Hello! Welcome to another edition of Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl). Every week, we get to talk about a different book topic. Today’s topic is “Reasons Why I Love _____.” There will be much love shared this week, I’m sure. Rather than gush over one of my auto-buy authors (which I do all the time anyway), I’m going to talk about why I love YA in the first place.
1. It’s full of adventure. Sometimes I hear (usually 20-something) people say how they want more protagonists their age. I don’t particularly want to read about protagonists my age. Sorry. Not that older protagonists might do something interesting, but I really can’t imagine waking up one day and leaving my kids to go save the kingdom.
2. First loves. My life in high school was pretty pathetic. All the boys liked other girls and wouldn’t be interested in me if I paid them. It was pretty depressing. In YA, I get to walk in the shoes of someone else who (probably) had a better time than I did.
3. Books I can share with my kids. My kids have read many of the same books I have. Although my boy likes to read middle grade books sometimes, he’s also read most of Marie Lu’s books. After listening to most of Astrid Scholte’s The Vanishing Deep together in the car (we still haven’t finished it because that was our car book and we don’t go places together right now because of coronavirus), he found Four Dead Queens on his Kindle and started reading it. After things get back to normal and we finish The Vanishing Deep, I’m going to make him listen to City of Bones with me in the car, because he started it, but I don’t think he actually gave it a chance.
4. Book experiences I can share with my kids. About a year ago, my boy had finished Legend and I asked him if he’d go meet Marie Lu with me at the Tattered Cover if she ever went there. He said he would, and asked if we could go to the Lego Store while we’re there. I agreed. In March, she came to The Tattered Cover with Astrid Scholte and Melissa de la Cruz, and we had an amazing day together. We got cupcakes, went to the Lego Store, had dinner, and then got front row seats at the bookstore. It was an all-day event and was great.
5. It’s a family tradition. My grandma shared the Anne of Green Gables books with me when I was in middle or high school. I ended up inheriting those books from her.
6. Why grow up? Along the same lines, my grandma played with dolls in her 80s. You can like whatever you like, no matter what your age. I read other books too, but there’s no expiration date on liking things.
7. The category is quite diverse. I know YA is often considered a genre, but it’s actually more of a category, and it’s fairly diverse. There’s fantasy books with dragons, contemporaries with people graduating from high school, and futuristic dystopians with teens fighting tyrannical governments. It covers every kind of topic under the sun, from bullying to evil tyrants trying to take over the world. There’s always something to grab my interest.
8. The book community. YA is a book category that people of (almost) all ages can enjoy. I can go to a book signing with my boy or buy the Legend trilogy for my niece and then have her tell me she loved the books I bought. The age ranges of people on Twitter vary also. And many people over here at Top Ten Tuesday also like YA.
9. Hopeful stories. A lot of YA stories are hopeful. The good guys usually win. People usually look for a brighter tomorrow. This isn’t always the case, but a lot of the time it is.
10. I’m not old enough for adult books (sometimes). I’ve often said I’m not old enough to watch Game of Thrones. While technically, yes, I am old enough to read any book in the bookstore, there are some books I don’t want to read. I believe books influence your mind, and most YA books are positive, family friendly influences.
Those are some reasons why I love YA. What did you write about today? Next week we’re going to talk about opening lines. I’ll write about some that I really love. See you then!
Yes, YA is a very diverse genre for sure! I don’t think non-readers of it necessarily realize that sometimes.
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It covers all genres (except for erotica I suppose) because it’s just an age group!
I love a good YA diet as part of a balanced reading diet!
That’s a great way to put it! Balance in everything.
I am glad you can read YA and love it. It’s great that you can share it with your children. And I agree, it tends to be quite diverse and the book community tends to be very YA focused and it is nice to feel included in that by reading a lot of YA. We share quite a few reasons!
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🙂 It has something for nearly everyone.
Yes, there is a lot of hope in the YA genre. I love that about it.
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Lydia recently posted…Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: A Villain That I Wish Could Be Redeemed and Why
🙂
I think my reasoning behind wanting to read more books with protagonists my age, is just that I don’t like the idea that your adventures have to stop after you’re not a teenager anymore! I do love YA (for many of the reasons you listed and more) but there are certain things that I can’t relate to as much anymore.
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I’m sure there could be books with older protagonists that might be interesting. A lot of things that happen to people my age just aren’t interesting or I can’t relate to, LOL.
This is a great list! I agreed with a lot of what you said and I’m so glad you get to experience and share a thing you love with your family:) I think the great thing about YA is that it’s super accessible, so you could be ten and enjoy a YA book or you could be 70 and think a book was great, the writing ensures it never feels like you’re being talked down to or it’s ‘dumbed down’ but it’s obviously written in a way that’s easier to read than adult fiction. It makes sure almost everyone can read it!
I love how YA isn’t dumbed down either. Teens are smart; they can tell whether you respect them or not.
Great list! How lovely that YA is something you can share with your own children, and I agree that I love how hopeful YA fiction is on the whole.
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Thank you!
I enjoy all kinds of books from MG to adult, but YA will always hold a special place in my heart as it is the category that made me fall in love with books.
Another reason to like them! I’ve been reading since I was little, but up until I read Divergent, I was reading a lot of nonfiction for a long time.
I totally agree with you on reading about first loves. High school was awful for me so I like to read about characters who have a better time at school than I did. And I sometimes feel too young for adult books too! I have a good selection of adult books on my shelves but I always put off reading them because they can be so much more intimidating than YA.
I love being able to step into a character’s shoes and live a life I never got to live, you know?
That whole first loves thing gets me. I think it’s because I know I’ll never have another first love, so why not experience it through someone else? So fun.
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Yep. YA can be a fun time to live through, especially if you can take out the bad parts, like having to listen to your parents and feeling like your pathetic and you’ll never meet someone and be lonely forever. Or is that just me? Haha but even if the book character feels that way, I know that once I leave the book world, the monsters and any anxiety the character feels will go away as soon as I return to reality.
I agree about adventure. It’s nice to be able to experience something we’ll never get to do. And ditto too on how diverse YA is. I love that there’s fantasy, contemps, whatever you might want.
It’s nice too when you can enjoy the same books as your kids! Same with the family traditions. Books are an awesome way to bridge the generations, I’ve found.
I agree with so many of these!
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I love being able to experience books with my kids. A lot of people do it when their littles are at the “Hop on Pop” stage, but once they learn how to read, they’re on their own. My boy is reading my book now. It’s more upper YA, but there’s nothing really graphic in there, and I like hearing his perspective on it. Or any book we’ve both read, for that matter.
Nice list! I don’t think I’ll ever out grow YA either. Here is my Top Ten Tuesday.
Thanks! It’s a great age category for books.
Great choice! When my kids were finally old enough to read YA, it was so much fun getting to enjoy those books with them. Definitely one of my favorite things about reading YA. <3
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I’ve listened to MG audiobooks in the car with my boy (a couple I got for free as Audible Originals) but I don’t sit down to read many MG books, so I’m glad that he’s getting to be old enough to read YA. My dd is older, and we both liked Divergent, but even though we’ve read some of the same books, she hasn’t been as enthusiastic at the books I am. With my boy, I can tell him about a book, or take him to meet the author, and then he’ll see a book on his Kindle and start reading it (we share a Kindle library). I’d say I hope he doesn’t read any of my more adult books, but he’s unlikely to.
Oh I love this! I’m definitely out of the “YA” age range (I’m in my late 30s) and I love reading YA…..haha love what you said about how you can’t imagine waking up and leaving your kids to go and save the kingdom! Exactly! Young adults have the freedom to move around the map! When I was a young adult, the genre was very lacklustre and not very popular….I’m definitely making up for lost time now and my kids are getting to the age where they’re starting to enjoy some of these books as well.
Great topic!
My dh applied for a job in Brazil and I’m like–no I really don’t want to go. What am I going to do about the fish! And I like where I live! So I have my fingers crossed he doesn’t get that job but gets one elsewhere. But in my 20s I spent 5 weeks in Australia, lived in Italy for three years… books are an escape and it’s fun to go live lives that are a little more exciting (if more scary) than mine is now.
I relate to your high school point. I was pathetic in high school and feel like I mostly slept through it. I definitely didn’t have any YA-style adventures.
Aj @ Read All The Things! recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday: Reasons To Read Historical Fiction
I was the kid in knowledge bowl and all the academic clubs.
I like reading a good YA novel every now and then. There’s a quote by C.S. Lewis that I really like : “No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally – and often far more – worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond.” There are a lot of YA novels that are worth reading, and we can read them no matter what age we are! 🙂
Here’s my TTT list.
Lectrice Vorace recently posted…Top Ten Reasons Why I Love Reading
My dh is reading The Chronicles of Narnia to my boy (via audiobook) and the dedication is wonderful. It says something similar to that.
Aww I love these! I agree that there is something particularly hopeful about YA, something that you don’t always find in adult books. And I love that it is something you’re able to share with your kids, that makes it extra special!
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I’m sad that my dd and I never bonded as much over books as my boy and I do. My boy is just starting to get into YA so we have many years of loving books together ahead of us!
I think I gravitate to YA so much is due to my own teenage years. I had a lot of fun in high school and YA reminds me of that time in my life. Also, some of the stories are so creative.
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That would be another reason to love YA!