Week 7  Assignment 2




"Who's buying teen books?  Lots and lots of adults."
                                                     by Molly Driscoll


This article dates back to September 2012 so some of the information may already be outdated.

There were some good points in the article that I found interesting:
1.  Many of the books aimed at the teen market and also being read by adults as well.( "55% of customers who buy young adult books are 18 or older.")
2.  The teen readers market generally directed to readers age 12-17, has widened it's appeal due to the popularity of books like "The Hunger Games", "Harry Potter and the "Twilight" series.

3.  What is the appeal of these books to adults?  This article states  "sometimes written in a less complicated fashion than adult books and may offer more of a literary escape than an adult contemporary novel, providing a relaxing experience for an adult reader tired from commuting, working all day and taking care of kids."
4.  Angelina Benedetti, Washington state librarian, wrote in a 2008 column for the Library Journal that "it took her awhile to catch on to the quality titles being released in the teen market but that now, when her friends come to her for reading suggestions, she points them to young adult titles."
5.  Amazon started to include "Best of the Month" picks which included young adult titles in its "Top 10 List" -not as a separate "young readers" list but as part of its overall survey of best titles available.


"YA Comes of Age" by Sue Corbett


This article is dated September 2011 and the following are important points;
1. " YA  continues to shine in an industry clouded by uncertainty.  A decade and a half after Harry Potter kick-started a fantasy boom, hardcover fiction remains the star category."
2.  YA adult subject matter features "menacing creatures, forbidden romances and apocalyptic versions of this and future Earth."  Rosemary Stimola, a agent for Suzanne Collins, states "this is a population of young people who don't remember a time when the country was not at war.  It makes perfect sense that their literature would allow them a way to exercise their thoughts about the nature of good and evil......"
3.  "Since bookstores moved the teen section away from the kids' departments, YA books lost the stigma what they were somehow inferior because they were written for teens..."
4.  YA books also changed their book covers to more "elegant packaging."  Bookseller Barry Goldblatt " cites the cover for The Hunger Games as....gender neutral, age neutral and sharp."
5.  There is a certain amount of "Paranormal Fatigue," according to Jennifer Laughran, an agent with the Andrea Brown Literary Agency, " "It can't be just about two shiny guys and a girl anymore.....doo something different with the paranormal elements.....super funny on one page and super scary on the next."
6.  This article ends by the "next big thing,"-dystopias-and in 2016, we see many titles such as the Divergent series growing in popularity.