Young Adult (YA) fiction is a booming genre. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s Cecilia Goodnow reports that at least one critic has called this, the early twenty-first century, a “golden age” of young adult literature (“Teens Buying Books at Fastest Rate in Decades,” 7 March 2007). Publishers, Goodnow reports, are paying attention to the fact that teens often have a good amount of disposable income, and that they are spending it on books.
Given the popularity of the genre, many writers may be interested in learning about the emerging (and sinking) YA trends as we move into the second decade of the 2000s. There’s no denying the popularity of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series or the Harry Potter books; the latter have permeated mainstream culture to the extent that Quidditch is becoming a real-life sport (“ College Quidditch Teams Would Make Potter Proud,” The Miami Herald, 30 October 2010). But are teens still interested in reading books about wizards or vampire romances?
Post Apocalyptic Fiction: The End of The World As Current YA Trend
Elizabeth Braithwaite argues in her article “Post-Disaster Fiction for Young Adults: Some Trends and Variations” (Explorations into Children’s Literature 20.1, 2010) that post-apocalyptic fiction will continue to flourish as a YA sub-genre. Such novels, says Braithwaite, often portray youth as having the power to save or renew societies that are crumbling due to the past failures of adult figures. They may feature a science fiction or steampunk theme, or be set in an alternative past.
Indeed, there have been a number of bestselling and/or award-winning novels in this category in recent years. A few examples:
- Isobelle Carmody’s The Obernewtyn Chronicles
- Philip Reeve’s Hungry City Chronicles
- Carrie Mac’s The Droughtlanders
- Marcus Sedgwick’s Floodland
- Carrie Ryan’s The Forest of Hands and Teeth
A YA Trend That’s Here to Stay: Fantasy/Paranormal Fiction
The Boston Globe’s Liz Rosenberg writes that the “supernatural” genre of teen fiction continues to be wildly popular; many of the recent successes focus on brooding vampires, ghosts, fairies and werewolves (“Young Adults Feel Affinity With Supernatural Characters in Books,” 28 June 2009). Such books have centered around passive damsels in distress, à la Twilight's Bella Swan, but Rosenberg writes that the trend is towards strong female characters who can save themselves from their supernatural foes.
Party Campbell, whose column “Trends in Young Adult Literature” appears in Pam Cole’s informative book Young Adult Literature in the 21st Century (2009), writes that fantasy series and trilogies have been dominating the market since 1993, four years before the first Harry Potter novel came out (68). Such series, writes Campbell, tend to imitate the medieval or Arthurian-type settings favoured by Tolkien and other writers, and continue to grow in popularity.
The following is a short list of some of the most popular YA fantasy books to arrive in recent years.
- Maggie Stiefvater’s Shiver
- Alison Croggon’s The Naming
- Melissa Marr’s Wicked Lovely series
- Kim Harrison’s Once Dead, Twice Shy
- Marilyn Kaye’s Gifted series
Literary Fiction and the Teen Reader: The Rise of Sophisticated YA Fiction
While the quality of books like Twilight and the Sweet Valley High series has been attacked by critics, Cecilia Goodnow writes that novels with a sophisticated literary bent are growing increasingly popular among teens. This is good news for writers who want to explore weighty or edgy subjects with poetic prose. An example of this particular YA trend, Goodnow writes, is the popularity of Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, a Holocaust novel told from Death’s point of view. It spent months in the top ten on the New York Times’ children’s bestseller list.
While fantasy may be getting a lot of attention, it’s important to note that the majority of award-winning fiction is still made up of contemporary realist novels with serious subjects (Koss, Melanie D., and William Teale, “What’s Happening in YA Literature? Trends in Books for Adolescents,” Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy 52.7, 2009). Such books also remain popular among teens, even with the influx of “escapist” fantasy titles.
The following are a few recent realist literary novels that have proven popular with teens:
- Ellen Hopkins’s Impulse
- Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief
- M.T. Anderson’s Octavian Nothing
- Priscilla Cummings’s A Face First
YA Fiction Trends: What’s Out
Melanie Koss’s study of young adult fiction trends reveals that only 3% of recent award winning and popular books are science fiction and 2% are straight horror. The perennially popular genre of contemporary realistic fiction, by comparison, makes up 47% of the titles in Koss’s analysis.
While this study is intriguing, it is only one study, and writers of teen horror and science fiction would do well to remember that the conditions of the YA genre are, like teens themselves, changeable. Pam Cole’s Young Adult Literature in the 21st Century points out that the teen genre has always been volatile, and that it is the writers with the freshest and most engaging ideas who will carve out successful paths for themselves (69).
This is just a brief summary of the major trends in young adult fiction. One thing is clear: the ever-growing popularity of the genre is a good thing for teen literacy, and its dynamism and innovation will help ensure that teens stay interested in reading.
You may also be interested in:
Trends in YA Fantasy: Magic, Romance, and Reality Checks
Online YA Fiction Resources for Writers, Students, and Teachers
Best Zombie Novels for Young Adults
Heather Fawcett - Heather Fawcett is a Vancouver-based writer and editor. She holds an M.A. in English Literature and specializes in teen fiction, having ...
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