I READ YA FICTION!

So, last night (June 4) the Wall Street Journal posted an article that basically spent 3,000 words talking about how Young Adult fiction is horrible for children, and that the genre should be shanked.

Let's talk about all the problems I had with this article.

It started at the first line....and continued until the end.

There is not need to pull the article about bit by bit because there was nothing good in the article. It is faulty journalism spouting a bad argument with irrelevant sources. Did you see a actual young adult YA reader quoted? Did you? DID YOU?


I started shaking in anger and frustration when I read this article. I would have started swearing at my computer had the majority of my household had not been sleeping.

Fortunately, the YA book industry (including its readers) are not ones to sit by and "ignore the bully" as my mother and various teachers told me in elementary school. No, the internet took things into their own hands and created YASaves.

Headed by YA authors such as the fabulous Libba Bray and Maureen Johnson, teens and other YA readers began sharing how YA lit has helped and inspired them.

Using the hashtag #YAsaves, a rebuttal article was practically written, showing WSJ and the author of the article that YA literature isn't harming teens, it's making us stronger and overall better people.

Less than 20 minutes after creating the hashtag, #YAsaves rose to number 3 on Worldwide Trending Tweets and stayed there for almost two hours. Those of you who follow me on Twitter will know that I retweeted many of the responses that I read.  I spent over an hour just reading tweets from both readers like me and big name authors like Cassie Clare, Jay Asher, and the instigators themselves, Libba and Maureen.

YAsaves has shone a light on what's been there all along. YA fiction regularly features dark subjects: rape, abuse, cutting, depression, death, addiction, etc. But all that it does is write down what is happening in reality.  It gives teens a refuge and someone to connect with.

I get frowned upon by a lot of my "intelligent" friends at school because I read YA. They see it as "fluffy" and not real literature. Regular teen stuff. And, according to them, YA lit is below them.

This really, really bothers me. I read YA lit and I'm not afraid to admit it. In fact, I'm proud to be a part of such a great community of readers and writers.

YA lit has helped me through some things that people weren't able to. It has opened my eyes to human nature, friendship, love, communication, emotion in ways that are concurrently simpler and more complex than life itself.

The YA genre takes a lot of crap, from banners to pretentious adult lit readers and writers to the librarian who was around before the genre was created. But taken a face value, YA lit has had a ton of impact on a lot of people. I would argue (and commonly do) that YA fiction is the greatest genre because it shows relevant issues with relatable characters that both inspires controversy and community connection.

YA fiction is hurting teens, it's helping them. In more ways than anybody could ever know.

YA saves. If you don't believe me, or don't want to, go read the thousands of tweets in response to the WSJ article. But believe it. Because YA fiction is probably the reason that several of your friends, siblings, cousins,  classmates, etc are still here and sane.

#YASaves