tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3377586.post115352534262298952..comments2024-03-27T02:13:13.079-04:00Comments on Original Content: My Turn To MoralizeGail Gauthierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01673131515563387968noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3377586.post-1153784832934173342006-07-24T19:47:00.000-04:002006-07-24T19:47:00.000-04:00Ten years ago when I first started publishing, I w...Ten years ago when I first started publishing, I was told that teens didn't read YA. Now YA is a huge market. But that doesn't answer the question of who is reading it.Gail Gauthierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01673131515563387968noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3377586.post-1153709681887606152006-07-23T22:54:00.000-04:002006-07-23T22:54:00.000-04:00you wrote:When I think of "inspiring stories in wh...you wrote:<BR/><I>When I think of "inspiring stories in which a brave and sensitive young person triumphs over modern evils like political oppression, sexism and racism," I don't think YA. I think Oprah! YA doesn't require redemption. Women's victim stories do.</I><BR/><BR/>i agree, and i think this need to provide inpsiration may come from a need to either "correct" the amoral ambiguities present in literature or society (or both), and this growing sense that we can no longer expect young adults to find these lessons anywhere else. <BR/><BR/>but i look back to my adolescence during the 70's and realize that the books i was attracted to weren't on the young adult racks at the library, they were the adult books. once they start pushing steinbeck and hemingway on you in seventh grade, and you feel that push to "get serious" with literature, why would you want to go back to teenage characters who didn't illuminate the fascinating adult world?<BR/><BR/>i wanted clues to the absurdity of adult life. i went looking for it in vonnegut and heller and bradbury and (by senior year) chas. bukowski. okay, maybe i was an odd kid, but i think the same holds true even today. when i worked in a bookstore the teens were buying (or reading in the store) toni morrison, laurel hamilton, zane, pynchon, salinger (still, though not 'catcher in the rye') and anything on the dispaly tables that literally <I>looked</I> good. teens did NOT shop the teen/YA section of the store: their PARENTS did.<BR/><BR/>libraries probably do the most in terms of getting YA books into YA hands, second only to movies based on YA books. ned vinzini plays well with the teen crowd, but i only ever saw adults buying and reading his book. <BR/><BR/>there may be a much larger story here about writers and audience, crossed signals and miscommunication. when a friend heard i was working on a YA novel they seemed amused by the idea, admitting that they hadn't really thought about the fact that it was mainly adults writing for kids. "i guess it's the nostalgia factor for you, right?" was how they rationalized what i was doing. i laughed, then i was annoyed, then i started to wonder: what's the ratio between adult and teen readers of YA fiction?<BR/><BR/>i continue to wonder...dlzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05912666564620423037noreply@blogger.com