Expanding the YA Umbrella
Posted by annastan on November 17th, 2009. Filed under: A Closer Look, Books.As I was browsing in Barnes and Noble yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised to see the “For Teens” sections was bigger than ever. I was also intrigued by some of the books I saw shelved in that section. I know YA is a big market right now and there’s a lot of cross over between YA and adult novels, but I also saw a few middle grade novels thrown into the mix that made me stop and scratch my head.
Imagine standing in the bookstore and seeing Octavian Nothing on the same shelf as The Last Apprentice series. Would you find this odd? I certainly did. Octavian is pretty much indistinguishable from an adult novel, while The Last Apprentice series, while great, is firmly in MG territory in my mind. It’s hard for me to wrap my brain around these two books possibly being for the same audience.
Last year I saw Joseph Delaney speak at the Brookline Library and the oldest kids in the audience were around ten. To me that signals MG. So why were these books in the YA section? The Seventh Tower series by Garth Nix was also shelved in YA. I think of these books as MG as well, but since Nix has a pretty big teen following, I can understand wanting to give his readers some of his other work . It seems that not only is the line between YA and adult blurring, but so is the line between YA and MG.
Finally, I was interested to see that there were two different versions of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies on display in the YA section: one was the traditional paperback version and the other was a hardcover edition that I hadn’t seen before. I can understand the appeal of this book for teens, but I wondered about having two versions of it on display on two separate shelves in the same section.
Am I reading too much into where books are shelved? Probably. But it’s interesting to me to see the kinds of things booksellers are doing to try to benefit from the popularity of YA. I can’t exactly blame them, but I’m not sure I completely understand their methods. Still, I’m glad to see so many different kinds of books prominently displayed, just waiting for readers to snatch them up.
November 17th, 2009 at 11:53 am
I’m wondering if you hit on it when you thought booksellers may be trying to benefit from YA being so popular. And no, you can’t blame them with the economy and all. Still…
Perhaps they’re catering to the parents? Recently, when I was in Borders, there was this boy who made a bee-line for Goosebumps, which was age-appropriate for him. But Mom was just about forcing him to go with some YA book because she heard all about it. She went so far to sit there on the floor with him and read–out loud and very dramatically–the first few pages. He totally ignored her. She won though because she was paying so this poor kid had to leave the book(s) he wanted to read so Mom could crow about this YA book. Sad.
November 17th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
This actually strikes me as more of a marketing strategy than, sadly enough, a true example of the expansion of the YA umbrella. Although I do agree that YA is expanding and as a YA writer I’m glad of it! Product makers have always looked for ways to expand their markets, even to children, whether or not the products they sell are appropriate for them. My oldest child is 12-years-old and a voracious reader. We are still involved in the kinds of books she’s allowed read – at least for now. Just because she *can* read a book, doesn’t mean she *should* whether it’s placed in the YA section in the bookstore or not.
Thanks for sharing your post!
November 17th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Oh that poor boy! Can you imagine if that woman had tried to do the same thing to another adult? It amuses me that we try to force children to read things they’re not interested in because we think we know better. If it’s for school, that’s one thing. But if a boy can’t even read what he wants for fun? It’s a miracle he’s still interested in reading at all!
November 17th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
John, I think you’re absolutely right that this is probably more about marketing than anything else. Still, it does make me wonder if marketing will play a hand in broadening what we consider to be YA. If teens start reading “down”as well as up, it might cause a bit of a stir in MG as well. As for the content of the books – well that gives us even more to consider! It will be interesting to see if/how things continue to change in both YA and MG.
November 17th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
I love the variety on the YA shelves. It totally helps reaffirm to me how different people like different things.
And John is right that publishers and booksellers are really doing whatever they need to to sell books. Different covers. Different placement. Whatever will work.
November 17th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
I can’t say I blame them! Since YA is one of the segments of publishing that’s still keeping its head above water, I wouldn’t be surprised if we start seeing picture books suddenly labeled as YA.
November 17th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
It makes me wonder what YA readers think when they peruse YA sections in bookstore. Are they happy to see MG books creeping because it gives them ideas of new things to read, or do they see those titles as intrusions as they’re being actively
marketedencouraged to read more adult titles.November 17th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
Good question! I would imagine it might feel a little odd to have such “young” books in the YA section when you’re a reader who feels like you’ve finally graduated from MG. I could see how that might push some readers, especially on the older end of the spectrum, toward adult books. Then again, YA has so many great books going for it, it might be enough to keep those readers coming back for more!