Why So Many Adults Love Young-Adult Literature

These books are about coming of age, and we’re still coming of age. “What all these YA novels share is a universal coming of age experience,” Jennifer Loja, president of Penguin Young Readers, wrote to me in an email. The bildungsroman—the original term for a coming-of-age story—dates back to 17th century Germany, when Johann Wolfgang Goethe and his contemporaries began writing stories about young protagonists, progressing on a journey toward maturity. “To come of age is perhaps the most common ground there could be among readers,” said Virginia Zimmerman, professor of English literature at Bucknell University. “Adults recognize it as something they’ve been through, but they also recognize it as something of a fantasy. It suggests some sort of stable existence. And as adults, we know that we continue to change, continue to come of age.”

The intensity of the first time. Green said teenage characters give him an opportunity to articulate a completely different kind of emotion. “Teenagers have a reputation for being jaded and cynical, but in fact I find them wondrously lacking in cynicism and wondrously earnest in their un-ironized emotional experience.” A lot of that stems, he said, from experiencing everything for the first time. Your first kiss, your first slow dance, your first time driving a car, your first failure. “The first time has an intensity to it that the second time just doesn’t have.”

It’s not about the escape. In the world of young-adult academia, Zimmerman says professors often argue that adults read YA fiction to escape. That’s probably because so much of young-adult literature overlaps with genre fiction—plot-driven books that fall into one specific genre, like fantasy, romance, or sci-fi. But Zimmerman doesn’t buy that argument. “The YA books that have been popular with adults are dark and serious and hard,” she said. “People might to go to YA literature to sink into a reality different than their own, but I think they sink into that reality to encounter feelings, challenges, and relationships they recognize from their own lives.” That rang true for Masthead member Pamela. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, a highly-acclaimed book that tackles race and police brutality through the eyes of 16-year-old Starr Carter, was one of her favorite books of the year. Masthead member Craig says these books teach him what it’s like to be a young person today. “YA is just another portal into another aspect of our world.”

They’re good, and they’re being recognized. “A good story is a good story,” Pamela said, “regardless of the intended audience.” Zimmerman agreed. “There are so many more exciting YA books with diverse protagonists now than there used to be,” she said. When I asked her how the genre had changed since she started studying it 12 years ago, she said the books had just gotten better. That’s likely because, while much of the book industry has suffered, the genre is one of the few that remains profitable. “The New York Times now has a dedicated YA bestsellers list,” wrote Loja, who leads one of the country’s largest young-adult publishing imprints. “YA franchises are being adapted for film and are perfect for streaming. And we’ve seen a steep increase in the number of YA submissions and YA publications, year after year.”

“It all goes back to Harry Potter—because that was popular across the board with every kind of reader you can think of,” Zimmerman said. “There are a lot of people who, before Harry Potter, simply never would have considered reading a book written for children.” In the United Kingdom, the Harry Potter books were published with two different covers: one for adults, one for kids. That way, Zimmerman said, adults would feel less self-conscious about their reading choices. When it comes to adults reading YA books, Masthead member Bill aptly noted, “Having a wand and an owl helps.”