Every time I see the ‘YA skews too old’ discussion pop up, I feel my eyelid begin to twitch, especially because it always ends in how current YA isn’t enough. It’s too old! What about middle schoolers? It’s too young! What about NA?

But I’m going to throw my two cents in anyway.

YA certainly reads older than it did when I was a teen, bc teen books weren’t really written for hs me. I read teen books in middle school. Fear Street, Christopher Pike, The Girls of Canby Hall all had hs protagonists, but written for an 11-14 yo audience. Because kids read up.

YA is at a place rn where teens have actual relatable content. Real things they often deal with in their own lives (even in fantasy realms). And yeah, it skews older than it did when I was a kid. But look at the world teens live in. Look at what we ask them to shoulder every day.

And let’s be honest, whenever this discussion comes up, it comes down to sex. That’s where the line is drawn. Which just incorrectly assumes that younger teens need to be protected from it and older teens all have an interest in it, and nothing could be further from the truth.

We have books that appeal to younger teens and books that appeal to older teens (and sex is not the factor!) with more coming every week. Maybe the issue isn’t YA in general, but helping them find those books by splitting/defining the category more.

Because this isn’t a frequent discussion in MG, which arguably has a bigger spread (the difference between 8 and 13 is much larger than the difference between 14 and 17). Maybe we should stop labeling all YA as 14+ and actually break that down a little more

(While also being cognizant that teens have differing life experiences and there are 13yos who need those older skewing books. Lord knows I did)