Critique of A Pop Culture Article

[Title]
YA for All
[Introductory paragraph outlining argument]
[Author, article title, and journal in which it appeared; author’s argument] In
“Against YA,” Ruth Graham of Slate.com argues that young adult (YA) fiction, the realm of
recent book-to-film juggernauts like A Fault in Our Stars, The Hunger Games, and Harry
Potter, should not be considered a respectable genre for adult readers. [Further explanation of
author’s argument] Her argument hinges on the idea that YA fiction--taken as an over-
generalized and un-nuanced whole-- is simply not challenging enough for adult readers, inviting
them to uncritically accept a bland protagonist and immature themes. [Pointing out flaw in
author’s argument] Graham’s strangest choice, though, is in moving from this main idea to its
larger effects; namely, that if young adult fiction is seen as a viable choice for adult readers, the
teenagers that make up its prime demographic will have little to no incentive to move to more
serious books. [Critic’s thesis] Graham makes fair points about a few YA shortcomings, but
this conclusion, as well as her reliance on gross generalizations and her own personal
experience, ultimately discredit the article.
[Introductory sentence summarizing paragraph] One argument Graham turns to is
that a reader experiences fundamental changes in their taste and sophistication as they age
from teenager to adult. [Analysis of prior statement] This is true in some sense; a reader’s
desire for more finely-tuned writing certainly grows, along with an appetite for plots that don’t
revolve around childhood. [Counterargument] However, Graham’s certainty that she has “no
urge to go back and re-read” the formative books of her own teenage years, or to experience
new literature of the same genre, is by no means universal. [Analysis of prior
statement] Personal tastes and expectations change and certainly not every childhood book
can stand the test of time. Yet anyone who has re-read a particular childhood favorite knows
that the experience may in fact be richer for the new layers of wisdom that the older reader
brings to it. [Transitional sentence hinting at next paragraph] There is no reason that this
same enriching maturity can’t be brought to YA books read as an adult--yet this is precisely
Graham’s argument.
[Introductory sentence summarizing paragraph] The real crux of the problem,
Graham writes, is that YA fiction “present[s] the teenage perspective in a fundamentally
uncritical way. It’s not simply that YA readers are asked to immerse themselves in a character’s
emotional life...but that they are asked to abandon the mature insights into that perspective that
they (supposedly) have acquired as adults.” [Analysis of prior statement/quote] At this point,
one wonders precisely how much YA fiction Graham has read. The genre is full of short-sighted
narrators whose frustrating shortcomings are made very clear, and who invite critique from
readers young and old. [Evidence supporting analysis] YA realistic fiction workhorse Sarah
Dessen writes about teenage girls who bury their fears until their lives go spinning out of control;
Shannon Hale of the fantasy Books of Bayern series plainly illustrates how her protagonists’
weaknesses have made their worlds crumble. [Counterargument in well-reasoned, objective
tone] Writing and reading with respect for the perspective of a teenage protagonist and reader
is not “fundamentally uncritical;” indeed, a reader’s close-up view of any character is what
allows them to see their faults. [Transitional sentence hinting at next paragraph] Bringing a
mature eye to a rich enough book only increases the depth of the reader’s critical
understanding.
[Introductory sentence summarizing paragraph] Graham’s biggest argumentative
leap comes near the end of the article, when she speculates that the boom of YA fiction “may
mean fewer teens aspire to grown-up reading, because the grown-ups they know are reading
their books.” [Analysis of prior statement/quote followed by evidence] Again, Graham relies
on her own experience to make this point: “I remember...being desperate to earn my way into
the adult stacks,” she writes. It makes sense that she would come to this conclusion, then; if the
only way a teenager moved from YA to adult fiction was because they were eagerly choosing to
do so, the current “boom” in YA might in fact have this effect. [Counterargument in well-
reasoned, objective tone] Yet she fails to realize that even maturing readers who actively
enjoy YA will at some point find the genre constraining and will go seek another challenge, even
if reluctantly, even if the adults around them still read YA themselves. In other words, a teenager
who is capable of outgrowing YA fiction naturally will. [Transitional sentence hinting at next
paragraph] For one who isn’t, the popularity of YA fiction may at least keep them reading,
where once they may have stopped altogether.
[Complication of argument (using author’s claim and then refuting it)] It’s not as
though Graham does not make convincing points; she writes persuasively that YA novels hinge
on blandly satisfactory endings, avoiding the more complex enjoyment that comes from “stories
that confound and discomfit.” [Summary of thesis] Yet her own personal opinions and
experiences are not enough to make her argument a convincing one, particularly with its
generalization and narrow view of the YA genre as a whole. In the end, her conclusion that
teenagers will eschew adult literature altogether feels panicked and unwarranted. [Expansion
of thesis] Adult literature and YA fiction are capable of flourishing simultaneously.