YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE:

MORE THAN JUST A TEEN ROMANCE

By: Abby Bay

Honors Panel: Dr. Fox and Dr. Waggoner
 WHAT IS YOUNG
ADULT LITERATURE?

• The term has been defined in

many different ways
• Somethings that can be agreed on:
• A genre of literature that is geared
towards young adults
• Based off youth culture
• Constantly changing
 YA was
1966 –
designed to
there was
bring
no “young
adolescent
adult”
s into world
genre
of reading
HISTORICAL
DEVELOPMENT In the
Young adult
1990s the
at first
age group
meant 5th –
went up to
8th grade
14 and up
 1951 1993 2001 2008 2014

Catcher The Sisterho The To All

in the Giver od of the Hunger the Boys
Rye publishe Traveling Games I’ve
publishe d Pants publishe Loved
d as an publishe d Before
“Adult d publishe
Novel” d

BOOKS!
Harry
Potter
and the Simon vs.
Philosoph the Homo
The er’s Sapiens
Outsiders Stone Twilight Divergent Agenda
published published published published published

1967 1997 2005 2011 2015

 CRITERIA

• Be written within the

last 20 years
• Be written by a female
author or have a
female main character
• Be dealing with current
social issues
• Have a movie
adaptation
• Be a New York Times
Best Selller
 S I S T E R H OO D O F T H E T RAV EL I NG
PAN T S
BY: A N N B RA S H AR E S

• Summary
• 4 best friends, 1 summer, and 1 pair of pants
• Deals with suicide, sex, death, family, and
relationships
• Many common tropes of the YA genre
• Strong female friendships
• First love and first heartbreak
 T O A L L T H E BOY S I ’ V E LOV E D
B EF O R E
BY: J E NN Y H A N

• Summary
• Love letters, fake relationship, and real feelings
• Deals with love, loss, and family
• Relatable main character
• First love and first heartbreak
• Weaving of culture
• Moving towards more modern YA literature
 S IM O N V S T H E H O M O S A P I E NS
AGE NDA
BY: BE C KY A L BE RTA IL L I

• Summary
• Email relationship, blackmail, and coming out
• Deals with secrets, love, friendship, and family
• Learning to love oneself
• Moving towards more modern YA literature and
opening the way for more to come
 CONCLUSION

Young adult literature offers insight into the interests and

struggles of young adults. It is important to study the
development of this budding genre to see understand teens and
their struggles.