What is YA?

During our departmental lunch earlier this year, I told some coworkers that I hated Stephenie Meyer’s book, Twilight. The subject had come up, so why not voice my opinion? But one of my coworkers, it turned out, was an ardent fan of the book. She seemed irritated, something for which I felt bad until she dismissed my opinion, saying, “Well, I read a lot of YA, and Twilight is good YA.”

Her response bugged me. Having spent a great deal of my life with my nose sandwiched between the pages of books, I was annoyed by the implication that I couldn’t fairly judge a book. But while I was certain I had read a lot of YA (a.k.a. young adult fiction), I had only a nebulous idea of where children’s fiction ended and YA began. I hadn’t given it much thought. Without a clearer understanding of what exactly was meant by the term, I didn’t care to debate her, which was just as well. It is rarely a good idea to debate with coworkers.

Today I came across a reference to YA and I decided to finally look it up. I googled “top 100 YA books.” This led me to an NPR site called Your Favorites: 100 Best-Ever Teen Novels. I have included a copy below with some changes to show my reading history. The books I’ve read are in bold and I added links for those I reviewed here previously. A single asterisk means the book is currently on my mental list of books to read. A double asterisk means I own it (and that if I haven’t read it yet, I will soon).

1. Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling**
2. The Hunger Games (series), by Suzanne Collins*
3. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee**
4. The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green*
5. The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien**
6. The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger**
7. The Lord of the Rings (series), by J.R.R. Tolkien**
8. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury*
9. Looking for Alaska, by John Green
10. The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak**
11. The Giver (series), by Lois Lowry
12. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (series), by Douglas Adams**
13. The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton
14. Anne of Green Gables (series), by Lucy Maud Montgomery**
15. His Dark Materials (series), by Philip Pullman**
16. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
17. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman**
18. Lord of the Flies, by William Golding**
19. Divergent (series), by Veronica Roth
20. Paper Towns, by John Green
21. The Mortal Instruments (series), by Cassandra Clare
22. An Abundance of Katherines, by John Green
23. Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes
24. Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher
25. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon*
26. Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson
27. Twilight (series), by Stephenie Meyer
28. Uglies (series), by Scott Westerfeld
29. The Infernal Devices (series), by Cassandra Clare
30. Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt**
31. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
32. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (series), by Anne Brashares**
33. The Call of the Wild, by Jack London**
34. Will Grayson, Will Grayson, by John Green, David Levithan
35. Go Ask Alice, by Anonymous
36. Howl’s Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones**
37. Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli*
38. A Separate Peace, by John Knowles
39. Vampire Academy (series), by Richelle Mead
40. Abhorsen Trilogy / Old Kingdom Trilogy (series), by Garth Nix**
41. Dune, by Frank Herbert**
42. Discworld / Tiffany Aching (series, by Terry Pratchett
43. My Sister’s Keeper, by Jodi Picoult
44. The Dark is Rising (series), by Susan Cooper
45. Graceling (series), Kristin Cashore
46. Forever…, by Judy Blume
47. Earthsea (series), by Ursula K. Le Guin**
48. Inheritance Cycle (series), by Christopher Paolini
49. The Princess Diaries (series), by Meg Cabot*
50. The Song of the Lioness (series), by Tamora Pierce
51. Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson**
52. Delirium (series), by Lauren Oliver
53. Anna and the French Kiss, by Stephanie Perkins
54. Hush, Hush Saga (series), by Stephanie Perkins
55. 13 Little Blue Envelopes, by Maureen Johnson
56. It’s Kind of a Funny Story, by Ned Vizzini
57. The Gemma Doyle Trilogy (series), by Libba Bray
58. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs*
59. The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros*
60. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury**
61. The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
62. Just Listen, by Sarah Dessen
63. A Ring of Endless Light, by Madeleine L’Engle
64. The Truth About Forever, by Sarah Dessen
65. The Bartimaeus Trilogy (series), by Jonathan Stroud
66. Bloodlines (series), by Richelle Mead
67. Fallen (series), by Lauren Kate
68. House of Night (series), by P.C. Cast, Kristin Cast
69. I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith
70. Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlsit, by Rachel Cohn, David Levithan*
71. Before I Fall, by Lauren Oliver
72. Unwind, by Neal Shusterman
73. The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle**
74. The Maze Runner Trilogy (series), by James Dashner
75. If I Stay, by Gayle Forman
76. The Blue Sword, by Robin McKinley**
77. Crank (series), by Ellen Hopkins
78. Matched (series), by Allie Condie
79. Gallagher Girls (series), by Ally Carter
80. The Goose Girl, by Shannon Hale**
81. Daughter of the Lioness / Tricksters (series), by Tamora Pierce
82. I Am the Messenger, by Markus Zusak
83. The Immortals (series), by Tamora Pierce
84. The Enchanted Forest Chronicles (series), by Patricia C. Wrede
85. Chaos Walking (series), by Patrick Ness
86. Circle of Magic (series), by Tamora Pierce
87. Daughter of Smoke & Bone, by Laini Taylor
88. Feed, by M.T. Anderson
89. Weetzie Bat (series), by Francesca Lia Block
90. Along for the Ride, by Sarah Dessen
91. Confessions of Georgia Nicolson (series), by Louise Rennison
92. Leviathan (series), by Scott Westerfeld
93. The House of the Scorpion, by Scott Westerfeld
94. The Chronicles of Chrestomanci (series), by Diana Wynne Jones**
95. The Lullaby, by Sarah Dessen
96. Gone (series), by Michael Grant
97. The Shiver Trilogy (series), by Maggie Stiefvater
98. The Hero and the Crown, by Robin McKinley**
99. Wintergirls, by Laurie Halse Anderson
100. Betsy-Tacy Books (series), by Maud Hart Lovelace*

As you can see, I’ve read more than half of the top 20 and about a third of the whole list. That’s not enough to make me an expert, but I think it’s enough for me to judge Twilight not just as a stand-alone work of fiction but also within the context of the YA category. I still don’t think it’s a good book. If anything, it fares worse when compared with other books in the list. Every other book that I’ve read from this list is at the B+ level or higher (or would be if I were to grade it based on past readings). I gave Twilight a C-.

Obviously there isn’t a clear line between children’s fiction and YA, because many of these books are also on the list of Top 100 Children’s Books. I decided to investigate the question further by googling “What is YA?” Reading through the results, I was relieved. I’m not the only one who doesn’t know exactly what it means. There is no consensus about which books belong in the category and which don’t. Some people seem to want to call it a subsection of children’s literature. I don’t agree with that, because I would never call Twilight a children’s book. So I guess the term is a necessary one and I should start using it along with everyone else. I’m going to consider it to mean “anything that teens read, which may include some crossover with children’s fiction and adult fiction.”

For what it’s worth, I don’t believe a book has to be good for someone to love it. So to all the Twilight fans out there, and particularly to my former coworker, go ahead and continue to love the book. You don’t have to justify your reading tastes to me or to anyone. I don’t think any less of you for liking the book. Now please return the favor and don’t think any less of me for disliking it.