Why YA

I’ve always been a big reader. My mom took us to storytime at the library and made sure that we got library cards and could check out our own books. She likes to read and I would see her with huge books and I think that passed on to me. I remember going to the library as a child and the teen section was a single cart of books. Luckily, by the time I was a teen the library had a brand new building with a separate teen section. Libraries on Long Island were generally well supported and the teen section was a decent size with its very own librarian.

Nancy Gorman was the YA librarian at the Longwood Public Library and responsible for stocking those shelves. Back then we didn’t have the internet, let alone book blogs and twitter, so teen access to books was limited to those at the library or the bookstore. We relied on the librarians to buy good books because we weren’t hearing about them any other way. Mrs. Gorman did a good job of selecting books and having fun programs for teens to get us in the library so we could find those books. When I eventually started working at the library (at 16) I knew that I wanted to be Mrs. Gorman—I wanted to be a YA librarian and bring teens and books together.

I’ve read mostly YA books ever since. The few grownup books I read as a teen/young adult were all cross-over books—adult books that have large teen appeal. Anne Rice’s vampire series and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy were the extent of my adult book reading experience. I went to library school, got a job as a YA librarian and did that for seven years, reading YA as part of the job to better serve my population. I started my book blog in 2004 and at the time there were only a handful of other blogs about YA books. When my second child was born I switched to part time work and believing that teens deserved a full time librarian, I gave up that aspect of my job.

But I never stopped reading YA.

I’ve read a few grown up books since then as part of a book club with my friends, but I still focus on YA. I could have stopped since it was no longer part of my job, but I noticed something interesting after I became a parent, I could easily read a teen book about horrifying topics—rape, murder, abuse, etc—and while it wasn’t a great pick-me-up, it was okay. But if I read a grown up book on those same topics, I instantly had the point of view of the parent in the story and I couldn’t read it. I would much rather read the teen’s point of view than the parent’s. When I read a YA book I’m just a reader, but when I read a grownup book I can’t help but bring myself and my children into it. If Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins) had been an adult book told from the point of view of the mother in the story there is no way I could have read and enjoyed it. But luckily it’s a teen book.

I also happen to think that most grown up books are a bit boring. YA books—even the bleakest ones—are generally full of hope. Teens have their futures ahead of them. I like the stories they have to tell. YA books are exciting and adventurous, dramatic and emotional. Most of them are well-written and engaging in ways that grownup books just aren’t for me. Like the teens they are written for, YA books are full of potential and promise. They stay with you long after you’ve read them.

After the birth of my third child I stopped working at the library completely. But I still keep my hand in YA literature. I review all the books I read on my book blog (http://goddesslibrarian.blogspot.com) and I also write about YA fiction for the examiner (http://www.examiner.com/young-adult-fiction-in-albany/jennifer-mcintosh). When I’m done having children and they’ve all found their way to school I hope to find other ways to bring teens and books together.

- Jennifer McIntosh