You’re not too old to read YA

As I’ve mentioned multiple times in previous posts, I’m a member of some book-oriented groups on social media. I don’t engage a lot, but I like lurking. It’s interesting to see what people are talking about, how they’re feeling about certain controversies or emerging authors, what series is popular, what series isn’t, and any number of other interesting tidbits. A lot of these groups encourage questions from members, and one that I see more often than I should is “Am I too old to be reading YA books?”

I may be just another author on the internet, but I’m going to answer this question today. Take it or leave it, here’s my opinion on adults reading YA.

First of all, what is YA? It stands for Young Adult, which seems fairly straightforward. However, there is some debate about the line between YA and something like New Adult (NA) or Adult. The traditional classification is simply “YA books are books targeted at young adults and teenagers,” but what exactly does that mean? Is the book about the struggles of being a teenager? Does it have moral lessons that teenagers can relate to? What if adults can also relate? Does that mean it’s not YA?

A common way of differentiating is to look at the age of the main characters. If they fall into the young adult category, then the book is probably YA. If they’re in their twenties, then it’s probably NA. There are problems with this classification system too, but we’re not going to worry about that. For the purpose of this post, YA refers to books that feature young adult characters (younger than 19) and are primarily focused on their struggles and growth.

Now, onto the main question. Are you too old to read YA?

No.

“But you don’t even know how old I am!” - you, probably.

I don’t care. It doesn’t matter how old you are. A book is a book, and you have every right to enjoy it. Why should it matter who the target audience is? Need I remind everyone that reading is a hobby and most people do it for enjoyment. I’m not sure when we started policing how people spend their free time, but it’s an annoying habit that I wish we would break.

I read my fair share of “The Greats” in university; books that have long been toted as the best of their time, thought-provoking reflections of the culture and politics in years gone by. Take George Orwell’s 1984 for example. Anyone who’s met me knows where this is going, but indulge me. 1984 is an incredibly important piece of literature, and the ideas, themes, beliefs, and commentary are (terrifyingly) still relevant today. Orwell was a smart man, and his contributions to the literary world are undeniable.

His books are just fucking boring.

Wait, wait, don’t throw the rotten tomatoes! If you read and enjoyed 1984 or Animal Farm, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. When I say those books are boring, I mean to me. I find them boring. I didn’t enjoy reading them. As a matter of fact, I have such a hate-boner for Animal Farm that I maybe didn’t try as hard as I should’ve to stop my dog from chewing off the front cover.

Does that mean I don’t recognize and appreciate the book for what it is? No. I’ve studied Orwell, and I respect him. I just don’t like his writing style. And for a book I was reading to educate myself, that’s fine. I don’t need to like his style to learn from his ideas.

You might be asking yourself “what does this have to do with YA?” and honestly, fair. I ramble. Don’t act like you didn’t know what you were signing up for. But I do have a point, I promise.

I think a lot of the shame and guilt associated with adult readers enjoying YA books is the idea that they’re not learning anything, that the book isn’t expanding their mind in any meaningful way. After all, what can an adult learn from a book about 16-year-olds? That’s an ignorant take in and of itself, but it’s also moot. Why do you have to learn anything? Last time I checked, I don’t turn on Criminal Minds to learn how to be an FBI agent, so why would I seek out life lessons from Twilight? That’s not to say that you can’t learn things from the books you read, but the point is to have fun, relax, and do something that makes you feel good. There’s no age limit on leisure.

All of that being said, there is a more nuanced conversation hidden in the YA debate regarding romance and age-appropriate content. As an NA author who loves a bit of spice, I’m probably not the best person to comment on this, but this is my blog so I’m going to give my 2 cents anyway.

In regards to YA romance specifically, I’ve heard pro and anti adults-reading-YA spokespersons alike express concern over this topic. You’re not going to find an explicitly written sex scene in a YA novel, that’s just not something appropriate for the genre. There is a lot of romance though, and sometimes you’ll find vaguely alluded to physical relationships or the dreaded ‘cut-to-black’ cop-out. Some readers, particularly adult readers, get uncomfortable reading about teenagers engaging in physical relationships. Fair. Some readers also think it’s disgusting that adults read YA books and enjoy the romance, even swoon over the love interests. Not so fair, at least in my opinion.

The same conversation comes up in all forms of media, more often with anime, movies, and TV dramas. Katniss Everdeen is 16 in The Hunger Games, but Jennifer Lawrence was 20 years old when she was cast. So, is it wrong for adults to have a crush on Katniss? Peeta? Gale? Like I said, I’m probably not the best person to speak on this. But the way I look at it, most characters in YA (particularly love interests) are written with the attitude of an adult, or they’re shoved into adult situations, so it’s easy to ignore the real-world issues of their age in a fiction setting. When I read the occasional YA book, I usually forget how old they’re supposed to be and I end up picturing the characters to be around my age, maybe mid-twenties. Whenever a specific age is mentioned in the book, it’s really jarring and I ignore it in favor of my mental ‘aged-up’ picture. To put it plainly, having a crush on Harry Potter in Order of the Phoenix is not the same as engaging in a romantic relationship with a minor in reality.

There’s probably a study out there somewhere that words this way better than I can. If anyone finds it, please send it to me. I read articles all day for my 9 to 5, so I’m too lazy to look it up on my own.

TLDR, read what makes you happy. And if there’s an afterlife, George Orwell better watch out because it is on sight.