In oral or written literature, telling adolescent stories is probably as old as human history. The type of fiction called young adult fiction, on the other hand, is the co-creation of the American experience and the second half of the 20th century.
From ancient Greek myths like Daphnis and Chloe or Persephone to later dramatic works, men and women have become protagonists of adventures in their teens. When Shakespeare told the story of Romeo and Juliet, he was talking about teenage lovers. After that time, novels and stories like Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, Heidi, Little Women, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, The Secret Garden, Anne of Green Gables, and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm fascinated readers for decades.
What we call young adult fiction, abbreviated as YA fiction, was born after World War II with the onset of the Rock’n Roll era. Young adult fiction is written for teens and told from the teen’s point of view. The protagonists are adolescents and a good part of the plots revolve around the problems of adolescents and the way in which young people face and overcome them. Since with each decade the problems of adolescents have changed, the stories that portray those problems have also changed.
Since the inception of young adult fiction, sociologists have praised her stories because teens discover how to handle problems similar to their own. These problems can be loneliness, weight or health problems, family and peer problems, teen pregnancy, or depression.
In contrast to those who applaud young adult fiction, a very small group say that reading too much young adult fiction has alienated teen readers from factual literature. However, the study of literature challenges these critics, because good fiction cannot be classified. JD Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time, some Stephen King novels like Carrie and William Golding’s Lord of the Flies may fit the definition of young adult fiction, but time has demonstrated that they are much more than the popular fiction of the moment. These books are classics.
Also, quite a few young adult fiction awards have made young adult fiction qualify as literature. Some of these are: Newberry Award, National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult Fiction, William C. Morris YA Debut Award, Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Young Adult Novel , Michael L. Printz Award, Margaret A. Edwards Award, etc.
The first young adult novels in the United States emerged during the 1940s and 1950s. Then, between the 1960s and 1990s, youth fiction flourished. Writers like Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume led the way by tackling adolescent dilemmas to become icons of such literature.
Today, with the advent of e-books, religious fiction geared toward teens, manga, graphic novels, and techno-thrillers, young adult fiction is branching out into subcategories and becoming increasingly entrenched in literature. popular. Some of these stories, like those by JK Rowling and Gabriel Zevin, challenge the imagination of teen readers by moving their plots and characters away from reality and into fantasy.
The history of young adult fiction may not be too old, but its future looks very bright. Since the best books are those that readers can relate to, scores of teens have turned to reading voraciously, neglecting non-beneficial activities. In general, this is not a miserable feat.