If you are younger than 50-55, stop telling people that YA didn't exist when you were young.

It did.

Even if you didn't know it, it did.

A Wizard of Earthsea was published as YA in 1968.

The Outsiders was published as YA in 1967.

I'm seeing this everywhere, including from authors. Sheesh, people. Just because you didn't read in the YA section doesn't mean it didn't exist.

I should add: the category's roots began in the 1910s and 1920s when 2 @NYPL librarians coined the term and started curating books for their newly dubbed "teen-age" patrons. That it was a full-fledged category by the late 60s shouldn't be surprising.

And if you're younger than me (45) your local library very likely DID have a YA section, even if you didn't notice it. Ours was one bookshelf upstairs from the children's room, stocked with Lois Duncan and scandalous books on how our bodies were changing at that age.

Access and knowing something exists are definitely an issue--a lot of people didn't have access (I'm surprised I had access to Lois Duncan in 1987; our nearest bookstore was 1/2 hour away and we were a tiny Carnegie library). And the selection was VERY white. But it EXISTED.