for kids to fill their heads with radical ideas until they move onto 'real reading.' I know this because I thought this too. But this idea of dismissing YA novels because they are marketed to young people is absurd! So many of our culturally prized films Are based on YA novels, and at least half of YA readers are actually ... adults! More importantly, YA novels are often dismissed because they are perpetuated as a genre specifically for girls, and we as a culture know what happens when something becomes popular or in demand due to a fanbase of teenage girls. It gets belittled, and shamed, and is chalked up to something undesirable to be read in private.

Alanna Felton from Spire Magazine put it this way :

"For teenage girls, who are often marginalized or belittled by pop culture, YA is one of the few spaces where their experiences— their hopes, fears, dreams, desires— are taken seriously. The same goes for adult women, who make up half of YA readers. “Ask yourselves if perhaps the tropes you’re ridiculing could possibly have arisen from the perpetual struggle of adult women writers to use their voices in a society that does everything it can to shut them up,” Daily Dot writer Aja Romano says to critics who dismiss YA. Romano argues that “female authors are barred from full ownership of ‘serious’ literature”, so it is inevitable that adult women seeking to read and write about female experiences will turn to YA, one of the few “female-driven genres that operate outside the boundaries of traditional literature."

The idea that an entire genre of fiction is devoted to a single gender or age group is preposterous. And today we are working on dismantling that! So, let us have a look at my picks of YA novels that adults will enjoy.

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Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging, by Louise Rennison

Georgia, a teenager, lives with her mother, father, 3-year-old sister Libby, and her wild cat, Angus, whom the family found on a holiday to Scotland. Georgia bumps into the popular and attractive Robbie (the "Sex-God"), while helping her best friend, Jas, subtly stalk his brother at the grocery store where he works.

The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas

Starr Carter is constantly switching between two worlds -- the poor, mostly black neighborhood where she lives and the wealthy, mostly white prep school that she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is soon shattered when she witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend at the hands of a police officer. Facing pressure from all sides of the community, Starr must find her voice and decide to stand up for what's right.

The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak

The Book Thief is a story narrated by a compassionate Death who tells us about Liesel, a girl growing up in Germany during World War II. She steals books, learns to read, and finds comfort in words. She and Max, the Jew her family protects, are the only main characters that survive the war

Lord of the Flies, by William Golding

William Golding's 1954 novel "Lord of the Flies" tells the story of a group of young boys who find themselves alone on a deserted island. They develop rules and a system of organization, but without any adults to serve as a civilizing impulse, the children eventually become violent and brutal.

The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games is a 2008 dystopian novel by the American writer Suzanne Collins. It is written in the voice of 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives in the future, post-apocalyptic nation of Panem in North America. The Capitol, a highly advanced metropolis, exercises political control over the rest of the nation.

Fangirl, by Rainbow Rowell

Fangirl is a story of two twin sisters, Wren and Cath, who have grown up without a mother and with a very busy father. Cath is an introvert and very happy to live in her own internet and book world. She admires and loves her sister, who also plays the role of her best friend

The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a 1999 book by Stephen Chbosky. It follows Charlie during his freshman year of high school as he makes and loses friends, experiments with drugs and his sexuality, and comes to grips with his past.

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