The young adult literature genre has a big problem: miscategorization. Should books like A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas, a story about a teenager, be classified as Young Adult, even though it contains sex, violence, and abuse? How should books that make sense for older teens but certainly not for younger teens be labelled? Well, the ACU library has a simple answer to this ever-growing problem, and it’s an intriguing one.
When a book is ready to go out to its readers, publishers or distributors may assign an age rating to it. Young adult (YA) is one such category, resting between middle grade and new adult. Britannica puts the age range for young adult literature at 12 to 18 years old. This means that YA literature should be about teenagers, for teenagers, with relatable issues and accessible stories for those on the cusp of adulthood.
According to the Young Adult Library Services Association, the number of young adults that make up the population has increased lately, so the amount of YA Literature has increased as a reaction. However, the recent expansion goes beyond just meeting a need. Lately, the boundaries of what is considered YA have been stretching to capture the interests of adults. A 2024 report by HarperCollins and Nielsen Book found that 74% of YA readers were adults, so it follows that authors and publishers would market their books to encompass that larger readership.
There’s really no way to strictly enforce which books get put into what category, and sometimes, books end up being miscategorized. One of the most popular examples of this is Icebreaker by Hannah Grace. The cover of the book has a cartoon-style drawing of an ice skater and a hockey player smiling at one another. It’s marketed as fun and cute. At first glance, it looks like an innocent romance, and the synopsis seems like a fun rivals-to-lovers story. If someone were shelving this book at their library or bookstore, it could seem like an easy choice to place this in the YA section: an incorrect choice.
The characters are 20 and 21, which already puts them outside of the 12 to 18 age range. Aside from that, the content of the book is inappropriate for a young audience: the biggest complaints being the graphic sex, alcohol use, and glorification of unhealthy behaviors. Yet, its marketing would lead readers to believe that it’s intended for teens. And there would be no one to stop it from being mislabeled. Unlike age ratings for movies, there are no official guidelines for what is allowed in a Young Adult novel.
The ACU library has found a solution to this problem: getting rid of the Young Adult section altogether. According to Melinda Isbell, Director of Public and Reference Services, this decision came after placing all of the YA literature with the Juvenile section deterred many would-be readers. She discovered that students and library members were interested in the books that were categorized as YA, but they didn’t think to look in the juvenile section.
Now, most of the books officially categorized as YA are mixed in with the Adult Fiction on the ground floor. Some of them are still downstairs in the juvenile section, but any book that contains subject matter that wouldn’t make sense for a reader of middle-school age or below to be reading goes with the Adult Fiction. And regardless of which section they’re in, they still retain their YA label. Isbell also notes that this makes sense for practicality as well, as it helps prevent one author’s work from being split between the Adult and YA sections.
The solution provided by ACU doesn’t fix the underlying problem. It can’t change the oversaturation of the market or the watering-down of YA as a whole. What it does do is make a complicated topic a whole lot simpler. With the broad spectrum of content contained within the YA category nowadays, parents and readers should look into any book labeled as YA, instead of assuming it’s appropriate because of its label. ACU’s method takes some of that guesswork out of the selection process: if you’re looking for a younger reader, you can stick to YA books in the juvenile section. Otherwise, use discernment, as you would anywhere else.
