YA Discrimination: Starting the YA Novel Rights Movement!

Lately, there's been a lot of talk from various people in my life about how young adult (YA) books are so much easier to read than adult novels. My husband even recently made fun of me for reading so many YA books, implying that just because the books were marketed to children/teenagers/young adults they weren't of the same literary caliber.

This really pisses me off.

The simple fact of the matter is, the person writing the book has no say over whether or not their book will be marketed as a YA novel. A well-known example is Stephenie Meyer: she didn't write Twilight with YAs as her intended audience, but when her agent or publisher or whoever read the book, they saw the high school setting and teenage main character and said, "Obviously, this is YA." Meyer was smart enough to say, "Fine, sure, whatever, I'm ready for my millions," and now she is a world-famous author.

What that means is that authors aren't always writing with the intention of "dumbing down" their vocabulary for teens or making an easy-to-follow plot so that YAs will be able to keep up (the idea that anyone thinks that either of those things needs to be done in the first place is upsetting). Writers just write. There are some writers (myself included) who write something with an intended audience, but even they/I don't know for certain that the publisher will agree. Therefore, it's ridiculous to assume that YA books are any easier to read or less of a literary challenge simply because they are marketed toward a younger audience.

Don't believe me? Here's a list of some YA and children's literature which includes complex vocabulary, themes, and/or plot points. If you think YA books are simple, you'll soon see that you are seriously mistaken:

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (and Through the Looking Glass) by Lewis Carroll Talk about a total mind warp; drugs, twists of logic, and a narrative structure that was incredibly influential in its time. I re-read this book just a few months ago, and even though it's barely 100 pages long, I still found it to be challenging and incredibly thought-provoking. There are so many plays on language, and even allusions to mathematics (my favorite being at the tea party, when the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, and the Dormouse are discussing inverse relationships in math and attempting to apply them to sentences. "Why, you might just as well say that 'I see what I eat' is the same thing as 'I eat what I see'!") I still don't think I fully understand this book, and I'm not sure I ever will. To think it is supposed to be a children's book is just astounding; but then again, maybe it requires the mind of a child to understand the novel in the first place! (Sidenote: I am totally stoked to see what Tim Burton has done with this!)

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak A moving story about World War II, this book will make you laugh and cry all at once. Zusak includes illustrations inside the pages, which are absolutely heartbreaking. In Zusak's native Australia, the book is marketed to adults, but here in the U.S. you can find it on the YA shelves. The motifs of death, guilt, friendship, and humanity play heavily, and the imagery is gorgeous. This is a shining example of a YA book that has many complex layers; I can't believe someone would write it off simply because of its location in the bookstore/library.

His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman I might get some sideways glances at this one, but hear me out: there is a LOT of literary merit to be found in the pages of Pullman's epic fantasy series. Namely, the way he weaves a philosophical viewpoint into a fictional tale in a seamless way - it's so complex that I didn't even fully understand all of the connotations until I did more research, and I read the book when I was 23. The series has all the markings of a classic epic tale (including a voyage to the land of the dead), and an absolutely amazing ending - I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't read the books yet, but I love when authors do what Pullman did. Whether or not you agree with the book's anti-religious overtones is not the point here - the point is that the book succeeds in being more than just a fun tale for teens, and creates a world and philosophy that is complex enough to make both YAs and adults think.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott A timeless story of love - sisterly, motherly, romantic, and more - which is beautiful in both its tragedy and its triumphs. The book is such a classic that when I was compiling this list, I almost forgot that it was YA and didn't include it; but it definitely is. It's the coming-of-age story of four sisters, but the power of women in the book and the relationships they have with each other is so much stronger than you can find in anything else. Of course, part of the more sophisticated language may have to do with the fact that it was published in 1868, but still; it's a YA, and you can't discredit any YA book, whether modern or classic.

Trust me, this is just the tip of the iceberg. There are a TON of YA books which prove that YA doesn't equate to an easy read. What's your favorite example of a YA novel that packs a literary punch?