I Heard Something Even More Bizarre About YA This Week

On Wednesday, I visited a lovely new independent bookstore. A big store, connected with a state university that's home to a children's literature collection and a good-sized annual children's bookfair. I noticed that the store had a "Teen" section. Then I noticed that it also had a "YA" section. The YA section was large, larger than the Teen section. And I saw what I thought were children's books shelved there.

Well, I was intrigued. No, I was confused. So, since there was no one else there, I asked the woman behind the counter why they had both a Teen and YA section. The Teen section, I was told, was for books that had more sex and violence. The YA section would have less. I said I'd noticed what I'd consider children's books in the YA section. She said, yes, YA begins at third grade. Teen, I believe she said, begins at ninth, though I'm not sure I'm recalling that correctly.

I asked where these designations were coming from. She said, "The publishers."

Now, I'm not a publishing insider by a long shot. But there's been a lot of turmoil regarding YA recently, particularly regarding adults reading YA.  Horn Book editor Roger Sutton did a post on Why Do We Even Call It YA Anymore? because of the number of adults reading it. But that salesperson's explanation was the first I'd heard of YA as a classification for children's books or that publishers were suggesting that it should be.

I know that I get a little obsessive about definitions. However, declaring that the Young Adult category is for children's books, at a time when adults are supposed to be reading them for their adult pleasure, seems to be making this whole situation so confusing that the name Young Adult is going to become meaningless. I certainly don't know what it means now.

Once Again, What Is YA Lit?

Evidently Margo Rabb's NYTimes essay I'm Y.A., and I'm O.K has received responses regarding what an author Margo interviewed describes as "condescension towards Y.A. writing in the literary world." Personally, I'm far more interested in what Margo says about the confusion in the publishing world about what is YA and what is adult literature. She quotes Michael Cart as saying, "The line between Y.A. and adult has become almost transparent...These days, what makes a book Y.A. is not so much what makes it as who makes it — and the ‘who’ is the marketing department." Peter Cameron told her "The line [between YA and adult fiction] has completely blurred."

The publishing world may be confused about just what Y.A. is, but people in the children's literature field have given the matter some thought and tried to pin it down. Patty Campbell wrote on the subject in The Horn Book back in 2003 and again in 2004.

Personally, I think some kind of definition ought to be agreed upon or YA could just disappear altogether, absorbed into adult fiction. While I'm sure there are many who would believe that to be a very good thing, I'm not one of them. Yes, every fifteen year old will one day be fifty. But while she's fifteen, she should be able to read about others like herself, just as her elders do.

Glad I'm Not Doing YA This Year

According to Pub Rants, Barnes & Noble is the main seller of YA, and that chain doesn't have any plans to expand shelf space for teen books. She suggests that perhaps B&N thinks the market is a little too crowded.

That's the second time in the last few weeks I've read something that suggests that maybe the YA explosion is becoming a little less explosive. Unfortunately, I can't remember where I found the first suggestion.