Have You Checked Out the YA Section?

Busy lives means little time for settling in to read the great American novel. But just because you don’t have a lot of time on your hands doesn’t mean you can’t read some fabulous fiction. If you’re looking for a story with a fast-moving pace, thought-provoking concepts, and characters you’ll absolutely love (or love to hate) you need to look in the young adult section.

More and more young adult fiction is appealing to adults, and publishers know it. New titles like Harry Potter and Twilight paved the way – and taught adults where the YA section is in their library. Now you can find all sorts of fascinating reads that appeal to young and old alike. A few titles that have been popular among adults lately include the Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins, a dystopian story about a young girl who finds herself thrown into an arena where teens are forced to fight one another to the death – think Survivor meets Lord of the Flies. Continuing on the dystopian theme, you might enjoy Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, again the first in a series about a new world where everyone undergoes surgery to be pretty so that no one is different. (And the good news is, both of these series are complete, so there’s no waiting around for a year before you can find out what happens next.)

If dystopian isn’t your thing, how about something from our world? Try Anna Godbersen’s The Luxe series about a group of teenage girls breaking the rules of society in the late 1800s. Or, if you want a single title that’s a little more modern, try last year’s Printz Award winner Going Bovine by Libba Bray, or from the year before Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta. The Printz Award is the American Library Association’s award for best Young Adult book of the year. They just announced this year’s winner and honor books; you can find the list by going to www.ala.org/yalsa and clicking on booklists. While you’re there, check out some of the other cool lists of Young Adult books they’ve put together.

There are some amazing stories waiting for you in the Young Adult section. Because even though we may be adults, we’re all still young of mind.  Joyce D.