Young adult literature is indefinable. This said there are
current trends that help give parameters and categories inside young adult
literature. Hunt in his 2007 article talks about the relatively new crossover
novel phenomenon that is further blurring the lines between young adult and
adult literature. Specifically now the length of the YA book is being extended
and broadened to include longer and longer books in their awards to challenge
the attention spans of today’s teens. I agree with some of my colleagues that
perhaps the only requirement for being a young adult book is the quest for
identity, a sense of self and individual agency, which may include a coming of
age story, and/or one or more interwoven romances.
This goes right along with Roger Suttons interview with
Parry Campbell. Where Campbell explains that the YA book is focused on
character or characters who are becoming adults and who are “finding the answer
to the internal and eternal question “Who am I and what am I going to do about
it?” (p. 110-111) Basically YA books are about forming and shaping adult identity
or developing multiple adult identities.
Even this is ambiguous as many books of other types are about the growth
and defining of identity or identities Wonder is an example as is the Freak the
Mighty series, as is The evolution of Calpurnia Tate as is the a mango colored
space just to name a few children’s books that fit this characteristic of YA
literature.
The crossover phenomenon is doing even more to muddle things
up. But if your like me you are encouraged by the quote on page 113 of the
Sutton article. “Statistics from bookstores show that YA fiction is now
outselling adult fiction by a large margin.” Cheers to the future of YA, teens
and the future of reading!
