For YA: A Point for Miss Graham’s Consideration (10)

As we wrap up the summer session, we will turn to that idea. That said, respond to Graham’s article, “Against YA.” Pick something we’ve read this summer session and use it to formulate a response to her assertion that YA is just for young adults (not “regular” adults).  Be sure to include evidence from the text you choose. Also feel free to use our other course readings in your response.

For YA: A Point for Miss Graham’s Consideration

Ruth Graham’s article, “Against YA,” postulates that adults who read YA should “feel embarrassed” by replacing adult reading with YA reading. I will only briefly point out that the lines which divide “adult” writing and YA are at best blurry, and that many canonical authors write across both genres. I will only briefly bring to Ms. Graham’s attention that the driving force between categorizations across literature has nothing to do with the content or complexity of texts; rather it is a construct driven by the publishing industry in order to create marketing groups. Unfortunately, Ms. Graham does not have the presence of mind to address this blaring issue in her article, so I will encourage her and everyone else to research genre lines on their own time. I will also only briefly point out that, according to her other articles, Ms. Graham also believes that mothers should exclusively carry the blame for the recent anti-vaxer movement and that she feels reality TV, such as The Bachelor and Preach, are quality television. Scoff. I firmly believe that adults should immediately take time out of their lives to scrape their faces off of their television sets and away from vapid reality TV shows like The Bachelor so they can read quality YA novels. YA literature deals with the creation of a universal human experience, an experience that many adults need to explore in order to understand the world that they and adolescents live in today. By dealing, sometimes messily, with issues that adolescents face, YA literature teaches its readers compassion and empathy.

Within the reality fiction genre of  YA, exists a sub-genre that deals with ethnic diversity and poverty, and through this sub-genre, the reader learns what it is like to come from a world that is sincerely lacking in basic human material needs. Not many people have experienced the hunger that is associated with living in the lowest tax bracket like Arnold Spirit, “Junior,” does in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Few people understand what the inside of a jail house feels like when the lights go out and the rapings and beating begin, but Steve Harmon does, and Walter Dean Myers shows his readers in Monster. Even fewer people understand the mixed emotions that accompany the act of killing an infant child, but Devin Davenport does, and she shows us in After by Amy Efaw how devastating and far reaching teenaged decisions can be. Through multiple points of view and unapologetic storytelling, YA novels deal with those sorts of themes that cannot end as Graham postulates, in a “uniformly satisfying” way. Sherman Alexie’s Flight for example ends with the main character sobbing because maybe this adoptive family will be “almost real,” and after facing a barrage of horrendous foster families, almost real is as good as his life gets. Is an almost real family satisfying? I would dare say no; it is not. YA literature deals with issues, such as poverty and sexual abuse, that are impossible to wrap up in the idea of “uniformly satisfying.”

YA Literature forces readers of all ages to experience emotions that they would not otherwise experience in their own lives, resulting in a deeper understanding of and more critical thinking about the issues that people from different walks of life face. Miss Graham can stand from the heights of her New England dream home complete with inground pool and judge those adults who read a genre built by genius marketers, but I find her opinions to be driven by an elitist perspective that purposefully ignores the wide range of YA literature. In order to propagate her ideals, Graham’s article focuses on a small slice of YA Literature while ignoring the vast number of YA books that do not neatly wrap up endings. Many YA novels simply end at a point where the reader must decide if they will continue to live life as if the book never happened, or move on to real life and help people whose lives mirror characters like Zits whose stories end almost happy. Reading YA encourages in the reader of all ages the ability to better understand and empathize with young characters that are not often thought of in the mainstream. YA is complex, messy, and meant to open up conversations amongst all people. It can be the first line in discovering how to have conversations that center around the world that adolescents live in, and the first line in breaking down the barriers that exist between people who live in their dream homes, and people who dream of living in safe homes. I encourage everybody, of all ages, to read YA literature.

Works Cited

Alexie, Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. New York: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2007. Print.

Alexie, Sherman. Flight. New York: Black Cat, 2007. Print.

Efaw, Amy. After. New York: Speak, 2010. Print.

Graham, Ruth. “Against YA.” Slate. June 5, 2014. Web.

Graham, Ruth. Twitter Feed. 25 June, 2015. Web.

Myers, Walter Dean. Monster. New York: Harper Teen, 1999. Print.