Consider it reviewed. A little snarky, a little sarcastic, and librarians like that. Humorous, with good info: librarians like that, too!
Assignment Two: Read a couple of articles, comment on my blog, review and comment on two others' blogs about their comments on these articles.
I read "'New Adult': Needless Marketing-speak or Valued Subgenre?", from Publisher's Weekly, Dec 14, 2012. In answer to the title, I think "New Adult" is both. It defines a particular subgenre of Young Adult fiction -- that which depicts, models or contemplates the notion of "becoming an adult" -- whereas most YA fiction seems more concerned (at least according to the other article I read) with vampires, zombies, and dystopias.
Of course this is unfair to YA fiction: I enjoy it quite a lot and there's far more to it than just the "dark" themes the second article alludes to. That article is "YA Comes of Age," also from Publisher's Weekly, dated October 3, 2011. The article is a bit dated, having come out after the huge popularity of Twilight and just as The Hunger Games and its dystopian brethren were ruling the sales charts. YA is still in "dark and dystopian" mode, due to these and other influences, and probably will be for some time -- the kids just seem to love that stuff, it's a product of the Age we live in (and meshes nicely with the Goth, emo and other subcultures that parents wish would just go away ...).
YA is a broad and deep genre, more than just these facets, but these are still the seemingly most popular ones. I think it will be quite a while before we see anything analogous to Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm and the Little House books (which were the YA lit of their generation, before YA existed).
I left comments on Doug B and Rebecca B's blogs.
Assignments Three and Four will take a little more time.
Bryce, re your comment about the Dystopian flowchart -- my teen brain, which is starting to dominate more and more lately, did not appreciate the innate humor of this chart -- thank you for awakening my adult perception to all this foolishness.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting that so many adults are now reading teen books. Harry Potter and Hunger Games undoubtedly drew adult readers into this genre. I also imagine that some of our famous writers who write for adults and are now also writing teen fiction are also drawing in adult readers. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteFrankly, Pat, I think James Patterson and John Grisham (more, perhaps, their publishers and agents) are in the YA "game" as a guaranteed money-maker. I half-expect Stephen King to follow suit -- but I think he has more control over his most important commodity -- his name -- than perhaps these other guys do.
ReplyDeleteI hope I'm wrong -- I haven't read Patteron's or Grisham's YA or juvenile stuff yet. Maybe they're inherently good!