YA And Quality

Sari Peltoniemi wrote in Grafomania about her irritation with using the term “young adult” as a pejorative, often meaning naïve literature that aims purely for entertainment value (the post is not fantastic fiction–specific, but I’m linking here because a significant portion of YA fiction can be classified as sf). I have to admit that my first impression when I hear something classified as YA is also that the narrative probably is rather straightforward and the themes rather simple. On the other hand, even if that is the case (and of course it’s not for all YA literature), what’s wrong with that? And furthermore, paraphrasing Jukka’s comment on the subject, “and most of the rest of literature isn’t like this?”

The Grafomania post has generated quite a few comments, so head over there if you want to take part in the discussion!

(As a sidenote, I’m writing reviews of a couple of YA books at the moment. I enjoyed both very much, and promise to avoid characterizing them as “young-adult-ish”.)