Talking ‘Bout YA

Folks all over are talking about the value (resulting smackdown to be found here, here, here, here, and, even at GalleyCat, who calls for the dude to be replaced), classification, and fun of writing a YA novel (or not). (Updated to add: Susan Adrian was also posting about it here.)

This weekend at my writing retreat, I was asked “Why YA?” a good dozen times, by writers who would never consider, have never considered but were curious, and those who not only had considered, but really wanted to. At the last cocktail party I attended, I was alternately sneered at (“Oh, just children’s books,”) and applauded by an adult fan of Twilight.

I’m baffled by the assumption that the books are easier or simpler. High school students read more than the average adult, and the books they read are the big ones: Shakespeare, Hemingway, Faulkner, etc. If they can handle that in their classes, they are equipped to handle all kinds of stuff in their pleasure reading.

I wonder why this happens. I wonder why actors in movies and television made for children get markedly less respect than actors in movies and television made for adults. I wonder if it’s the same impetus that causes folks to look down their noses at teachers, or say, “just a kindergarten teacher?” to a friend who is a kindergarten teacher.

All of my favorite books were books I read as a child. That’s enough for me to say why YA.