Why YA Lit Matters

This spray of words is inspired by a post that Kiersten White wrote earlier today (if you're not familiar with Kiersten White's blog, I suggest you become familiar - you can find it here: Kiersten White's blog).

Who is Kiersten White? - well, she's a writer. She has a paranormal Young Adult novel that's coming out with HarperTeen later this year. And she wrote a post today in which she landed lightly (before flitting away again) on this moderately important topic: Where does YA and MG Literature stand in comparison to...well, to so-called real literature?

Apparently (and...apparently, I have missed this), there has been plenty of discussion on this topic as of late.

It's understandable, really - writers are an egotistical bunch.

In the same way a writer like Bukowski or Updike might not have been too keen to be grouped with the likes of Grisham or Clancy - in fact, in the same way the general writing community was in an uproar when Stephen King was awarded the lifetime-achievement-like Considerable Contribution to American Letters - "Serious Writers" (← insert mustache and dark eyebrows here) have no desire to acknowledge the legitimacy of any varying form of their art.

Writers should write books for the ages! (They say.)

Writers should challenge us! (They say.)

But...there's a problem: See, not every reader wants books full of big words and lofty ideas.

This has been a difficult concept for me to settle down with.

Personally, I prefer to read classic and classic-like literature rather than commercial fiction. When I wrote The Great Lenore, my thoughts generally bent in the direction of "The long-standing value of this novel," and I had to make a concerted effort to balance "timelessness" with entertainment value.

For a writer such as myself, it's easy to look at the likes of Dan Brown and Lee Child and say, "Yeah, but no one will read these books in fifty years."

But someone such as myself must also keep in mind what these writers do accomplish: And that is, they get people reading.

In an age when the internet and television and movies absorb most of the average American's leisure time - these writers get people reading.

Over the last thirty-plus years, Stephen King's work has encouraged millions of people to open a book.

Over the last twenty years, John Grisham has demonstrated the joy of reading to people all over the world.

Dan Brown - you can take his books or leave them (personally...uh, I would choose to leave them) - might not be a great writer...but because of him, great masses are reading.

YA authors get people reading - get young people reading - and the importance (and vitalness) of this accomplishment cannot be overstated.

Thumb your nose if you'd like, shun them if you'd like, criticize them or whatever, but keep in mind: Every time a writer turns an everyday someone into a *Reader* they accomplish something everlasting. And that's about as timeless a work as anything you could ever hope to accomplish.

Click on Lenore to take a 6-page sample out for a spin.
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