The Me Nobody Reads

I think most teens can't come back to YAL because they never read it to begin with.

Part of it is cultural. Although nearly 45% of public school students are students of color, YAL has only seen modest changes in diversity.

Part of it is the YAL cover art.

YAL publishers push to their "heavy users" -- the main buyers. Nothing wrong with that, except when publishers start "White Washing" books -- that is, featuring a White teenaged girl or young woman on the cover, even when the protagonist is clearly of color. It happens all the time. Justine Larbalestier is perhaps the most noted example for the cover of her book, the appropriately named: Liar.

The left cover is the original. At right is the US reprint.

And certainly part of the YAL disconnect is just a matter of taste.


In an article called,Teen Reading Trends: 2011 , YALSA president, Kim Patton, provides some significant basic information.

• What are some of the trends in young adult literature in 2011?
  
  While books about vampires continue to be popular, zombies appear to be the next big YA terror.
  
  Generally, books with supernatural aspects hold a lot of appeal to teens. Fantasy books continue to be popular. Romances and urban fiction are quickly gaining must-read status.

• Do you see particular genres increasing in popularity?
  
  Urban fiction is getting more and more popular, whether teens live in the big city or in small towns.

• I have seen varying definitions of “young adult literature” on the ALA site. What is the most accepted definition?
  
  Generally speaking, young adult literature is material aimed at teen readers’ interests. It can be fiction or nonfiction, a graphic novel or an audiobook. Generally, young adult literature features teen protagonists dealing with situations to which teens can relate.

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You may recall Ed Sullivan's article. He talked about the popularity of nonfiction:

Abrahamson and Carter state, "Nonfiction becomes an increasingly important component in overall reading preferences as young adults mature." English teachers should remember that nonfiction is the preferred reading choice of many of their students.

Abrahamson and Carter also note in their study of reading preferences of young adults, “What we know is that young adults in the middle and high schools of America make nonfiction books a substantial part of their self-selected reading . . . Educators must first of all recognize and reward the nonfiction reading that teens do just as they praise their reading of fiction”

Citing Colman, Sullivan said there are at least three reasons why negative perceptions of nonfiction persist. The first is that, in the world of publishing for youth, the personal preferences of influential editors, educators, librarians, and reviewers of fiction have a profound impact. The second is the romanticized image adults have of children’s and young adult fiction. 

The third reason is Zena Sutherland’s coining of the term informational books for nonfiction, which unfortunately caught on and continues to shape how people in education, librarianship, and publishing view the genre.

Last year, Justine Larbalestier wrote an excellent blog on these topics. A few excerpts:

I have been asked for my take on last week’s question about teenagers and reading. To be honest, it’s difficult to know where to start because there are so many assumptions embedded in those questions. I’ll start by unpacking them.

1. There seems to be an implicit assumption that all teenagers are the same.
   
2. There’s also an assumption in all these discussions about YA that it is primarily read by teenagers.
   
3. Another assumption is that a) only reading fiction counts and b) reading is better for you than any other pastime.
   
4. Then there’s the assumption that there is such a thing as good writing and bad writing and we all agree on what those are.

Teenagers

Let me take numbers one & two first and point out the bleeding obvious. Not all teenagers read fiction. Of those that do read fiction, many are not reading YA at all. A sizeable proportion of those reading YA are 12 or younger or 20 and older. The age range of YA readership is every bit as broad as any other genre. Yet almost every discussion of the genre acts like it’s read only by teenagers.

She goes on to say:

What is so important about reading fiction? How is it superior to reading non-fiction? To reading newspapers, magazines, airplane manuals, the back of cereal boxes? Why is reading for pleasure so routinely exalted? Why is there so much panic about those who don’t read for pleasure?

Look, don’t get me wrong, I love reading fiction. Even more than I love writing it. But I also love Elvis Presley and Missy Elliott and I don’t think it’s a sign of moral failure that others don’t love them. Why is not reading for pleasure a cause for panic?

This is particularly invidious because I keep coming across teens, who read voraciously, who have teachers and librarians and parents freaking out that they’re not reading. Why? Because they’re not reading novels. They’re reading manga, or graphic novels, or books about cricket, or baseball, or jet engines, or World War II, or something else those well-meaning adults have decided doesn’t count. Sometimes teens have told me of well-meaning adults encouraging them to stop reading YA and start reading “real” adult books. You can imagine how I feel about that.

Posted in: RESEARCH: YAL